Singer-songwriter Sombr debuted on Saturday Night Live with two hits from I Barely Know Her, his debut album that he released in August.
The New York City native, who just picked up a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, opened with “12 to 12,” an MTV Video Music Awards nominee for Song of the Summer.
Sombr returned later at the piano with “Back to Friends,” which he alone wrote and produced.
The lead single from the ten-track LP, “Back to Friends” is one of Rolling Stone‘s Best Songs of 2025 So Far, as it “plays out like an impassioned conversation that bleeds through the walls and captures the melodrama of teenage love.”
Sombr, whose real name is Shane Boose, “performs with a distinct internal confidence and external charm that has been notably absent in the withering releases from many of his male contemporaries in pop,” as Rolling Stone‘s Larisha Paul wrote in a positive review of his first album.
Sombr’s stop at SNL coincided with the end of the North American leg of The Late Nights & Young Romance Tour, which he sold out. Early next month, he’ll head to New Zealand and Australia before beginning a run of shows in Europe in February.
“It’s hard to step back and be like, ‘Wow, this is amazing’ when everything is happening so fast, but it is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” the 20-year-old revealed to MTV in September, before making his awards show debut at the VMAs. “Being able to meet all these people, go to all these countries, and see all these new faces and beautiful people who connect with my music — it’s all I ever wanted to do in my life, so it’s the best thing ever.”
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