Getty Images/ Spotify
As my coworker David Renshaw reported earlier this month, music charts stagnant with old music have made it harder for new artists to break into the mainstream. An exception is sombr, a 19-year-old New York native who's having one of the biggest years of his career thanks to his lovelorn hit "undressed" that've taken over my FYP (and probably yours, too). He's one of the few new names on the charts right now, and he's already got his eyes set on bigger things including working with Billie Eilish.
In a new video with Spotify, the singer reveals that he "really" wants to make music with the Gen Z superstar, alongside creating an album.
sombr broke out in early 2025 with "back to friends," a song that he released in 2024 but didn't gain traction until going viral on TikTok earlier this year. In the same video he describes it as "the best song I ever made. "If I'm being honest, it still hasn't hit me," he added of his rise. "Tell me in three months. I can't wrap my head around it."
The video is part of Spotify's new series The Come Up: Center Stage, spotlighting rising artists as they revisit the milestones that fueled their climb to the top of the charts, per a release. "From day one, The Come Up has always been about showing artists’ journeys and their biggest milestone moments on Spotify and beyond," Alexandra Pezzotti, Spotify's associate director of social media, says in a statement.
Elsewhere, sombr traces creating his first single, 2021's "Nothing Left To Say," on Logic in his bedroom, to appearing on playlists like Lorem and Crash Out, to seeing his face in Times Square with his mom.
“As someone who used Spotify long before starting my career, it’s surreal to now have their support," sombr tells The FADER.
Watch the full video below.