Has a pop star ever simply snuck up on you out of nowhere? How weepy is that new Sombr tune? Get in. Let’s discuss it. Six months in the past, I, you, possibly nobody, had ever actually reckoned with the creative output of Sombr. And proper now, Sombr has two songs within the Prime 40 on the Billboard Scorching 100. Sombr simply turned 20. He’s tall. He’s acquired razor-sharp cheekbones. That is somebody who’s a full bundle earlier than you even know that you just’ve obtained the bundle. Each Sombr tune is about hookup tradition indirectly, however principally it’s about how unhappy hookup tradition makes you are feeling. It’s about how darkish it makes you are feeling. It’s about the way it places you in a tunnel of emotional vacancy. Oh come on, canine, this tune is a sense. It’s saying, “We did this factor. It didn’t work out. Now what?” Is it little bit dry to take heed to? It’s. The emotional palette shouldn’t be that vast right here. All of Sombr songs are in this type of, like, moody grey coloration. The way in which that it marches, it’s virtually funereal. The foggy high quality of the music actually jogs my memory of CHILLWAVE but when it was made for arenas, not smoky little rooms. There’s additionally a bunch of ’90s Britpop in right here, that tunefulness actually recollects plenty of one of the best British bands of that period. The true query for me is why is Sombr so widespread proper now? Certain, I hear plenty of Sombr on TikTok: breakup TikToks, unhappy information TikToks, household trauma TikToks. However to me, that doesn’t account for the broad-base reputation that he’s experiencing. As a critic, a part of what I do is attempt to perceive what takes one thing from a curio to a phenomenon. Sombr, and “Again to Buddies,” is clearly heading in direction of phenomenon territory, nevertheless it’s nonetheless imprecise and fuzzy to me. Canine, there’s a Interest Foyer down right here? Wild.
