A social media storm is currently brewing on TikTok around 20-year-old rising pop star Sombr.
The young songwriter, whose debut 2025 album I Barely Know Her included major hits like “12 to 12” and “back to friends,” recently responded to criticism about his stage presence in front of young fans after a concertgoer posted a takedown of the artist that went viral on TikTok.
However, his earnest response has done little to quell the backlash, instead amplifying the controversy and inspiring a wave of parody videos mocking his piece to camera.
Here’s what’s going on.
What started the drama?
After attending Sombr’s show on Sunday in Washington D.C., a 25-year-old woman named Meg shared an eight-minute video on TikTok, lambasting the musician’s on-stage behavior.
In her video, which has more than five million views at the time of writing, she slammed Sombr’s show, calling it “genuinely one of the worst concerts I’ve ever been to in my life.” She went on to list a “multitude of reasons” why anybody over 16 shouldn’t spend their money on a Sombr concert.
“It is the closest to a middle school dance I’ve ever been since I was in middle school at a dance,” she said of his young fanbase. “It was thousands of thousands of tweens.”
Immediately after stepping out on stage, the TikToker said Sombr made a “6–7” joke, she said, a nonsensical expression popular among children.
“He proceeds to make a bunch of niche meme references for like the 12 to 16-year-old age group,” she continued. “Just ridiculous to hear out loud. It was like brainrot on stage.”
@meganator__ idk what i expected but it was certainly not that
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She said that about 30 minutes into the show, Sombr invited fans on stage to participate in his “Sombr dating show,” where he had them call their “toxic ex.”
“It just kept getting worse the more he went on. He would make like super niche references to like 13-year-olds, but then he would also say super vulgar stuff about getting his dick sucked,” she claimed. “And it was like, ‘So you know your audience is clearly 13, yet here you are...
“There was a moment in between songs where he literally just randomly went, ‘Bark for me!’” she recalled, “and you hear the arena of 13, 14, 15-year-old girls start barking, and then [he] immediately followed up with, ‘Yeah, I’m daddy.’”
Sombr accuses critic of ‘bodyshaming’ him in response
Sombr, real name Shane Michael Boose, hit back at Meg’s claims, brushing off her more serious criticisms of his inappropriate jokes and sexual references to a crowd full of young concertgoers.
“It’s just come to my attention that there’s a TikTok drama going around because a 25-year-old attended my concert, and was basically complaining that there were too many tweens there, I was making too many brain rot jokes, and she just thought it was just a cringe concert,” the “12 to 12” artist began.
He went on to accuse Meg of “bodyshaming” him and sparking a “massive bodyshaming hate train directed towards me.” In her video, she had likened the 6ft 7in artist to Slenderman.
“I totally respect people having opinions, but I am a 20-year-old artist — freshly 20 — and if you’re 25 years old and you’re gonna come to my concert and not expect people younger than you to be there when I, the artist, am five years younger than you, it’s just a skill issue,” he argued.
Going on to address “the jokes thing,” Sombr said: “You had to have known about my online presence before coming to my concert. I mean anyone who knows me, knows I have never uttered a serious word in my life. And also, I made jokes for like five minutes of the concert and the rest is music. Like live a little, enjoy life.”
He further stressed that “every age, sex, sexuality, gender, race, everyone is welcome at my concert. And I mean everyone,” adding, “You guys need to find problematic people to hate on because I am just existing.”
Singer’s video ignites heated TikTok debate
The “Undressed” artist has since received mixed reactions to his public reply, with many finding flaws and poking holes in his remarks, while others defended him.
One found that Sombr’s focus on the woman’s age and his brain-rot jokes was him trying to “control the narrative.” They argued that by blatantly ignoring her more important and serious criticisms of how he interacted with his young fanbase, Sombr actually drew stronger attention to her claims and “made the situation worse.”
“If what this woman is saying is true, then [Sombr] and his team really need to start rethinking how he presents himself in front of his very predominantly young fanbase,” they said.
@internetgentleman A growth opportunity #sombr
♬ Beautiful and emotional instrumental music(1044200) - MaxRecStudio
Others have mocked Sombr’s response, with a second pretending to be Sombr’s PR team trying to undo his missteps.
“You already posted this? This isn’t a draft? Damn,” the user says. “So an old woman made a video about you? She was 25? So that’s within the target market, so we’re not going to wanna attack the target market. I thought she was old. I’m sorry, just by the way you had said. Did you at least say bodyshaming? Ok, then this is salvageable. I think.”
Another defended the original TikToker, commenting below Sombr’s video: “It was one woman’s opinion personally i appreciated the take, still love your music and keep doing your thing but as a 25 year old woman i genuinely appreciated the take.”
“Only insult is that she’s 25,” another quipped.
Some, however, have thrown their support behind Sombr, telling him not to “listen to the hate.”
TikToker fires back at Sombr’s response
In a video posted Monday, Meg ridiculed Sombr’s response, labeling it a “dumb play.”
“You needed a new PR team like yesterday. I don’t even know if you have a PR team, but if you do fire them and if you don’t hire one,” she suggested. “This guy made a response video, essentially calling me geriatric for being 25, and addressing none of the points I actually said in my video.”
@meganator__ at least PR isn’t my skill issue
♬ original sound - 𝓂𝑒𝑔💌
She derided his body-shaming accusations, claiming that he was “scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something to come at me for” and doing “anything to avoid” responding to claims about his on-stage behavior.
“You know your crowd is young teens — you admit that. Why are we talking about getting our dick sucked?” she questioned.
The Independent has contacted Meg and Sombr’s representative for comment.
Sombr first gained recognition in 2022 with his single “caroline,” which became a TikTok sensation. Earlier this year, he garnered widespread acclaim after his single “back to friends” went viral on TikTok, leading to major chart success.
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