Skip to main content
sombr
sombr

VOTE sombr

Enter Coupon
Voting Ends
  • Days
  • Hours
  • Minutes
  • Seconds
0 Votes

sombr — For Your Consideration


Before he was a Grammy nominee, sombr was just a New York teenager writing songs alone in his room. That intimacy never left — even as the world caught up to him.

Born Shane Michael Boose, sombr dropped out of LaGuardia High School — the arts school that inspired Fame — after his 2022 track "Caroline" went viral and changed his life overnight. By 2025, that early spark had become a full arrival: his debut album, I Barely Know Her, blended alt-rock brilliance inspired by Jeff Buckley, Prince, and the Rolling Stones into something unmistakably his own. He wrote every song on the record himself and co-produced it alongside Grammy-winning producer Tony Berg — a rare feat of total creative ownership for a solo debut.


The numbers matched the artistry. Lead singles "Back to Friends" and "Undressed" combined for more than a billion streams, with "Back to Friends" entering Spotify's Billions Club and landing among the most-streamed songs in the world in 2025. Rolling Stone praised the track for capturing "the melodrama of teenage love" with a rawness few of his peers could match — the same authenticity that carried him to an MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video and a standout Saturday Night Live debut.


What makes sombr's story resonate isn't just the streams or the sound — it's the generosity behind it. On the Grammy red carpet, standing beside fellow nominee and close collaborator Addison Rae, he turned the spotlight toward her: "There couldn't have been anyone better... I'm so proud of her. She's so deserving."


At just 20 years old, sombr didn't chase a trend — he built a world entirely his own, and the industry took notice.

Presented since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967), "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist." Eligible artists must have released at least five singles/tracks or one album. Since 2022, the award is presented by the previous year's winner during the televised ceremony

Grammy Award for Record of the Year

Presented to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to sales or chart position." It's one of the "Big Four" General Field categories, alongside Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. It recognizes the artist, producer, recording engineer, mixer, and mastering engineer for best overall achievement on a single or track — evaluated on performance, production, and engineering.