Sombr has responded to “body shaming” criticism of his live performances.
The musician took to TikTok on Saturday (October 18) to hit back at a video posted earlier that week by someone who attended his show at Anthem in Washington, D.C. on October 13.
In the viral, almost nine-minute-long video, the content creator says she “hated” the performance and left early, although she initially liked his music and was excited for the show.
“I’m going to explain to you why, if you’re over the age of 16, you should not spend your money on a Sombr concert.” The 25-year-old said. She went on to highlight a specific segment of his set, coined the “Sombr Dating Show,” where he brought audience members onstage to call their exes.
She then accused him of saying “super vulgar stuff about getting his dick sucked” and asking his fans to “bark for me”, suggesting it was inappropriate for his young audience, and added: “It just doesn’t seem like he knows how to entertain. He’s maybe too young. Maybe he has to grow into it. I don’t know. Dancing was terrible, singing was terrible.”
@meganator__ idk what i expected but it was certainly not that
She then went on to express confusion that his fans loved the show, having seen clips of his performance captioned: “This is my generation’s David Bowie.”
“I’m so sorry, slender man? We’re picking him, we’re picking the weird dancing dude?” she said, comparing him to Napoleon Dynamite and calling him “cringe”.
In his response, Sombr said: “I thought I was chronically online, but 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 a cringe concert.”
He then accused her of “body shaming” him, saying that “it’s kind of started a massive body shaming hate train directed towards me on a lot of videos of me on the internet right now.
“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 going to 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 continued.
Sombr then went on to explain that his fans would be prepared for his sense of humour, saying: “I’ve never uttered a serious word in my life,” and clarifying that he spends “five minutes” making jokes at his shows, while the rest is music.
@sombr rant
“Live a little, enjoy life,” he continued. “Every age, sex, sexuality, gender, race: Everyone is welcome in my concert, and I mean everyone. You guys need to find problematic people to hate on, because I am just existing.”
Sombr released his debut album ‘I Barely Know Her’ in August, scoring a four-star NME review. “‘I Barely Know Her’ is an album driven by heartache but that hasn’t stopped Sombr from creating a gloriously dynamic record that’s less about misery and more about catharsis”, the review read. “It’s sad boy indie with a smirk.”
In other news, in November, he’s set to appear on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest.
