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There is currently a social media storm going on on TikTok around 20-year-old rising pop star Sombre.
Young songwriter, whose debut album is 2025 i barely know him Major hits including “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 critical response did nothing to quell the backlash, but rather escalated the controversy and inspired a wave of parody videos making fun of his bit on camera.
What’s going on over here.
What started the drama?
After attending Sombre’s show in Washington DC on Sunday, a 25-year-old woman named Meg shared an eight-minute video on TikTok criticizing the musician’s onstage behavior.
In his video, which had over five million views at the time of writing, he criticized Sombre’s show, calling it “literally one of the worst concerts I’ve ever seen in my life.” He enumerated “numerous reasons” why anyone over the age of 16 should not spend their money on a sombre concert.
“This is the closest I’ve been to dancing since I was in middle school,” she said of her young fanbase. “It was thousands and thousands of tweens.”
Immediately after coming out on stage, TikToker Says Sombre Made “6-7” JokeIt is, he said, a meaningless expression popular among children.
He further added, “He proceeds to make a bunch of meme references specific to the 12 to 16 year old age group.” “It’s absolutely ridiculous to hear out loud. It was like Brainrot on stage.”
He said that about 30 minutes into the show, Sombre invited fans on stage to participate in his “Sombre Dating Show”, where he called them “toxic exes”.
She claimed, “As he went on, it got worse. He would make very specific references to 13-year-olds, but then he would also say extremely vulgar things about getting their dicks sucked.” “And it was like, ‘So you know your audience is obviously 13, yet here you are…
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“There was a moment in the middle of the song where he literally just went, ‘Bark for me!'” she recalled, “and you hear 13, 14, 15-year-old girls start barking, and then [he] Soon after he said, ‘Yes, I am daddy.’
Sombre responded by accusing the critic of ‘bodyshaming’ her
Sombre, whose real name is Shane Michael Booze, hit back at Meg’s claims and dismissed her more serious criticisms of his inappropriate jokes and sexual references to the crowd full of young concertgoers.
“It’s just come to my attention that there’s a TikTok drama going on because a 25-year-old girl attended my concert, and was basically complaining that there were a lot of tweens there, I was making a lot of brain rot jokes, and she thought it was just a cringe concert,” the “12 to 12” artist began.
She accused Meg of “bodyshaming” her and instigating a “massive bodyshaming hate train towards me”. In his video he compared the 6 feet 7 inches tall artist to Slenderman.
He argued, “I completely respect people having opinions, but I’m a 20-year-old artist – a fresh 20-year-old – and if you’re 25 and you come to my concert and don’t expect people younger than you to be there, whereas I, the artist, am five years younger than you, then it’s just a skill issue.”
Addressing “the joke thing”, Sombre said: “You should have known about my online presence before you came to my concert. I mean, anyone who knows me knows I’ve never spoken a serious word in my life. And also, I made jokes for five minutes of the concert and the rest is music. Like live a little, enjoy life.”
He further insisted that “Every age, sex, sexuality, gender, race, everyone is welcome at my concerts. And I mean everyone,” adding, “You guys have to find problematic people to hate on me just because I exist right now.”
Singer’s video has sparked heated debate on TikTok
The “Undressed” artist has since received mixed reactions to her public reply, with many finding flaws and holes in her comments, while others defended her.
One found Sombre’s focus on the woman’s age and her mind-numbing jokes as he was trying to “control the narrative”. He argued that by apparently ignoring his more significant and serious criticisms of the way he interacted with his young fan base, Sombre actually drew more attention to his claims and “made the situation worse.”
“If what this woman is saying is true, then [Sombr] And his team really needs to start rethinking how it presents itself to its predominantly young fans,” he said.
Others have mocked Sombre’s response, others have tried to correct Sombre’s missteps by pretending to be Sombre’s PR team.
“You already posted this? This isn’t a draft? Damn it,” the user says. “So an old woman made a video about you? She was 25? So this is within the target market, so we don’t want to attack the target market. I thought she was old. I’m sorry, just like you said. Did you at least say bodyshaming? Okay, so it’s salvageable. I guess.”
Another defended the original TikToker, commenting below Sombre’s video: “This was a woman’s opinion, I personally appreciated this take, I still love your music and will keep doing your thing, but as a 25 year old woman I really appreciate this take.”
Another quipped, “Only insult is she’s 25.”
However, some people have expressed their support behind Sombre and told her not to “listen to the hate.”
TikToker hits back at Sombre’s response
In a video posted on Monday, Meg mocked Sombre’s reaction, calling it a “stupid play.”
“You needed a new PR team like yesterday. I don’t even know if you have a PR team, but if you fire them and if you don’t hire one,” she suggested. “This guy made a response video essentially calling me a geriatric patient and addressing me for being 25 years old nobody Exactly the points I made in my video.
He mocked her body-shaming allegations, claiming he was “scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something to come at me” and doing “anything to avoid” having to respond to claims about his behavior on stage.
“You know there are young teens in your crowd – you admit it. Why are we talking about getting your dick sucked?” He asked the question.
Independent Reps for Meg & Sombre have been contacted for comment.
Sombre first gained recognition in 2022 with her single “Caroline”, which became a TikTok sensation. Earlier this year, she received widespread praise after her single “Back to Friends” went viral on TikTok, achieving major chart success.