How to Watch
Watch Saturday Night Live Saturdays at 11:30/10:30c on NBC and next day on Peacock.
On November 8, Saturday Night Live is getting “undressed.”
Sombr, the artist behind the viral TikTok hits “undressed” and “back to friends,” makes his SNL debut as Musical Guest with Host Nikki Glaser. The 20-year-old singer and songwriter has more than four million followers on the video app. He’s even described in an article on the Grammys website as “chronically online,” and famously has a second TikTok account (@sombrsucks) where he posts jokes and sketches aimed at his Gen Z peers. Born in 2005, Boose is actually younger than Kenan Thompson’s 22-year tenure on SNL.
While Sombr’s youth is a cornerstone of his brand so far, he cites musical influences like the late Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Bon Iver, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, and his songs sound unexpectedly timeless for a 20-year-old who spends so much time on the internet.
“All I want is for my best song to be as good as Jeff Buckley’s worst,” he told i-D in September 2025.
His first album, I Barely Know Her was released in August 2025. He won a VMA for the “Back to Friends” video just a few weeks later.
Catch sombr on SNL on November 8 with Host Nikki Glaser. Before he headlines in Studio 8H, here’s everything you need to know about him before he graces the stage.
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What is Sombr’s real name, and where did his stage name come from?
Sombr was born Shane Michael Boose. He explained to 1883 Magazine that the stage name was a combination of his real name and his emotional state.
“It has my initials on it, SMB,” he said. “Also, to be quite honest, I was going through a rough part of my life when I released my first single. Sombr kind of made sense for how I was feeling, and it was also available, like no one had used it, so it just felt right.”
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Sombr’s popular songs include “Back to Friends” and “undressed”
Boose, who writes all of his songs himself, released four singles ahead of “I Barely Know Her.” “Back to Friends” just hit one billion streams on Spotify in October, and was joined by “undressed” on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at no. 12 and 16 respectively.
“12 to 12” and “We Never Dated” both made it onto the Global 200 chart, but it was the former that broke out, thanks to its music video.
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Addison Rae stars in Sombr’s “12 to 12” video
Pop singer Addison Rae stars as Boose’s love interest in the music video for “12 to 12,” which starts on the set of a 1970s-era late night talk show and ends up on a dance floor under a disco ball, with Rae giving it her all. It’s the perfect vibe for a song with lyrics like, “I don’t want anyone else / from the hours of 12 to 12 / I am not the least compelled / by anyone but yourself,” and “In a room full of people, I look for you / Would you avoid me or would you look for me too?“
Watch sombr’s “12 to 12” video here.
The video even features him holding a cue card with some of the lyrics to the song, which he could easily recreate on SNL.
Boose told i-D about his experience getting Rae, who he had not met before, on board for the video.
“It’s, like, Wednesday, and the f—ing music video shoot is on Saturday,” he said. “So I just pull a Hail Mary. I hit them up. It was just so f—ing easy, [her team] were so cool about it. I hopped on a Zoom with Addison and we instantly clicked. I got off that Zoom, I f—ing, like, did a back flip—no Benson Boone.”
Of her performance, he said, “That woman is a f—ing natural,”
He’s currently on his Late Nights and Young Romance tour
Sombr is in the middle of his debut tour, Late Nights and Young Romance. It launched in Dublin, Ireland in May, 2025, and will end in Indio, California at Coachella in April, 2026. Tickets sold out in seconds, and he told i-D that touring is all he wants to do.
“I would pay to be on tour,” he said.
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People think Sombr looks like Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard
You’d be forgiven for thinking sombr is a side project for actor Finn Wolfhard (who is also a musician), until you see them next to each other. The two rising stars proved that they are “not the same person” in this quick video. Not only do they look pretty distinguishable with different haircuts, Wolfhard is clearly a few inches shorter than Boose, whose height is debated online as being between 6’5″ and 6’7″.
Earlier this year, Boose wrote, “It’s so hard being so tall” on an Instagram post, and one of the top comments reads, “They done stretched out the Stranger Things boy.”
Listen, weirder stuff has happened in the Upside Down. Don’t miss sombr on November 8’s SNL at 11:30 ET/10:30c/8:30 PT on NBC and Peacock, streaming next-day on Peacock.
