It’s been a peculiar week in music-internet discourse, one that’s left one of Gen Z’s rising stars on the defensive against accusations of vulgarity, immaturity and body-shaming.
A 25-year-old woman named Megan Tomasic attended a Washington D.C. concert by Sombr, the 20-year-old artist behind 12 to 12 and Back to Friends, and later described it on TikTok as “one of the worst experiences of my life.”
What Went Down At Sombr’s Concert?
Her video, which has since exploded online, painted a chaotic portrait of the night: a crowd of “thousands upon thousands of tweens running around like they were at a middle-school dance,” and a performance packed with niche, ‘brain-rot’ jokes, memes and sexual references that, she argued, felt wildly out of place for an audience that young.
So uncomfortable was the “second-hand embarrassment,” she said, that she left before hearing her favourite songs, calling it “the most egotistical performance I have ever seen in my life.” Megan recalled moments when Sombr told fans to “bark for me,” called himself “Daddy,” and made jokes about “getting his dick sucked.”
What seemed to bother her most came after the show. As TikTok teens flooded the comments declaring “the kids are going to be alright,” Megan couldn’t help her bewilderment.
“Slenderman? We’re picking him? We’re picking the weird dancing dude?” she quipped.
How Did Sombr Respond?
The video struck a nerve. Within days, Sombr posted his own response, defending his stage presence and denouncing what he called “a massive body-shaming hate train.” “I totally respect people having opinions,” he said, “but I’m a 20-year-old artist. If you’re 25 and come to my concert without expecting younger fans, that’s a skill issue.”
He argued that his humour was inseparable from his online identity.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’ve never uttered a serious word in my life,” he said. “I make jokes for five minutes of the concert, and the rest is music. Live a little. Enjoy life.”
He ended the video by touching grass, a nod to the internet slang urging chronically online users to step outside and rejoin reality.
Megan later accused Sombr of dodging accountability and amplifying harassment from his fans.
“He called me geriatric for being 25 and ignored everything I actually said,” she told followers. “You know your crowd is young teens, so why are we talking about getting our dicks sucked?”
Sombr’s mix of absurdist humour and viral self-awareness continues to resonate with his young audience, though for others, the moment has raised questions about taste, tone and accountability in the age of algorithmic fame.
His tour runs through November before moving to Australia and New Zealand, ahead of a confirmed Coachella debut next year.
