Sombr - I Barely Know Her
I’m sure plenty of people have already joked about Sombr’s debut album I Barely Know Her by saying “well, I barely know him.” But in my case, I can say it sincerely.
Somehow, almost all of his pre-release singles — which went viral on TikTok — passed me by. I only knew one track beforehand, which actually gave me the advantage of approaching this debut with a fresh perspective. Whether that worked as an advantage for Sombr himself is another story.
The new TikTok sensation presents a 37-minute record released on Warner’s SMB label. Let’s start with the positives: for a male pop artist, Sombr does sound somewhat interesting. There’s a rock-ish edge in his vocals, a delivery that nods to retro stylings, and at moments even a flavor reminiscent of early-2000s rock bands. That blend makes him stand out, and it explains why he quickly became one of the year’s notable newcomers. Pre-release singles like “Back to Friends” and “12 to 12” are catchy enough and deserve their place on the charts. They’re far from the worst things occupying the upper ranks for months on end. With songs like these, one could have expected a solid debut album. And that’s where I Barely Know Her went south.
Instead, the album falls into the typical trap of TikTok-era debuts: a handful of viral singles padded out into a full-length with little consideration beyond speed and quantity. What we get instead is Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V ten times in a row — ten tracks with the same vocal treatment and the same song structures. And it’s not that this monotonous sameness is some kind of sacrifice for a concept or a story. It just sounds like no one really cared, leaving us with an album that feels like one long, dragged-out track existing for the sake of existing.
But the weakest part of the album is the lyrics. Of course, Sombr is only 20, and I don’t expect existential philosophy in the love/breakup songs of someone his age, but the writing here is painfully shallow and, at times, even painful to hear. Each track feels built around a single quote-like phrase, as if no one bothered to rewrite or develop it further. I don’t even want to give a full paragraph to “I Wish I Knew How To Quit You”, which steals one of cinema’s most iconic LGBTQ+ lines from Brokeback Mountain and repurposes it in a completely unrelated heterosexual context. Just why?
Still, this is not the worst debut I’ve ever heard. The singles hinted at an artist worth rooting for, someone with potential to grow beyond TikTok hype. But I Barely Know Her embodies the broader problem in today’s pop landscape: a lack of effort. These songs could have stayed as standalone singles while a more thoughtful record was built around them. Instead, what we got is a lazy, distortion-and-reverb-soaked project that frames Sombr not as an exciting new voice, but as a small, unremarkable artist with very little to say.
Of course, TikTok momentum will carry this record to respectable streaming numbers. But behind the inflated stats, what we’re left with is an overproduced and uninspired debut.
5.7/10
