On his most recent single, “My Body Isn’t Ready,” sombr gets vulnerable about his body image — something he opened up about more deeply in a new interview with Variety published Wednesday (Aug. 5).
In his conversation for the publication’s Power of Young Hollywood issue, the 21-year-old pop star touched on why he feels it’s important for him to be completely honest about his feelings in his music, even when it’s on a song that’s as personal as “Body” is. The track dropped in late June and finds sombr singing, “I like you, but my body isn’t ready/ I want you, but the mirror won’t let me.”
“I want people who look up to me that might not be happy about their body image to understand that I’m not always happy about my body image,” he told Variety. “I saw a comment today that was like, ‘I’m so glad that my favorite artist goes through the same things that I go through.’ That made me want to cry.”
The New York native went on to discuss one big reason his relationship to his body is complicated. “I have issues with eating,” he explained. “Sometimes I do not like eating, and it makes me want to throw up to eat. I can never choose what to eat. I never crave anything.”
“It’s a weird thing I have,” he continued. “Most of the time before shows I’m literally eating against my will, so I have enough energy to get through the show. It’s been my lifelong struggle.”
In his rise to stardom starting with the success of 2024 single “Back to Friends” — which climbed to a peak of No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 this past January — sombr has not been immune to invasive public discourse surrounding his appearance. The musician’s figure is admittedly striking, standing well over 6 feet tall with a slim build. “That’s ‘My Body Isn’t Ready,’ you know?” he added of his apathy toward food in the interview, laughing. “That’s why my body is like that.”
In October, a person on TikTok went viral with a video criticizing Sombr’s performance style and likening his physical appearance to “Slenderman.” The Grammy nominee responded at the time with his own video calling the latter remark “a massive body-shaming hate train,” adding, ““You guys need to find problematic people to hate on, because I am just existing.”
This year, sombr has also released the singles “Homewrecker” and “Potential,” both of which charted on the Hot 100. His debut album I Barely Know Her peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 in September.
The star’s conversation with Variety comes shortly after he helped the Songwriters Hall of Fame induct Taylor Swift by performing “Cardigan” and “Dear John” at the 2026 ceremony, during which the Eras Tour headliner also sang sombr’s praises during her speech. According to him, he couldn’t even look at Swift in the audience as he was singing her songs.
“If I looked at her for three seconds during the performance, my mind would have completely blanked because that’s Taylor Swift,” sombr told Variety. “That’s a goddess. I remember looking at her for a split second while performing and almost losing it, but then I looked away.”
