Sombr calls Selena

If you know anyone under 20, or if you have friends who have kids under 20, chances are you’re rolling your eyes at 6-7 and “glazing” and also, you’ve heard of Sombr. Sombr has made me quite happy the last couple of days because it’s an opportunity for this old bitch to cringe back at Gen Z and Alpha who are constantly cringing at us. 

To be clear, I don’t have strong feelings about Sombr’s music either way, a few songs are fine, others are forgettable. That doesn’t distinguish him from any new artists in the industry. Sombr will be the musical guest on SNL on November 8, the show’s latest attempt to reach out to a younger audience, and this is smart. Maybe the reason he’s gone viral this week will come full circle during his episode. 

Sombr does a bit during his shows where he invites someone in the audience to call their ex. The other night, instead of having a fan call their ex, he said he was going to call his ex, Selena Gomez. Not really his ex but I guess he was flexing that he had her number? Unclear. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is what happened when he called. 

@destoryofmylife1

@sombr called @benny blanco instead of @Selena Gomez on stage at his concert in San Francisco on Oct 27th, 2025 #sombr #sombrcallbennyblanco #sombrconcert #bennyblanco #selenagomez @sombrsucks @dailysombr @sombr vids @sombrsouls

♬ original sound - storyd

If you can’t make out what is said – Benny Blanco answers the phone and doesn’t want to play. And even if this was previously planned, and they were trying to do some kind of “comedy”, the reaction has not been to laugh but to be embarrassed for him. The embarrassment has nothing to do with the fact that he tried to call Selena and Benny picked up, pre-planned or not, because if it wasn’t pre-planned it’s awkward and if it was, it just isn’t funny. There are reasons why there are proper writers who work on shows like The Office. And there are reasons why people can make things funny after editing the sh-t out of something on TikTok but not when they go live. 

Am I the target market for Sombr’s brand of most popular kid at theatre camp? Of course not. But this is the poetry of it all, right? Sombr is 20 years old. His fans are that age, or younger. And everyone has to grow up and be mortified by the sh-t they did when they weren’t so grown. So the cringe always comes back around. You can be 15 and cringing at the olds… but the olds know that nothing is worse than when get to the point where you look back and cringe at yourself. 

The bigger question for Sombr is how that looks for his career. Will his audience grow with him? Teenagers are fickle. What they love at 15 is not what they love at 25. And the challenge for every artist who starts out early is whether or not their fans want to evolve with them. Sombr show tickets are not expensive, comparatively, right now. At the lower end, before resale obviously, it is possible to get a seat for under $100 – and in these times, that’s very reasonable. Paying that price to see an artist do some goofy sh-t like calling another celebrity as a joke goes down a lot easier than having that happen when you’ve unloaded a few hundred, or more. And, frankly, that’s about right for a teenager. In this stage of their lives, as they continue to figure out their own taste, he’s performing at the right level of quality and meeting his audience where they are. In five years or so, if he’s still around, it’ll be interesting to see what changes. 

---

What else happened today…

“Couture bee keeper” is such a great way to describe Laverne Cox’s headpiece. (Go Fug Yourself)

Frankie Muniz is giving some people the gossip nostalgia that they want with a story about Hilary Duff. (Pajiba)

Chris Evans and Alba Baptista are new parents and I’m sure his fans will be totally normal about this. (Celebitchy)

Very happy for Cyndi Lauper that she’s being inducted into the Rock Hall and they’ve just announced the artist who will be there to honour her. But as MC would say, I can also still be salty that the Rock Hall has passed Mariah Carey over … TWICE! (Vulture)

I’ve sat in the exit row many times on flights and always respond verbally when I’m asked if I would be willing to do the door latch thing in the unlikely event an emergency. To be honest, I didn’t know that the verbal response rule was a thing until today. I answer with my voice because I think it’s rude to not say something back to a flight attendant in those situations. Anyway, a man who deliberately chose not to reply with his voice on a recent flight f-cked around and found out. (The Mary Sue)