Sombr was chosen by one of his celebrity fans -- Taylor Swift -- to perform her songs as she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a June ceremony in New York City. Now, he tells Variety that he spent the performance desperately trying to keep himself from looking at Taylor as he sang.
"If I looked at her for three seconds during the performance, my mind would have completely blanked because that’s Taylor Swift,” he says of his performance of her songs "Cardigan" and "Dear John." “That’s a goddess. I remember looking at her for a split second while performing and almost losing it, but then I looked away.”
Taylor was pleased with the performance, declaring, "Sombr is the future."
As for how Sombr got the gig, when he found out that Taylor had praised him in an interview, he sent a thank-you note; she sent him back a letter and a necklace, and now they're pals. "I freaked out and fangirled. And somehow I haven’t f***** it up,” he says of their friendship.
So what's their relationship like now? "I don’t know if I want to get too into it. I don’t want to talk about her without her permission,” he tells Variety. But he definitely approves of Taylor's husband.
"I f****** love Travis Kelce,” he says. “That guy is the nicest guy ever.”
Sombr will start a run of European festival shows on Aug. 11, and then return to North America in September for more dates.
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