Taylor Swift Praises Sombr’s Songwriting, Says Male Vulnerability Helps Women Artists

Taylor Swift is championing a new voice in confessional songwriting. In a recent interview with The New York Times Magazine, conducted as part of the publication's 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters feature. Swift singled out rising singer-songwriter Sombr for his raw, emotionally direct lyricism.

"I'm a massive Sombr fan, of his songwriting," Swift said. "And his lyrics are so intensely confessional: 'I don't want another man's child to have the eyes of the girl I can't forget.' Are you kidding me?"

Swift, who cited the line from Sombr's 2025 track "Undressed," argued that vulnerable male songwriting has broader cultural implications for how female artists are received. "Having a male artist say stuff like that is really good for the cause of women to be able to say stuff," she said. "If there's any way we can make confessional songwriting a little bit more of something that isn't like people take it as you being messy. You have to be fair to everyone then."

The praise marks an escalation of Swift's public support for Sombr, the 20-year-old New York singer-songwriter behind the debut album I Barely Know Her. In an October 2025 interview, Swift had already called him "amazing" alongside a handful of other artists she said she streams regularly at home.

Swift's endorsement appears to have translated into a personal connection. According to a December 2025 Billboard interview, Swift gifted Sombr a four-leaf clover necklace, which he wore during the Zoom chat. He declined to share the full story out of deference to Swift but offered a glimpse into the gesture's meaning.

"But it was, like, the sweetest message and very, very selfless of her to give me this," he said at the time, though he declined to share the full story behind the gift.

Sombr closed out 2025 with a GRAMMY nomination for best new artist and a debut on Saturday Night Live, capping a breakout year that saw "Back to Friends" crack the Billboard Hot 100's top 10 and I Barely Know Her reach the Billboard 200's top 10.