You mentioned writing songs with a bridge. In general, your songs are really well structured. How do they come together?
I always start with a verse or a chorus. I’ll write one, and then I’ll write the other, and then I need a bridge. I can’t make a song without a bridge. In my opinion, a song without a bridge is not a song; it’s an idea. If I went into Tony’s studio with a song without a bridge, he would refuse to produce it, which is why I like Tony. He’s genuine. He can make a shit ton of money on me, but if I went in without a bridge, he would still refuse to produce that song. So my goal with every song is to write the best bridge that I’ve written so far. I definitely challenge myself the most on a bridge.
I’ve heard something super similar from the members of Squeeze. Have you spent any time diving into Tony’s back catalog?
No idea who that is! No hate to Tony, but I literally only know him from Phoebe Bridgers’s stuff.
Your album is called I Barely Know Her, which is kind of an old person’s joke, right? Like, “Sombr? I barely know her!”
I love it because it can be a joke, but it can also mean so many things. It could be like, “I barely even know her, I just met her.” Or it can be like, “Oh, maybe I barely knew her at all.” So I love that you can interpret it however you want. And of the different tracks on the record, some may be “I barely know her,” the joke, and some may be “I barely know her,” but serious.
How did you start writing love songs?
I feel like as long as I’ve been writing songs, they’ve been love songs. I think they’re the most commonly written type of song. I’ve been lucky to not lose a close family member or go through much. Love is all I have to write about in my life—until something else happens, it’s going to be love songs.
