Sombr Talks Dropping Out of High School to Chase His Dreams and Reveals 2 Rom-Coms That’ve Inspired His Music (Exclusive)

• Sombr details the vision behind his newly released “Back to Friends” music video
• Sombr opens up about dropping out of high school in New York — and how his parents responded to it
• Sombr shares his biggest musical inspirations — and the artist he most wishes to collaborate with

Though he’s only 19 years old, Sombr has big plans for his future.

He dropped out of high school when he was 17 to pursue music full time — and now dreams of being “the biggest artist in the world.” Speaking with PEOPLE, Sombr opened up about his high school experience, the inspiration behind his music and lyricism and the song that changed his life.

“The first song that changed my life is this song, ‘Caroline.’ I made it when I was in high school, and I got bullied for doing music, and then I posted that song… I was like, ‘This is the best song I made.’ I made a video and I posted it one night and just went to bed,” Sombr (born Shane Boose) tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“The next morning, my life was changed. Every record label was in my email inbox,” he continues, adding that “when it worked for me, I definitely felt like some people started hating me.”

After this, the “Undressed” singer — who attended LaGuardia High School in New York as a vocal major — decided to drop out of school with his parents’ blessing.

“My mom wasn’t too happy. I think my dad was more supportive, but it was just like, ‘This is all I wanted to do. Why should I go to school and delay the whole thing when it’s happening now?'” he explains.

For Sombr, music was always in the cards. He was 10 years old when he wrote his first song and recalls playing with different beats on Logic Pro.

“Ever since I started making music, I was like, ‘I want to find a way to do music full time,’ so that was always in my head, always. I would be in school, I’d be in the back of class either sleeping or on my iPad, writing music,” he says.

Growing in New York, music was “everywhere” — and he believes it shaped the artist he is today. Some of his biggest inspirations include Radiohead, Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridges and Jeff Buckley.

When he’s writing, however, he draws from movies and personal experience.

“It’s definitely pieces of different relationships I’ve had or even nights,” he says. “And then there’s definitely inspiration from certain movies like The Notebook or Call Me By Your Name.”

Most recently, Sombr released the music video to his hit song “Back to Friends,” which features a massive party scene.

“I’d say the huge thing that really gets me is when you see someone that you’ve been through so much with — like you’ve seen their most vulnerable parts, they’ve seen my most vulnerable parts, and seeing them after things end — and they look at you like they don’t know you anymore,” he begins.

“I wanted to recreate that feeling at a party with all these people you know, and you see someone who was once everything to you. And just that feeling, that’s what I wanted to capture,” Sombr adds of the music video.

While “Caroline” is the song that started it all, “Back to Friends” took things to the next level. This week, the song debuted on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart.

Now, Sombr — who has since moved to Los Angeles and is on tour with Daniel Seavey — dreams of headlining Madison Square Garden and having a No. 1 song. He also hopes to collaborate with Billie Eilish.

He admits, “I want to die and have people be like, ‘Wow, his music was great. I wish he didn’t die.'”

Watch the music video for “Back to Friends” here.