Songfacts®:

• "12 to 12" finds Sombr (real name Shane Boose) spiraling through emotional whiplash over someone who appears to be enjoying his torment. From midnight to midnight, he's hung up on his unrequited feelings for a girl. She seems to delight in keeping him out of reach.
• On the chorus, Sombr practically pleads for signs of life in the relationship: Is there anything here to save? Spoiler: probably not.
• Verse two includes a little Gallic flair. "Comment ça se fait?" he wonders, which loosely translates to "How come?" They first met, we learn, in a Paris café, which is where you'd expect a cinematic love story - or emotional carnage - to begin.
• "12 to 12" builds on the romantic confusion, unrequited longing and heartbreak themes that defined Sombr's earlier work such as "Back To Friends," "Undressed," and "We Never Dated," but trades soft introspection and subtle arrangements for a shimmering, driving dance-pop sound.
  
  Sombr told Firebird magazine that emotional damage has always been his muse. "Hard times and depressing situations seem to be made better by writing and singing songs about them," he said. That's always been my inspiration. Relationships, breakups inspire Sombr music."
• Sombr wrote the song himself and co-produced it with longtime collaborator Tony Berg, whose résumé includes work with Phoebe Bridgers and Andrew Bird.
• In the video, directed by Gus Black (Lizzy McAlpine's "Ceilings," Corey Kent's "This Heart), Sombr plays a smitten Hollywood hotshot losing his grip over a disco hottie played by Addison Rae. She twirls under a mirrorball, tossing him just enough looks to keep him emotionally hostage. It ends in a neon-lit photo booth, where the kiss almost happens; a fitting metaphor for the song's whole thesis: close, but never quite.
• Sombr's collaboration with Addison Rae on the video came together almost overnight. He reached out just days before filming, and Rae surprised him by choreographing all of her own moves on set.
• Sombr cut "12 to 12" for his Warner Records debut, I Barely Know Her. He started each track at home before completing them at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. Sombr told Billboard he usually had a song "50 to 70%" finished before teaming up with co-producer Tony Berg for the polish.
  
  For Sombr, the process is like expanding his toolbox; the bedroom sparks the idea and the studio blows it wide open with instruments, pedals, and old-school recording gear. "When I first got into a real studio, I suddenly had access to so many different instruments, microphones, pedals," Sombr said. "I learned a lot about the more traditional way of recording music, and my whole world opened up."
• Sombr made his Saturday Night Live debut on November 8, 2025, performing two songs. He opened with "12 to 12," accompanied by a full band, before rendering "Back To Friends."