In the middle of the dust and the loud music of the desert, Alix Earle found a new path. She stood in the California heat on April 11, 2026, and watched a singer named Sombr. By the time his set ended, she knew her heart belonged to a different world. She told her fans on April 16 that her days of dating men on the football field are over, opting instead for a life with a musician who carries a guitar.
Paper trail
This pivot marks a sharp departure from her history, as her social life previously centered on athletic prowess. In 2022, she spent her time with Tyler Wade, a man who knows his way around a baseball diamond. Then came the summer of 2023, which started a long run with Braxton Berrios, the wide receiver who played for both the Miami Dolphins and the Houston Texans.
Their story lasted nearly two years before it ended in December 2025. But the jerseys are now in the past, a fact made clear during her recent festival appearance.
Pulling the shades
Walking through the festival grounds brings back ghosts, and Alix admitted that seeing her ex-boyfriend again felt very strange. It is a feeling many know well when running into an old flame in a crowded room. Rather than letting the encounter stall her momentum, she laughed about her history with DJs and joked about her move toward the stage. She is ready to be a groupie for the right person, focusing her attention on the rising talent she witnessed in the desert.
Did you know?
Sombr is not just a name; he is the face of a new indie wave hitting the charts. During the first weekend of Coachella 2026, he performed on the same day as global icons like Justin Bieber, while the venue at the Empire Polo Club saw record crowds for these afternoon sets. Data on Billboard explains why a rockstar captures the imagination; for a girl who lives her life on TikTok, the rhythm of a song fits better than the score of a game. This shift in her taste became the primary topic of conversation at the Safari Campgrounds all weekend.
The Radical Case for Stage Presence Over Scoreboards
The argument for this transition is simple: why should a queen of the internet settle for a locker room? Athletes have strict schedules and very early bedtimes, whereas rockstars live for the night, just like the people who film their lives for millions of followers. Because a guitar solo lasts forever on a playlist, while a touchdown is forgotten by the next Sunday, the glitz of the stage is the logical next step for someone with Earle's reach.
It is time to trade the jerseys for leather jackets, as a rockstar understands the power of a loud microphone in a way a quiet athlete never could.
This is the match the digital world has been waiting to see.
