Benson Boone: a record to prove he's not a meteor

It takes courage to release a debut album in the era in which Beyoncé And Taylor Swift are preparing to fight the armageddon of pop by competing for the top of the charts with their respective works. But Benson Boone, the singer of “Beautiful things”, one of the most impactful hits of this early 2024, does not lack courage.

In 2019, he who had never sung in front of anyone other than his image reflected in the mirror of the bedroom where he grew up in Monroe, Washington, didn't think twice when his musician friends, entered in a band competition emerging, they were about to be thrown out because the singer had stood them up: Benson armed himself with courage and proposed to replace him. Result: they won. “It was like unlocking something I didn't know I had: the most beautiful experience ever,” he recalls today. Two years later the production of .American Idol, the most followed talent show in the USA. Somehow her voice had ended up in the ears of the program's scouts. The auditions in front of superstars such as Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan also went well. But When it came time to sign the papers to join the cast, Boone took a step back: “I didn't want to show the world something I'm not,” he will say. The winner of that edition, a certain Chayce Beckham, has already been lost overseas. Benson Boone, however, in these three years he has collected 6 platinum albums and 5 gold albums in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France and New Zealand: his music surpasses the 2 billion global streams across platforms.

“Fireworks & rollerblades”, this is the title of the long-distance debut album of the new prince of pop-rock made in the USA, will arrive on streaming platforms all over the world at the stroke of midnight. It is a record with which Benson Boone will try to chase away the shadow ofone hit wonder, after the resounding success of the single “Beautiful things”. The target? Prove that you are not just a meteor. Served by hitmakers of the caliber of Jason Evigan, Captain Cuts, Dan Farber, Malay, David Hodges, Imad Royal and the TMS trio (Tom Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete Kellehe), already alongside the pop superstars of the new and less new generation, from Lizzo to Madonnafrom Halsey to Christina Aguilerafrom Lorde to the Maroon 5, the 21-year-old American singer-songwriter recounts the last two years of his life, the most exciting, in the fifteen songs included on the album. The album, he says, “It's a roller coaster of emotions”.

When he released “Beautiful things” in January, expectations around the single were not great at all: “For every song I had released before that, I had to earn every single stream by working hard. I had posted videos and done every type of promotion I could. But with 'Beautiful things' it was different: the song, a week after its release, took off on its own. It's the first time I've experienced something like this,” she says. The song has been one of the most listened to worldwide on Spotify for the week, with over 460 million total streams accumulated from release to date (in our country he is currently the most listened to international artist on Spotify).

“I wrote it on my grandmother's old piano when I first moved to Los Angeles last September. I had it brought to my apartment. One night I couldn't sleep, so I started playing the piano and the melody of 'Beautiful things' came out. The next day I had a session scheduled with my producers and I took her to the studio,” she says.

As an outsider, he has already brought home a first undertaking. Over the Channel “Beautiful things” has been the most streamed song on the platforms in the last seven days, with 5.4 million clicks in total. Beyoncé with “Texas hold 'em”, despite the hype linked to the release of the “Cowboy Carter” album, had to settle for third place. In a month and a half the train will depart from the United Kingdom European tour, which will see him perform on the stages of theaters in Antwerp, Paris, Cologne, Utrecht, Zurich, Prague, Warsaw, Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki: first date, May 21st at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London. The thirteen dates – no visits to Italy for now – are all already sold out.