Benson Boone is not your typical teen idol

In 2021, at 19 years old, he said “no” to American Idol, among the most followed talent shows in the United States. The reason? He would find himself having to play a part. And he didn’t like the idea at all. “It was a very difficult choice. I didn’t want to show the world something I’m not,” he recalls today. But that transition served one thing: it allowed Benson Boone to gain the curiosity – and interest – of Dan Reynolds. Impressed by the talent of the young artist who grew up in Monroe, Washington, multi-instrumentalist capable of playing the piano, guitar and drums, as well as writing great melodiesthe Imagine Dragons frontman decided to take Boone under his wing and help him make his way in the music business.

It wasn’t too difficult: with Reynolds as his bodyguard, the singer-songwriter born in 2002 found himself signing a contract with a multinational, Warner, and .with a handful of songs he managed to become the pop-rock sensation of the moment. Not just in the US, but globally.

This is confirmed by the fact that his latest song, “Beautiful things”, this week occupies the first position on the Billboard 200 Global, which lists the most listened to and downloaded songs worldwide taking into account data from two hundred countries. On Spotify, however, the song is in third place in the Weekly Top Songs Global, the ranking of the most streamed songs on the platform worldwide: in the last week alone it has achieved 34 million streams, surpassing songs like “One of the girls” by The Weeknd, “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift, “My love mine all mine” by Mitski, “Stick season” by Noah Kahan and “Redrum” by 21 Savage. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can listen to “Beautiful things” below. But be careful: don’t expect the classic ballet song on TikTok.

“Beautiful things” is a ballad with rock nuances, which dishevels you. And which is as poignant as her 2019 debut “Ghost Town,” in which she sang: “Maybe you’d be happier with someone else, maybe loving me is the reason you can’t love yourself.” Five years later, the single has 324 million plays on Spotify. The video, in which Benson Boone plays the song with his band on a rocky hill, very 70she totaled in less than a month 17 million views on YouTube “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,” he told Billboard. .The lyrics talk about an all-encompassing love story: “For the first time in my life I felt the terrible feeling of being afraid of losing someone”.

“Beautiful things” became a hit even before its release, when the young American singer-songwriter began publishing clips on TikTok in which he played small portions of the song, then making the audio available on the platform: the videos won everything 130 million views. And while his music surpasses the 2 billion global streamshe is preparing to tour the USA with a tour of his own, despite not having even an album under his belt but only singles: after the US arenas the tour will arrive in Europe in the spring, but at the moment the calendar – it will be May 21st in London, 23rd in Antwerp, 25th in Paris, 26th in Cologne, 28th in Utrecht, 30th in Zurich , on June 1st in Prague, on the 2nd in Warsaw, on the 4th in Berlin, on the 5th in Copenhagen, on the 6th in Stockholm, on the 9th in Oslo and on the 11th in Helsinki – it does not include passages in Italy.