Benson Boone

“I have such an eager mindset, where I’m always now, now, now: What’s going to happen right now? How are people going to react right now? What can I get right now?” Benson Boone told Apple Music, unapologetic in his honest motivation. Boone (born in 2002 in Monroe, WA) bet on himself and hit big in the early 2020s. After leaving Brigham Young University—Idaho to pursue his music career, the singer-songwriter tried out for American Idol, but he left the competition after making it past the talent show’s auditions. Trading the small screen of TV for the hand-sized screens of social media, he began posting videos online and Imagine Dragons lead vocalist Dan Reynolds took notice, signing Boone to his label Night Street Records. Boone’s early singles were emotion-packed piano ballads—the sweeping debut single “GHOST TOWN,” the swirling 2022 cut “In the Stars”—but plugging in proved to be a winning strategy. His modern power ballad “Beautiful Things,” released in early 2024, was an online sensation before it became a global megahit, reaching the US Top 10 and readying the world for Boone’s debut full-length, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which came out that spring. The 2025 follow-up American Heart further emphasized Boone’s exuberant style—leaving plenty of beats for back-flipping performances. Yet he’s not unwilling to change. “The music you hear from me right now probably won’t be the music you hear from me in 10 years. But I think I’ve finally found a version of my music that I really, really, really love.”