Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - BONUS: Benson Boone on NZ, Backflips, and American Idol

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

Benson Boon is a super-talented singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist - and the only person who's done a backflip during an interview with Jono and Ben. Benson, who was a diver at school, deep dives into why he walked away from American Idol, working with Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons, and how Ikea Furniture isn't built for backflips. He's a great guy, enjoy the chat!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus podcast from Jono and Ben on The Hits. He's coming to New Zealand, October 2nd, Churning Fork in Auckland, and we caught up with Benson Boone yesterday over Zoom. What up, boys? What up, Benson? I like it. You've come with a lot of energy. Nice to talk to you. Hey, nice to talk to you guys. Now, I'm always interested to know what room we're in here.

Where are we in Benson's house? I'm just in, I just call it the room. It's just the room. Yeah. I've got like a little air mattress in here instead of a couch because my couch broke. I got it at Ikea and apparently Ikea, you can't do backflips on their couches. Oh, a backflip. So hold on, mate. You're a bloody international superstar.

You've got an airbed for a couch? Yeah. You're saying all the right things you said you did a backflip but now you're a diver through high school is that still you know like something you can do quite well yeah i do i do backflips literally probably every day at least once can we see one don't make him we see one he's broken a couch no here we go we're gonna see backflip let's go mateez. This could end horribly wrong. Why have you made him do this?

Here we go. Benson. Benson. Keevo, you've got a fan behind you. This is all like a literal fan in the ceiling. Let's go, buddy. Oh! Damn it!

Wow! Listen, we have interviewed a lot of people, and none of them have done backflips for us. That is incredible. Benson. First one. That's amazing. wow we have interviewed a lot of people and none of them have done backflips for us that is incredible that's amazing well Benson I was reading

Frontier Touring we got the press release they say they're pumped to have you coming to New Zealand Australia New Zealand

are you pumped I am absolutely beyond pumped I actually have two of my best friends there right now they've been telling me to dream.

I really hope I can stay there. Oh, listen, we can sneak you into the country, mate. You don't need a work visa. We'll keep you here. You can stay out. You can sleep on my earpiece. Oh, that's honestly probably better than this. It feels like we're getting to know you here in New Zealand

and looking into what you've done. You've already achieved so much, but one of the big things you went on American Idol, Perry was like this guy could win the competition and then you decided not for me why was that you know when I was on the show and don't get me wrong like I had a blast on the show everyone was great the judges were great producers all of it but you know I kind of felt like everyone that was there it was like a big dream of theirs to be there. And to me, like I had only been singing for a year. It wasn't really necessarily like my biggest goal to be a singer.

And so I just kind of didn't know if I was there for the right reasons. So I stepped away from the show so that I could figure that out on my own. And if I was going to be a musician, then I would just break myself as an artist instead of taking a step in a direction that I'm unsure of. That is a big call to make. It definitely was very scary to step away and I didn't know what I wanted to do and how it was going to work and if it was going to work.

But after I stepped away, i guess destiny took its course and dan reynolds from imagine dragons reached out to me the week after and he was like hey i would love to write music with you and see kind of what your vibe is so you should come to vegas and write and i was like did you believe that at first that that's the guy from imagine dragons reaching out to you and going hey no i i could believe it. And he has so many hits. It is unbelievable. Like Imagine Dragons is huge, but he is the nicest human being ever.

Like he truly cares about everyone and just like makes you feel like you're the most important person in the world. And it's a great feeling to be in his presence. So I'm so glad that he reached out. We're talking to Benson Boone. He's coming to New Zealand, playing at the Tuning Fork. It's feeling to be in his presence. So I'm so glad that he reached out. We're talking to Benson Boone. He's coming to New Zealand, playing at the Tuning Fork. It's going to be awesome.

Now, I don't know if you've heard of Mills and Boone. They write sort of adult erotic fiction. So I wanted to play a quick game. You're quite young. It was kind of the closest thing to pornography we had. We had to read porn. Back in our day, mate. So what I wanted to do, I wanted to read out a line.

You tell me if it's from Benson Boone, yourself, from a song, or from Mills and Boone, from a novel. Okay? Here we go. Our bodies, our bodies interlaced, so delicately placed. That's me. That's you. That's you.

I was going to pick it was from the erotic novel. Work of art, work of art Benson Boone, there you go Okay, anything you desire I'm ready, willing and able As the host pipe said to the fire Is that Benson Boone or Mills and Boone? That's Mills

Champagne Mills and Boone That's the sort of stuff that gets me hot and steamy Okay, it's's dark It's cold If my hand is not the one You're meant to hold That's Benson Boone That's Benson Boone Yeah

Okay It's good you can remember The lyrics you've written Or else this game would be Yeah I'd be quite concerned If you couldn't I would too Okay

The sexy stubble And those deeply intelligent Looking eyes He really added an extra something To my daily commute Is that from you Or is that from that was from benson okay and one last one oh it hurts but it should it hurts so good because the best kind

of love scars deep that's me though you take it out of context you know you could be writing for a milson bird i know when you said the first one it took me a little bit i was like oh that's That's me, though. That's you. Take it out of context. You could be writing for a Mills and Boone. I know. When you said the first one, it took me a little bit. I was like, oh, that's a sexy line. That's a sexy line. You're a sexy guy. Benson, mate, it's been very fun hanging out with you.

You seem like such a great dude. Good luck for everything, and well done on all the success so far. We can't wait to see you in New Zealand. Thank you so much, Jono and Ben. I can't wait to be there and I'll have to update you how my trip was. That's very cool, isn't he? Benson Bowen, catch him in October 2nd,

tuning for Auckland. You've been listening to a podcast from The Hits. For more audio, search up Megan Pappas on the 3pm pickup or Brad and Laura on The Hits. Available now on the iHeartRadio app.