Switched on Pop - The Benson Boone-Doggle

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

In which we explore the unlikely rise, and surprising backlash against, one Benson Boone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're tired of endless scrolling to figure out where to eat, same. I'm Stephanie Wu, editor-in-chief of Eater. We've just launched the new-ish and way better Eater app. It has all the restaurants we love, gives you personalized picks wherever you are, and serves up smarter search results just for you. You can find my list of the best places for martinis and fries in New York City. And save your favorite spots, share lists, follow editors, and book right in the app. Download the eater app at eaterapp.com.

It's free for iOS users. Welcome to Switched-on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm a songwriter, Charlie Harding. Charlie, I have great news. Ooh, what's that? Hate is back in pop. Hooray!

Why is that great news? For too long, we have been forced to exude positivity in the name of post-genre pop-domism. embracing all sounds and listeners expanding the inclusivity of pop. I'm happy to report, Charlie, that this reign of terror is over. Do-eyed optimism is out and snark is in. Who is this musicologist? Darth Sloan? Who have you replaced?

This is Darknate. And who do we have to thank for this resurgence of rapacity? Okay, I'm reaching my limit here. Perez Hilton, Popheads? Who is it? It is Benson Boone. Yelling Man himself. That's his mega hit Beautiful Things, which was released back in January, 24, and is still on the charts today, a year and a half later.

And for a certain subset of listeners, hearing this beautiful song brings up some dark thoughts. Explain. Rolling Stone has described Boone as swaggerless. New Music Express calls him, Gloopy. Pitchfork says he is fundamentally boring. Ooh, pot shot. In the face of this flood of flagellation, Boone remains undaunted. He's got a brand new album out, in fact, called American Heart.

So I feel like this is a great opportunity because personally, when I see someone in pop just absorbing so much execration, I'm immediately intrigued. You've been hitting the Thesaurus real hard, haven't you? Well, it's like I'm a rubbernecker. at a car accident. You know, I want to know, is it really that bad? And if so, is it the music? Or is it something extra musical? Something that this five-foot-eight mulleted and mustachioed ex-Morman represents to these critics. That's what I really want to find out, Charlie. So will you come on this journey of generally bad music with me? Okay, see, I'm tapping out. I'm failing.

Yeah, this is not your forte. I feel like you're putting us. in a real boondoggle, if you will, trying to make the show go negative. But if we must, I'll give it a try. We're not going negative. We're going to examine the negativity. And yes, take a little titillating pleasure in it as well, certainly.

But ultimately, we are passive observers here. Okay, okay. And yes, I heard your boondoggle, and I begrudgingly accept that it's a very clever alliterative pun. So, thank you. I'll try this with you. I don't fully accept that we'll be passive. of observers, but let's see what happens. All right, we'll see. Who is Benson Boone? That's the first thing

we have to address here. I would like to know because I feel like a few months ago, never heard of this guy, and there are few new stars that have been minted so quickly as Benson Boone. He is 23 years old. He hails from Monroe, Washington. He dropped out of Brigham Young University after one semester to pursue music. In 2021, he was on... American Idol. And he got to the second stage of the competition and then kind of in a rare move for that show. He said, you know what? I'm out of here. He stepped out. He was like, I feel him pretty good about, you know, how I performed here and I'm just going to go do my own thing. I feel like that's going on who wants to be a millionaire and being like, all right, Regis, I've made it to $10,000. I'm pleased.

I don't need a million. Do you want to hear a little bit of Beds and Boone on American Idol? what gave him that confidence to leave the competition? Yeah, we should. Yeah, I didn't know I could sing before a year ago, so I don't know where it came from. You know what I did, but I just sung it bad with my friends, but I don't know. It's become a really big passion of mine really quickly, and so I auditioned. There's some nice moments, a diversity of vocal stylings, a lot of cursive singing, little pitchy. You know, I always tell my students that you need to have an unearned amount of self-confidence

to be a star. And he's definitely giving that. Lionel Richie and Company, eat it up. They love this kid. Oh, yeah? Even though, as we learned, you know, he only started singing a year ago. And so perhaps fueled by their enthusiasm, he says, you know what? I'm going to go off on my own.

And it pays off. He is signed by Dan Reynolds, the front man of Imagine Dragons to Reynolds' Warner Brothers label. imprint. Benson Boone starts doing a lot of TikToks as one must in the 21st century. And he starts to get a little momentum. He releases his first single in 2021. It's called Ghost Town. We still have that cursive singing style we heard in his American Idol audition, where you don't quite fully pronounce all of the consonants. And you do a lot of diphthongization on the vowels down. Dan, Dan, that kind of thing. You know what I'm talking about.

We did a whole episode about it. Go check it out. Yes. This song does crack the Billboard Hot 100. Number 100. That's where it goes. It does very well in the country of Norway, where it hits number one for some reason. Whoa.

But we do have to wait a number of years until January 2024 for Boone to really saturate the culture. And that's when the song we listened to at the very start of this episode, Beautiful Things comes out. That song peaks at number two on the Hot 100, hits number one in 19 other countries. He opens for Taylor Swift on the Eros tour. And in April, his debut album, Fireworks and Roller Blades comes out. Fireworks and Roller Blades? Such Americana. It comes from a line in one of his songs, the simile, I'm paraphrasing, you move me like a fireworks strap to a rollerblade. Oh, okay. And then, In a very Benson Boone move, he literalizes that image by making the cover of the album, him roller skating with fireworks attached to his rollerblades.

It's like, okay, we get it. You're right. It's so hard to be a passive observer, Charlie. I can't help but let a little snark sneak in. It's very literal. So now it's a little over a year later. It's summer 2025. And Benson Boone has a new album.

It's called American Heart. and the pressure is on. He needs to match the success of beautiful things, which is a tall order. And then on top of that, there's all this criticism that's been swirling around him, you know? So he has a lot to overcome. Can he do it? Let's listen. The first single off American Heart is a song we mentioned briefly in our chartbreakers episode from a while back.

It's called Sorry I'm Here for Someone Else. I'm sorry I'm here for someone. else but it's good to see your face and I really hope you're doing well I hope you're doing well that one's grown on me I agree I think this is a lovely song it's got a lyrical concept that you haven't quite heard before this idea of running into an ex at a bar restaurant and sort of having that moment of what could have been, but now I'm with someone else. And I don't know that that's been explored in pop before, so I'm into it. He's got an angle. We've got some chapelrone-esque cheerleading chants leading into the first verse. Yeah. But the song really comes alive when we get

to the chorus because he and his co-writers on most of his first album and his second album, Evan Blair and Jack LaFrance, they switch up the beat. What happened there? We had this fast tempo. One, two, three, four. Then we got to the start of the chorus and all the instrumentation dropped out. So we still feel that pulse. Right. Underneath, but we're not actually hearing it. And then when the beat does come back in, it's at half the speed. Right. Boom. Cha. Boom. instead of da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da and it's really sort of pleasurable and disorienting and unusual yeah and I think it supports the meaning of this song because it kind of like freezes this moment in time when

these people encounter each other and it becomes very cinematic I think it's not totally unprecedented happens in aha's take on me take on me Charlie ah I could kiss you through the screen right now thanks Slowing it down is powerful. It's a different thing, but Funs We Are Young does something similar where the chorus is significantly slower than the verses before it. I feel like sometimes slowing down

has that cinematic quality of like zooming the lens in really close so that you have to pay attention to that moment. It's powerful. So we're bully on, sorry I'm here for somebody else, but that's just one track, Charlie. Let's listen to three more to see if Benson Boone can keep the hits. coming. Let's listen to his second single, Mystical Magical. This song reminds me of Harry Stiles' watermelon sugar. A song when I first heard it, I was like,

this is the stupidest lyric I've ever heard. It's total pop confection. And yet the second or third time you try it, you're like, I'd like to have a little bit more. You know what I'm saying? Lots of repetition, simple chords, kind of like laid back dance vibe. I feel like Mystical magical has that same kind of quality. The first time I heard mystical magical, I was like, okay, maybe that's an obvious little lyrical turn of phrase. Then he says it again. And I'm like, why you're repeating yourself so much? And then I hear the hook again for the second or third time, and I'm feeling mystical and magical. It has a way of working its way into you. Well, I'm moved by the Harry Stiles comparison, Charles, but I did think you were going to say something else in terms of

what the song reminds you of. Can I play the chorus for you one more time? Sure. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Oh, Charlie is stressed. He's on the tip of his time. Oh, oh, it's Olivia Newton-John's physical. It's Olivia Newton-John's physical. This is a site of frequent reference now. Doja Cat and Siza used it on Kiss Me More. And there's even one more interpolation of the song in recent pop.

It's the song, Prisoner, by Miley Cyrus and Doolipa. It's one of these melodic phrasings, which I feel like probably shouldn't earn. copyright protection. It's so small. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, right? Just this little syncopated phrase, but it does remind me a physical. Do you feel like this repetition of this frequently cited song is the thing that makes Benson Boone, quote, fundamentally boring? Great question. I mean, no, because otherwise we have to call Doja Cat and Sizzaboring. We have to call Miley Cyrus and do a leap of boring. And I'm sure there's even some other examples out there that I haven't noticed. Yeah, no doubt. It's a slippery slope, right?

Well, then what do you think of mystical magical beyond this Olivia Newton-John reference? I think it's like you said. It's perfectly serviceable. It doesn't offend me. It doesn't excite me. It's kind of like the chocolate pudding they give you at the hospital, you know? You're not like, oh, wow, this is so thrilling that I get to eat this. But you're also like, it's, you know, something to pass the time. It's a little sweet, empty calories. I want to give the song one more look, though. I feel like this is a song where his vocals are serving him. Yes, okay, this is, I was going to say, you know, no, no, no, no, I need to take credit for this. Because I've been, I just said something harsh.

Give this to me. Yes, his vocals are really good. I was going to say that. Oh, really? I think his vocals are very strong here. This dude is a good singer. Yeah. Okay, please continue, Charlie.

Well, I think beautiful things has this sort of yelly moment where there's a bit of, yeah. It's a form of exasperated male expression that I'm just not excited by. But the way that he sort of flies into his head voice when he sings mystical and magical, has this frailty and vulnerability that works for the lyric. Like, he's trying to dip into something very mystical, something in the beyond. And I feel like that's where his voice is reaching. He has a very untrained vibrato, which gives his voice. voice its own sonic character, just like Post Malone, who kind of bleats like a goat. His vibrato,

you know, a classical singer would probably say, oh, you're placing something in the wrong spot, and it's not resonating in the right way, but it's in the Benson Moonway. And I think that that is fundamental to star power, having your own vocal style. And that's what I hear in Mystical Magical. Yeah, it's a little quasi-operatic, a little bit rock, a little bit Freddie Mercury. Which is a comparison that nobody wants. I mean, I didn't like when he did Bohemian Rhapsody. Performed at Coachella with Brian May of Queen. He just can't pull off the Freddie Mercury.

He's not that talent. I think it's always dangerous to try to compare yourself to the super greats. Even though I hear he uses his falsetto a lot, he's got a decent range. But he's not a Freddie Mercury type singer. I said a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit.

A dram. An Iota. Freddyish. But you put all these things together in this little. hook. You've got the Olivia Newton-John physical reference. You've got the vocal signature stylings of Mr. Boone. You've got this nice Harry Styles-esque nonsense chorus that nevertheless is kind of appealing. That's a recipe for a hit song right there. That's a good pop cocktail. Two songs in, and we're still pretty in favor of Boone's offerings here. Charlie, let's take five and come back,

and we're going to listen to two tracks that will challenge us to find. our goodwill towards this singer. See you on the other side. Attention Spotify. Has arrived on the new Good Girl Jasmine Absolute of Caroline Herrera. A fragrance intense with character gourmet and addictive.

Imagine a jasmine emvolvente, toffee caramelized and tonka toasted. A combination that seduce from the first instant and leave a wella. Good Girl Jasmine Absolute hypnotic, irresistible. Discoveringlao and let you involve for its essence.

Convierte your passion in a business with Shopify and batte records of You know the form of Pago with a better conversion of the world. Has I heard

well. The incredible system of Pago of Shopify facilitates the website on your website, in the social, and in any place.

That is music for your ears. No, you'll give more Weltas. Your business will be

a super-exit with Shopify. Empeas to your period of a month in Shopify. coms bar records.

Immigration may be Donald Trump's signature President Trump is now targeting predominantly democratic cities for ice raids and deportations. Dozens of protesters clashing with immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minneapolis Tuesday. We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. But what we want to do in this space is talk about America and politics beyond the current president.

So what do most Americans think about deportation and border security, period? I think that Americans are definitely against the kind of violent displays that we've seen in the street from ICE. When it comes to the question of deportation, the answer is more complicated. My sense is that people want border at the border. They don't like the idea of having no idea who's coming into the United States at any given time. The view on immigration from the bottom up instead of the top down. That's this week on America Actually. Every Saturday in your audio and video feeds.

Let's confront a song that will challenge our boondography. It is Mama song. Mama, I'm missing home. California's getting cold. And cold. And cold. I miss you. Mama, I'm getting old.

Does that mean you're getting old? All right. The way you feel about this song probably will tell us a lot about how you feel about Benson Boone in general. Is this a sweet, moving tribute to the people in our lives who never get enough credit and love, the moms? Or is it treakly, mockish, a commercial grab to try and pull at the country's collective heartstrings? Where are you coming down on this one? And there's no in between. Well, two things struck the wrong chord. First, it just really feels like he's leaning into that Freddie Mercury comparison.

A song called Mama, like, Mama, life has just begun. Like, it reminds me so much of Bohemian Rhapsody, even in the way that he sings the words, Mama, backed by this very bright piano that sounds like Freddy's piano. He's clearly setting up a comparison that you just don't want to put that in people's minds. It, I think, weakens the song. My second problem is that he says, Mama, I'm getting old.

I don't need to be taking life advice from someone who's just becoming an adult and saying they feel like they're getting old. He's not old. He's got lots of life to live. He's 23 years old. Go live your life. Yeah, that rub me the wrong way. I do side a little bit with that moms don't get enough credit anywhere in the world, let alone in the world of pop music. And this is a sweet song.

So I can't be that mad about him loving his mom. Not necessarily a criticism, but people have noted that weirdly his voice sounds like Adel's on this one. Hello, it's me. I was wondering if after all these years... Hello, it's me. Benson Boone with a strange accent. I mean, you know, if you're going to make a piano ballad, I would understand why someone who's 23 years old would reference Adele. They both have a little of that sandpaper grain in the voice. The way they hit their vowels is very similar.

And it shouldn't be a surprise. I mean, Benson Boone cites Adele. an influence. He covered her song Easy on me. It's like probably part of his musical DNA. Yeah. But does it save this song? Does it make up for the sampling of children giggling and running at the beginning of this track, which I know is supposed to make you feel kind of wholesome and nostalgic, but just makes me, maybe as a parent, we're just like, that's all we hear all day is kids laughing or more frequently crying or whining. Yeah.

I don't want it in my pop music. I don't want children in my music. Kids shouldn't be at restaurants. Kids shouldn't be in pop music. We need some safe spaces for adult living. All right. Let's get to the last song from this album I want to talk about. It's called Mr. Electric Blue.

Okay, okay. I love a whorletzer. Yeah. Electric piano. I get that there's a sort of 80s Bruce Springsteen Americana that he's trying to achieve on the record. But why does it sound more like Huey Lewis in the news in like 80s rock and roll revival from the 80s? Do you know what I'm talking about? I do know what you're talking about.

It's reminiscent a little bit of Harry Stiles again. Yeah, right. You know, he started his album, Harry's House with music for a sushi restaurant, which as we discussed, referenced Peter Gabriel. and Phil Collins. So I feel like similar with watermelon sugar and mystical magical, he's following that Harry Stiles playbook a little bit here. Maybe it's because like the 80s were the last time I feel like a straight white male pop star had sex appeal.

Like even Phil Collins was a major sex symbol. Interesting. And that like, you know, the grunge era completely killed that. And it just feels like ever since we've been in the land of the pop girlies, which is what I want to be listening to and I'm very happy with. but to find a contemporary reference, you've got to go back four decades if you want to be a pop star in the likes of Benson Boone. This one is a little tough for me. Yeah.

I think it's the complete absence of meaning. Mr. Electric Blue, like what? That doesn't mean anything. And neither did mystical, magical, perhaps. But this just doesn't land for me for some reason. What? I thought this guy was just into dancing and letting the good times and now he's got to be a hard work. American who fights like make up your mind Mr. Electric Blue like why are you on my airwaves I don't

understand it's like the boss without any of the politics which maybe is fitting for this moment where even Bruce Springsteen has become a politicized character he's playing to the hardworking nature of the working class without providing any of the sort of necessary criticism about how the state treats the working class and really the song ends up feeling more more like it's just an act of self-mythologizing where he is Mr. Electric Blue. It makes me think of his performance at the Grammys where he wore this beautiful blue sequined suit and did all these backflips. But maybe that's to his benefit.

Like I said at the beginning, to be a pop star, you have to have an unearned amount of self-confidence and he has that in spades in the song. I think that's well said, Charlie. On one hand, he's trying to subvert his persona in the video of the song. he walks into a record executive's office and he's wearing a one hit wonder t-shirt and the executive says we need a hit and he says I don't know how to do then he says can you write better songs and Benson Boone says you know I can't do that so he's willing to like poke fun at his own persona and later he sells discount jumpsuits in the video so he's like aware of this but he's also kind of

trapped a little bit like one of my favorite anti-Boon line is the website Exclaim talking about Mama Song says, only a mother could love Benson Boone's Mama Song. And in the review, they kind of read into his lyrics as being this like America first rah-rah were the best kind of, which I'm not sure I totally get, but it does speak to how politicized even an artist as sort of bland as Benson Boone is in our contemporary climate. Maybe there's some truth to that,

but I think it says a lot about how we perceive an artist like this, even when the music itself doesn't really stake out a claim in any way. In fact, it seems to be actively avoiding having anything opinionated to say. That probably speaks to both his broad appeal and his broad criticism. On the one hand, he's not giving you anything particularly polarizing, and on the other, you don't know exactly what he stands for. I don't know, I'm just browsing his Wikipedia page right now and the second image of him on there is a 22 photo of this smiling guy, no mustache yet,

wearing a shirt that says genuine. And I think there's something about his music, which reads very sort of like clean, genuine, safe, nothing too difficult. And that might be part of the criticism. People want something more biting from their pop music. But that also might make it less popular. In order to reach his widest audience, I think Boone is making songs that are maybe safe, but also broad in their appeal.

He's singing about his mom. He's singing about the beautiful things in his life. He's singing about how great it is to be a pop star. I feel like that's part of the formula of making it to the top, which is what he's doing right now. Yes. I mean, this is epitomized by the backflip, which is sort of his signature move. And it's very impressive. I mean, go Google Benson Boone backflip compilation.

It is a great watch. I mean, I am not immune to the charms of an acrobatic backflip. But it's also this kind of innocuous gesture, which is not a criticism. But it doesn't take a stand on anything. And even when he kind of has a misstep, you know, like he got clowned for some of the lyrics to mystical, magical that went moonbeam ice cream taking off your blue jeans, dancing at the movies. I like those lyrics. They're innocent. Ice cream taking off your blue jeans.

Dancing at the movie. Really? Is dancing at the movie is a thing? It's not, first of all. And moonbeam ice cream, he took. that line and turned it into a literal ice cream product that you can buy. So it's like, things just kind of wash off him, you know? He's got that kind of glow right now. Well, maybe that's what makes him America's beating heart. He's brazen and unafraid to capitalize on every single moment to

make a buck. Yes. And weirdly, there might be something kind of beautiful in that. After all the negative criticism, I feel like I have to share an article from Slate, written by a moment. mom of a teenage boy, and she titled this piece, he's cringe, try hard, sappy. I'm so glad my boys stand him. She's really into the fact that her kids are huge booners or boonies, perhaps. Boondoggles. Because he's got a positive message.

He doesn't drink or smoke. He's maybe religious, but he admits that he broke with the Mormon faith that he grew up and he's finding his own way in the world. He's pretty harmless and maybe even a good influence, which is a weird thing to say about a pop star in this day and age. And part of me wants to be like, boo, that's not what pop music is for. Pop music is subversive and edgy and rebellious and challenges the status quo. But maybe there's also a place for someone like Benson Boone. Maybe it's okay to be a little bland and a little election. Patrick Blue.

Nate, you say that Benson Boone is safe, he's innocuous. Have you seen this guy with a shirt off and his glistening abs? Come on. This guy is a symbol of you know what and it is getting hot. It's hot this summer. Benson Boone is part of it, but it's also literally I've been living through a heat wave. Summer is upon us and that means we are looking for songs of summer. What are the things that are speaking to people through these heat waves, whether they are generated

by Benson Boone or actual weather patterns? Let us know what songs of summer you're digging to help us inform what we're going to be covering this summer. Tell us what you're listening to this summer at Switched on Pop on Instagram and TikTok. Or head over to our website where you can score your very own Switched on Pop swim trunks or tote bag. We've even got tanks, hats at summertime. You need the apparel. And of course, while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. We give you updates every single week.

Switched on Pop is produced by Raina Cruz, edited by Art Chung, engineered by brand, Farland, illustrations by Iris Gottlieb, theme song by Zach Tenario, and Jossi Adams of Arc Iris, or a member of the Vox Media Podcast Network and production of Vulture, which is part of New York Mag. You can subscribe at nymag.com slash pod. We'll be back again on Tuesday with a new episode, and until then, thanks for listening.