Benson Boone On The Relationship That 'Scared' Him To Write Smash Hit 'Beautiful Things'

It's a good time to be Benson Boone.

The 21-year-old Washington-born singer-songwriter, who rose to prominence early American Idol and has since gained nearly five million fans on TikTok, scored a pair of Billboard Hot 100 hits in the early 2020s with the piano ballads “In the Stars” and “Ghost Town.” But for his latest single, the love song “Beautiful Things,” he added some power to his ballad, going electric with a guitar interlude reminiscent of Billie Eilish's “Happier Than Ever.” The single instantly became not only his biggest hit, but one of the breakout songs of early 2024, debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at No. 3 just two weeks later.

Now Boone, who records for Night Street/Warner Records (signed by the latter label's VP of A&R Jeff Sosnow), is preparing to embark on his first US tour as his smash single continues to climb the charts , even at the top. the Billboard Global 200 this week. And while his first two minor hits gave him a small glimpse of stardom — momentum that fizzled out about as quickly as it appeared — this time, he says he's not going to let that opening close again.

“I'm very prepared for this moment—and I haven't been before,” Boone explains. “My other two songs they have He has recovered — I was not prepared for them. I teased them without even having the song ready. So much happened so quickly, and looking back, I could have done a lot better holding on to this moment [going]. But this, I'm ready. I have it was ready for it.”

Below, Boone talks about the inspiration for his new hit, why he thinks the song has already taken him to a new level, and if those inevitable Eilish comparisons were something he had in mind when he was writing it.

You've had this song in the box for a while now. Do you remember when you first recorded it, did you have the idea for it or something?

I wrote it on my piano on September 29th. I had just moved to Los Angeles and moved my grandmother's old piano into my living room. I couldn't sleep one night, and I didn't know what to do, so I went downstairs and started playing the piano. Then I wrote the tunes for 'Beautiful Things'. The next day I had a session and took her to the studio.

Were the lyrics inspired by specific relationships in your life?

Yes, it was inspired by a relationship I had just gotten into — for the first time in my life, I felt extremely out of control of how that relationship would turn out. I mean, in the past, I feel like I always knew I could be the one to end a relationship. This felt very different. It was the first time I was really, really terrified of missing something.

The song sonically pivots in the middle. Did you always think of the two parts as one song or did you find a way to bridge them together?

That night I wrote it, I couldn't find a chorus for the melody of the lyrics, so I moved on to a different idea. I actually wrote both of these ideas as separate songs. When I was in the studio, Jack [LaFrantz] — the guy I wrote it with — was the one who suggested it [bridging them], because I showed him both ideas. He is the one who suggested we build it [combined song].

The structure of the song took a long time to figure out because we didn't know if we should do it all slowly and then do a chorus at the end or if we should do three choruses. It took us two weeks – after we had already set up production – to redo everything, and that's where we finally broke the code. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

What gave you confidence that the song could work in this format? Was it something that you just heard once and said, “Okay, this is going to work”? Could you already start to see in your mind this moment playing out on social media?

I think I knew after hearing the chorus with the production that this could be a really big song. With social media teasing and promoting your music, you never know what's going to happen. All I can do is try my best to push it. But I was really hoping this would work, because I love this song.

And outside of any TikTok videos, it's just a big change for me — a change in the right direction, more like my other music coming out.

When I've been talking about the song with colleagues and friends, a lot of times the song that keeps coming up as a reference for it is Billie Eilish's “Happier Than Ever” — another song that starts off slow, has that big opening moment, and then ends at 10. Was this song something you thought about at all?

I wasn't really thinking about a specific song when I wrote this song. But that's an incredible song, and I guess in ways, yeah, “Beautiful Things” is kind of structured like that. It's incredible to have songs that change so drastically from start to finish. A lot of the songs I've written in the last couple of months have that – the tempo changes and the production changes, and everything speeds up a little bit or slows down a little bit. But yeah, I mean — Billie Eilish. This song is incredible. So well.

You said that this song is maybe a little more in line with the music you have coming out. Is this something specifically geared towards guitar? Not many of your songs prior to this had such a prominent guitar sound, but this one is pretty rocking. How does this fit in with the rest of the stuff you're up to?

A lot of my stuff in the past was very piano based. Obviously, I still have a lot of piano in my songs, but there have definitely been more guitar-heavy songs, which I'm very happy about.

I love the guitar. But in general, since the last time I released music, my voice has matured a lot. My style has changed a bit. And I think the songs that I'm releasing in the next couple of months are closer to what my future looks like for releasing music. I am very excited.

Are you already envisioning what kind of big time “Beautiful Things” will be when you go out and play it on tour?

Yeah, I've thought about this a lot, like how cool it will be to sing that chorus with everyone. The night of the release I did a pop-up show in Utah — I announced it like an hour before, and a few thousand people came. It was really awesome: I sang the song for them and it was so incredible. To hear so many people singing this song with me, it's pretty crazy.

Aside from the tour, is there anything you're particularly looking forward to this year?

Man, all I'm thinking about is the tour and I'm going places I've never been before. But after the tour, and after all the shows, I'm looking forward to just being with my friends. I think we will go on a trip to Greece and have two weeks and live my life.

A version of this story originally appeared in the February 10, 2024, issue Advertising sign.