A bizarre delivery to Edison High recently sent our eagle eyes wide with surprise, unexpectedly interrupting the mid-year monotony. The newsroom received a strange package from Warner Brothers: 100 posters and bookmarks, plastered with a stoic face looking like a mashup between a 2020 Hype House member and an 80s pop star. The name, written in all caps along the top of the poster: Benson Boone.

Now, Boone isn’t exactly a household name in Edison High (he’s been so far referred to as a random D-list celebrity or some underground TikToker). So, why send this promotional blitz to our school paper? Was it a calculated move, an unanticipated connection, or something more?
Who exactly is Benson Boone?
Boone is more interesting than his blank blue-eyed stare might reveal. He is a verified pop artist with 21.8 million monthly listeners. Initially going viral in 2021 after auditioning for American Idol, Boone was signed by Imagine Dragons’ record label, Night Street Records, alongside Warner Records. Soon after, his hit pop single “In the Stars” went viral on TikTok in 2022, with hundreds of thousands of videos made under the sound. He now amasses over 4.6 million followers on TikTok. Last year, Boone was named MTV’s Global PUSH Artist for the month of October.
With Boone having just released “Beautiful Things,” the presumed lead single of his upcoming debut album, and about to go on his Fireworks & Rollerblades 2024 world tour, it seems his package was a clever marketing campaign to various schools around the US orchestrated by Warner Records through his marketing organization, Moxie. But is all this fuss over one song and an unreleased album really warranted, or is Boone just another over-advertised TikToker-turned-singer?
“Beautiful Things” was released on January 18, but was first released in small snippets, shared by Boone on TikTok and Instagram. Once officially released, the song quickly became popular, already having 200,000 videos under the sound on TikTok, and placing No. 5 on the Streaming Songs chart and No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
A mix of pop, soul, and folk rock, “Beautiful Things” is a heartwrenching, relatable ballad about personal growth, relationships, and romance. Despite happiness, there’s an undercurrent of vulnerability and anxiety, as Boone acknowledges the fragility of the good things in life.
Like Boone’s previous singles, which take on a sad, softer tone, “Beautiful Things” starts off quiet and vulnerable. However, halfway through the song, the instrumentals suddenly build up and Boone reveals a new dimension of his music through loud, angsty, powerful vocals, reflective of the song’s theme: the ups and downs of life. In the chorus, Boone sorrowfully pleads for the ambiguous subject to “stay,” with a rasp completely contrasting his typical feathery voice. Overall, the song captures the complexity of emotions that come with appreciating the good in life while grappling with the fear of losing it.
“Beautiful Things” is definitely striking and relatable, but it comes off as a somewhat simplified attempt at what “Your Needs, My Needs” by Noah Kahan accomplished. The song abruptly shifts from soft to loud without any substantial story to support it, other than broadly brushing the concept of anxiety and fear over losing what you have.
However, despite the lyrical meaning of the song being watered down, “Beautiful Things” was overall a great listen. “Beautiful Things” is pretty different from Boone’s other hits, like “Ghost Town” and “In The Stars,” which are much sadder and slower. Many of Boone’s long-time fans criticized this change in style, but as a new listener, I found “Beautiful Things” refreshing after listening to his more depressing songs.
While “Beautiful Things” is a bit too angsty to be going on any of my daily playlists, its emotional depth and Boone’s willingness to explore different musical territories offer a refreshing perspective, especially in a music world dominated by predictable sounds and themes.
Whether the Warner Bros package is representative of the future of Gen Z artists’ marketing or the product of oversaturated media advertisements, one thing’s for sure: Benson Boone is making waves. With millions of streams and a rapidly growing fanbase, his music is definitely worth checking out.