Benson Boone is proof that you don’t need years of struggling in smoky cafés to possess believable soul. Sometimes you are just born with a voice that sounds like sandpaper and honey at the same time. He left American Idol voluntarily because he didn’t want to be a “TV product,” and that was the best choice ever. His music is all about dynamics: whisper-soft verses that explode into emotional hurricanes.
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10. Coffee Cake
Not every song has to be a vocal battle of attrition. “Coffee Cake” shows the playful, lighter side of Boone. It sounds like a lazy Sunday morning: a bit messy, intimate, and full of caffeine. He sings about the small moments in a relationship, and it is precisely that smallness that makes it feel sincere.
9. What Was
Nostalgia is a powerful weapon, and Boone wields it here like a veteran. The song rides on a driving rhythm and looks back at a time that was simpler. What stands out is the control in his voice; he doesn’t scream, but pushes the melody forward with a controlled power. It feels like the end credits of a coming-of-age film where the protagonist finally accepts that the past is over.
8. Before You
This is the song that will be played at thousands of weddings. It is a classic piano ballad in the tradition of Elton John or Billy Joel, but with that modern, raw edge. The lyrics are pure devotion: the idea that you only truly started living when the other person walked in. Boone keeps it small in the verses, making the release in the chorus feel like the sun breaking through.
7. Sugar Sweet
Benson can bite too. After all the sweet songs, “Sugar Sweet” is a delicious change of pace full of sarcasm and pop-rock energy. It’s about a partner who looks good (“sweet”) but is bitter on the inside. The groove is tight, the tempo is high, and you can hear him having fun dismissing this toxic relationship. A song with as much attitude as melody.
6. To Love Someone
The fear of opening your heart is often greater than the fear of breaking it. That dilemma is central here. The song builds slowly, layer by layer, to an overwhelming climax. Boone uses his falsetto beautifully here to show vulnerability before diving into his full chest voice.
5. Cry
Here, the influence of his mentor Dan Reynolds clearly comes to the forefront. “Cry” is not a sad song; it is anger wrapped in music. The production is messier, with distorted guitars and drums that sound like they are being beaten in a garage. Benson doesn’t beg, he demands.
4. Slow It Down
Life sometimes goes too fast, and Boone desperately tries to hit the brakes here. The piano intro is instantly recognizable and sets a melancholic tone, but the chorus is pure power. What makes this song so good is its relatability: the feeling that you are losing control and need someone to hold you for a moment.
3. Ghost Town
For a teenager, the lyrics of this debut song were remarkably mature: ending a relationship, not because the love is gone, but because you know you aren’t good for the other person. “I turn into a ghost town.” The production is sparse, giving his voice all the room to break and heal again. This song immediately put him on the map as a songwriter who looks beyond the standard love songs.
2. In the Stars
Grief is raw, ugly, and painful, and that is exactly how this song sounds. Written after the passing of his great-grandmother, this is Benson at his most honest. No metaphors, just the loss. “I’m still holding on to everything that’s dead and gone.” You hear the sob in his voice, the imperfections they left in.
1. Beautiful Things
The song that conquered the world, and rightly so. This is a masterclass in dynamics. It starts as a whisper-soft ballad about gratitude, lulls you to sleep, and then… that scream. “Please stay!”. The fear of losing happiness is made physically palpable here. The explosion of energy in the chorus is unprecedented; it is rock, it is soul, it is despair.
