NO ONE LIKES to really feel out of contact. It may be jarring when listening to the radio—or, within the case of the Grammys, watching an award present—and seeing a face or listening to a reputation that is simply fully unfamiliar. “Who the f— is that?,” you may assume to your self. “This particular person is nominated for an award?,” the road of thought continues. “And I do not know who they’re?”
It is doubtless that quite a few artists elicited that response throughout the 2025 Grammys; music, inherently, is a wide-spanning and subjective type of artwork and leisure. You want what you want, and it is probably not the identical stuff that is touchdown within the mainstream and incomes widespread acclaim. Nonetheless: names like Sabrina Carpenter, Shaboozey, and Chappell Roan (all nominated for Finest New Artist) have been arduous to flee for anybody residing by means of the current day cultural second. However the Grammys had an enormous second for another person: a dude named Benson Boone.
And in the event you heard that title and noticed him give a efficiency—the place he stripped off his go well with to disclose an Elvis-esque jumpsuit (with the assistance of Nikki Glaser and Heidi Klum), belted out some music, did a backflip, and grabbed his crotch—and had been fully confused and baffled as to who this man is… you weren’t alone.
(Additionally, about that complete crotch factor… Mr. Boone went on his Instagram and addressed the entire thing. “Sorry for adjusting my jumpsuit so aggressively on stage tonight that factor was extraordinarily proscribing in sure areas,” he wrote on an Instagram tales put up following the present. OK then!)
The Finest New Artist class has by no means made numerous sense. Khruangbin, one of many 2025 nominees, has been releasing music for greater than a decade, and notably collaborated with superstar artist Leon Bridges back in 2019. Whereas Sabrina Carpenter actually broke out in 2024, she’s been placing out music since 2015; Short n’ Sweet is definitely her sixth album.
However Benson Boone… it is a man who appears to have come out of nowhere. As soon as he began to carry out, his music, “Lovely Issues,” could have began to sound just a little acquainted; possibly that is since you heard it in a business, or on Instagram Reels, or in a TikTok. It is that form of music. Perhaps he appeared acquainted; that is as a result of he roughly seems to be like a cross between ascending film stars Jacob Elordi and Paul Mescal, however smushed right down to Bruno Mars dimension. All the pieces about Benson Boone, right down to his alliterative title that feels like both a comic book ebook character or an all-star baseball participant appears acquainted—however but it is arduous to know who, precisely, he’s.
If Benson Boone is something, nonetheless, he is self-aware; he could have been nominated for Finest New Artist, however he clearly knew that the nomination itself was going to be his victory.
“Chappell Roan is gonna get that Grammy,” he correctly predicted in a video interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “That is her yr. I believe she’s unbelievable.”
We will give credit score the place credit score is due: he understands what is going on on. And doing a backflip isn’t any straightforward feat, as Tom Holland acknowledged in Men’s Health‘s most recent cover story. So bravo, Benson Boone.
Who truly is Benson Boone?
Benson Boone bought his begin in music in a decidedly fashionable method; after getting some early notoriety from posting singing movies on TikTok, he finally auditioned for American Idol in season 19, which aired in early 2021. He wowed the judges and bought by means of to the Hollywood spherical; he competed within the Hollywood spherical earlier than selecting to withdraw from the present and concentrate on his profession. The present solely aired his authentic audition.
Boone continued posting on TikTok the place he continued to realize notoriety and fame, finally catching the eye of Think about Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, who would finally signal him to his label, Evening Road Data. (Each males have additionally been related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at one level or one other; Boone is at present a member, whereas Reynolds now not practices.)
Boone’s first single, “Ghost City,” continued to construct his star, finally moving into the Billboard Scorching 100 and getting him the chance to carry out on TV reveals like The Kelly Clarkson Present. He was additionally chosen by Taylor Swift to be an opener for one of many London reveals in her well-known Eras tour.
His music “Lovely Issues” is among the most-streamed in latest music historical past; since its launch in January 2024, it has greater than 1.7 billion streams on Spotify, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Scorching 100.
