Can Benson Boone maintain his chart-topping momentum?

Benson Boone's hit song, Beautiful Things, was the most popular song across all digital platforms in 2024. Last week, the rock tune charted for 72 consecutive weeks — tying it with Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You in the No. 8 slot on the list of longest ever charting singles.

Boone's new album, American Heart, comes out on Friday. Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud asks music critics Carl Wilson, Rosie Long Decter and Vish Khanna if Boone can maintain his popularity streak.  

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion on more new music from both Neil Young and Sabrina Carpenter, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Carl, how has Benson Boone managed to have the longevity that he's had? Because I don't feel like he's an artist who has that staying power, and yet the charts keep saying, "No, we can't get enough of this guy."

Carl: I mean, the charts move in mysterious ways. But there's also the fact that in the streaming economy, there are things that haven't been figured out yet. And one of them is the ways that singles and albums have lingered in the charts for much longer periods of time than they used to, they open faster and they don't go away. And it's kind of success-breeds-success in this more intense way than it used to. And that, unfortunately, dampens down the dynamism of the charts and of the radio in some ways. 

Benson Boone — along with some other feel-good generic boy singers, like Teddy Swims and currently Alex Warren — is riding this wave of what works as both background music and music you can listen to. You know, he's this nice Mormon boy picking up, trying to do some glam moves and his unitards and his backflips and, God love him! But you look at the boys and go: "What's wrong here?" The dynamism of these personalities compared to all of the distinctive personas and ideas behind what young women in pop are doing right now, it brings us back to that question of like, "What's wrong with the men?" — that a lot of our culture brings up these days.

Elamin: Rosie, the last time that you were on the show, you called Benson Boone one of your "belting boys." ... When you look at your belting boys — and particularly Benson Boone — does he have what it takes to continue the momentum that he's had for the last little while?  

Rosie: Well, he's really trying. I think the reason you heard me come on this show before and have a bit of a soft spot for him was that I think Beautiful Things really has a hard-hitting chorus. I don't hate that song. 

His new direction, he's going a little poppier, he's moving out of kind of a rock mode. I think he's trying to have a broader appeal. I really am thinking of him as kind of like Harry Styles lite — which is saying something because Harry Styles is already pretty light. 

I think he's very entertaining. I don't know that he has a hook that's going to give him longevity. In the same way that Carl was saying, these boys on the pop charts, they are lacking the personality and the artistry of the women we're seeing on the pop charts. And that said, it can be easier for boys to stick around. They also face less scrutiny, I think. 

I don't think this album is about to hit as big as Beautiful Things, but that might still be enough for him to hang around on the charts and on the radio. And he might just be an ambient name that you're familiar with.

Elamin: Vish, I got to say, your reaction was very dramatic, watching you listen to that new Benson Boone song [Mystical Magical].... It reminded me of the Pitchfork review of Benson Boon's Coachella performance. They wrote: "Benson Boone is horrible, just godawful, the kind of act that makes you wonder if this whole medium has been worth it." So, I think you guys might be in the same kind of territory here. Where do you land on the love-hate for Benson Boone?

Vish: One day I was in my office down here and I heard my son's bedroom door open, and I didn't see him, but I heard him say, "Hey papa, do you know Benson Boone is?" And I went, "Yeah, I heard the name, but not really, why?" And my son went, "He sucks." And I was like, "OK, thanks for the analysis of Benson Boone." I'm at an age where my 13-year-old son and my 10-year old daughter are my cultural barometers about popular culture.

And then I watched the Grammys or Saturday Night Live, and I see this Benson Boone guy flipping around, and I think, "This guy's not going to make it." I mean, if I was a Benson Boone fan and I had tickets to a show on his tour, you know, 15 shows deep, I'd be like, "He's not making it. Like he's going to twist an ankle or break something and it's going to be over."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman.