“Boone was a high school junior when a friend recruited him to play piano for ‘Battle of the Bands’ and asked him to sing,” The Everett Herald wrote of Benson Boone, from Monroe, Washington. GRAMMY.com tells it this way: “his best friend asked him to play the piano in their school’s battle of the bands competition and the singer dropped out at the last second. Boone found himself filling in.” His friend suggested he take the role “despite not having any singing experience,” the Snohomish County Tribune reported, and “Boone said no one knew he could sing, not even his parents.”
“I haven’t been singing for too long, it’s been about a year, a year and a half,” he told KOMO News in February 2021; the battle of the bands, he said, “was about a year ago.” His American Idol audition aired when the new season premiered on ABC on February 14, 2021. “All three judges — Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie — stood up and gave him a ‘Yes,’” The Everett Herald reported. Perry told him, as GRAMMY.com quotes her: “I see you winning ‘American Idol’ if you want to.”
“He got the golden ticket to advance to the ‘Hollywood’ round, which aired this week. But there was no sign of Boone,” the Herald wrote on March 24, 2021. GRAMMY.com says he “withdrew after advancing to the Top 24,” and Rolling Stone that “He wasn’t scared to drop out of the competition’s top 24 in 2021.” His reason, in his own words on The Zach Sang Show, as GRAMMY.com reports them: “The reason I quit ‘American Idol’ is because I wanted to do music … I just didn’t want that label on me.”
That year, Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds signed him: on October 15, 2021, Billboard reported that Boone “has signed a label deal with Reynolds’ Night Street Records label in a partnership with Warner Records.” “Beautiful Things” was “released in January 2024,” IFPI says. “It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100,” Rolling Stone Australia says, and it was his first UK Number 1, Official Charts reported. IFPI announced that “Beautiful Things by Benson Boone is the winner of the IFPI Global Single Award for 2024,” the award for “the world’s best-selling single of the year across all digital formats.”
“In June 2024, Boone opened for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium on the Eras Tour,” Rolling Stone Australia wrote, and he “was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2025 GRAMMYs,” IFPI says; it was his first Grammy nomination, The Everett Herald noted. “He walked away from the most obvious fame machine available to him because he didn’t want it to explain who he was,” Rolling Stone Australia wrote.
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- He was told he could win American Idol, and he quit. Katy Perry, as GRAMMY.com quotes her: “I see you winning ‘American Idol’ if you want to.” GRAMMY.com: “withdrew after advancing to the Top 24.” Rolling Stone: “He wasn’t scared to drop out of the competition’s top 24 in 2021.” 56
- His name is Benson Boone. The Everett Herald, headline: “Monroe singer Benson Boone wins ‘American Idol’ golden ticket.” 3
- In high school, he played piano at a battle of the bands. The Everett Herald: “Boone was a high school junior when a friend recruited him to play piano for ‘Battle of the Bands’ and asked him to sing.” Snohomish County Tribune: “Because Boone played the piano, he agreed to join the band.” 32
- When their singer dropped out, he sang instead. GRAMMY.com: “his best friend asked him to play the piano in their school’s battle of the bands competition and the singer dropped out at the last second. Boone found himself filling in.” Snohomish County Tribune: “… suggested he take the role despite not having any singing experience.” 52
- Nobody knew he could sing, not even his parents. Snohomish County Tribune: “Boone said no one knew he could sing, not even his parents.” 2
- About a year later, he auditioned for American Idol. Boone, to KOMO News (February 2021): “I haven’t been singing for too long, it’s been about a year, a year and a half”; the battle of the bands “was about a year ago.” Rolling Stone: “a teenager who had only been singing seriously for a year.” GRAMMY.com: “the teenager had only discovered his obvious musical talent the year before.” 165
- All three judges stood up. The Everett Herald: “All three judges — Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie — stood up and gave him a ‘Yes.’” 3
- “I see you winning American Idol if you want to,” Katy Perry told him. GRAMMY.com: “I see you winning ‘American Idol’ if you want to.” 5
- He made the Top 24, then walked away. GRAMMY.com: “withdrew after advancing to the Top 24.” Rolling Stone Australia: “had made it into the Top 24 of American Idol.” The Everett Herald (March 24, 2021): “He got the golden ticket to advance to the ‘Hollywood’ round, which aired this week. But there was no sign of Boone.” 574
- “I just didn’t want that label on me,” he said later. Boone, on The Zach Sang Show (GRAMMY.com): “The reason I quit ‘American Idol’ is because I wanted to do music … I just didn’t want that label on me.” Rolling Stone Australia quotes the same sentence. 57
- Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds signed him that same year. Billboard (October 15, 2021): “has signed a label deal with Reynolds’ Night Street Records label in a partnership with Warner Records.” 8
- In 2024, he released “Beautiful Things.” IFPI: “The hit song, which was released in January 2024.” 9
- It became the world’s biggest-selling single that year. IFPI: “Beautiful Things by Benson Boone is the winner of the IFPI Global Single Award for 2024,” given for “the world’s best-selling single of the year across all digital formats.” 9
- He opened for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium. Rolling Stone Australia: “In June 2024, Boone opened for Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium on the Eras Tour.” The Everett Herald: “as the opening act on the uber-successful Eras Tour at Wembley Stadium in London in June.” 710
- He was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys. IFPI: “was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2025 GRAMMYs.” The Everett Herald: “Boone picked up his first Grammy nomination” for Best New Artist. 910
- He walked away, and the whole world found him anyway. Rolling Stone Australia: “He walked away from the most obvious fame machine available to him because he didn’t want it to explain who he was.” IFPI: “the world’s best-selling single of the year across all digital formats.” 79
Sources
- Interview with Benson Boone before the American Idol premiere (February 11, 2021) KOMO News / Seattle Refined
- Local teen sings his way onto TV’s American Idol (February 10, 2021) Snohomish County Tribune
- Monroe singer Benson Boone wins ‘American Idol’ golden ticket (February 15, 2021) The Everett Herald
- Twist: ‘American Idol’ heartthrob from Monroe not on the show (March 24, 2021) The Everett Herald
- Get To Know Benson Boone, The ‘Beautiful Things’ Singer & Rising Pop-Rock Sensation (March 15, 2024) GRAMMY.com
- Cover story on Benson Boone and “American Heart” (March 11, 2025) Rolling Stone
- Benson Boone Quit ‘American Idol’. Five Years Later, He’s Playing Arenas (July 21, 2026) Rolling Stone Australia
- Benson Boone Signs to Night Street/Warner Records, Releases ‘Ghost Town’ Single: Exclusive (October 15, 2021) Billboard
- Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things Confirmed by IFPI as Biggest-Selling Global Single of the Year (February 20, 2025) IFPI
- Monroe’s Benson Boone snags Grammy nomination for Best New Artist (November 8, 2024) The Everett Herald
- Benson Boone celebrates first UK Number 1 single with Beautiful Things (March 22, 2024) Official Charts
Notes
“About a year”: in February 2021 he told KOMO News he had been singing for “about a year, a year and a half,” and Rolling Stone says he “had only been singing seriously for a year.” The Everett Herald says the battle of the bands was in his junior year of high school, which would make the gap longer; the Short says only “About a year later.”
The battle of the bands: The Everett Herald says a friend recruited him to play piano and asked him to sing; GRAMMY.com says the singer dropped out at the last second and he filled in. The Short follows GRAMMY.com.
When he left: GRAMMY.com says he withdrew after advancing to the Top 24, and Rolling Stone that he dropped out of the top 24 in 2021, “vanishing from the show in the middle of the season”; The Everett Herald reported on March 24, 2021, that he did not appear in the Hollywood round and that neither he nor the show would say why. His Hollywood-week performances were never broadcast. The Short says “He made the top twenty four, then walked away.”
Why he left: only his own explanation, from The Zach Sang Show, as GRAMMY.com and Rolling Stone Australia report it, is used; no other reason is suggested. A later report about what Katy Perry told him could not be checked, so it isn’t used.
“The world’s biggest-selling single”: IFPI’s Global Single Award is for the best-selling single of the year across all digital formats (streams and downloads); the Short’s wording follows IFPI’s own headline, “Biggest-Selling Global Single of the Year.”
Benson Boone is alive. Only his music career, his own published words and major outlets’ reporting are used; nothing about his private life. His parents and friends are not named; Katy Perry is quoted only for her words to him on the show, Dan Reynolds is named only for the signing, and Taylor Swift only for the opening slot.
Pictures: no free photo or video shows his American Idol audition, the Hollywood round, the Wembley show, the Grammys or the IFPI award, and no American Idol stills or TV frames are used. Benson Boone is on stage at Brixton Academy in London in a red jumpsuit on November 19, 2024, and singing in a cap on June 16, 2025 (two photos by Drew de F Fawkes), and singing on an arena stage in March 2023, in a fan’s photo (AJ); none is from American Idol. Katy Perry is at an awards show, the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, on March 14, 2019 (Glenn Francis), not on American Idol. Dan Reynolds is on stage with Imagine Dragons at Rock im Park in Nuremberg on June 9, 2013 (Sven-Sebastian Sajak). Downtown Monroe, Washington, is seen on October 9, 2019 (SounderBruce), and Wembley Stadium at night on October 12, 2010 (Lewis Clarke), not during the Eras Tour. The old upright piano, photographed in 2016 (pxhere), is not his, and the Grammy statuette, in a museum in Nashville in 2015 (prayitno, cropped), is not his either. The fans in the concert photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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