“I saw that from an outside perspective and wondered what they could have done differently. Love can hurt more than it can help. Sometimes the best way of showing someone you care is by letting them go.” 

19-year-old Benson Boone is in the midst of a major breakthrough moment with his stunning debut single ‘GHOST TOWN’, which is out via Night Street / Warner Records. In just two weeks, the song has amassed a remarkable global total of 22.5 million global streams, over a million of which have been in the UK. His profile is exploding at streaming and social media too, with huge playlist support including the cover of Pop Rising at Spotify US, while he already commands 2 million followers at TikTok. The song first gained traction at TikTok where it is in the Top 20 Viral Chart and has been used in videos that have collectively been viewed almost 350 million times.

Hi Kris, great to have you on Encore, in 3 words describe your sound and how has it changed?

Soulful, powerful, strong.

You recently took to the stage as you launched your album, how was it being back on stage after so long? 

Honestly seeing all this happen in the past couple months is overwhelming in the best way possible. Just a year ago I didn’t even think music would be a career option for me! It has been a lot of hard work and determination to be able to build up to this point, but I’m so happy people are giving positive feedback to my music.

When did you realise you had a talent for music and who were your inspirations growing up? 

Growing up music wasn’t the biggest part of my life. I didn’t even realize I had a singing voice until 2 years ago. But the music I did listen to was very close to the music I write today. Jon Bellion, Adele, Sam Smith, Stevie Wonder, and Lewis Capaldi are a few of my biggest inspirations!

You have a new album out, what was the inspiration behind this album? 

Ghost Town has two major meanings to me. At the time of writing this song, I hadn’t had any relationship experience of my own to draw from, so I partially wrote Ghost Town about my best friends toxic relationship he was going through. But most importantly, Ghost Town is a very mature love song, and it’s about me developing my emotional maturity as I moved away from my family and friends to pursue music.

When you write and recorded this album, what did you enjoy most and what was the process? 

Ghost Town was my first official session. It was so fun and went so smooth with the guys I wrote it with! We got along so well right off the bat and had a blast writing it! I wrote the chorus in the Uber on the way to the session so when I brought the idea to the room they loved it and we went from there.

What is one of your favourite songs on the album?

Emotionally, this song wasn’t hard to write it seemed to run very smoothly!

What is next for you?

I’ve been very focused on writing songs lately, and I’m excited and proud to say that Ghost Town is nowhere near the best of what’s to come. I want to release a song in early 2022 but nothing is set in stone as of right now.

You can listen to Ghost Town here.