Benson Boone has gone from writing songs in the back of an Uber to selling out Madison Square Garden, but on Thursday he will be returning to New York City with an intimate stage at Palladium Times Square.
As he enters what he describes as a “go big or go home” phase, that philosophy extends beyond his music to his larger-than-life approach to performing.
“I’m thinking a little flair and something with some movement built into it so it’s able to keep up with me,” he said. “If this whole era of mine had a color it’d be something in your face and something that kind of announces itself before I even open my mouth to sing.”
That same sense of exuberance can be seen in Boone’s signature onstage backflips, a physical flourish that has become as recognizable as his soaring vocals. But Boone said the acrobatics were never a calculated part of his stage persona — they were something he had been doing long before he became a performer.
“Yeah, it wasn’t some calculated ‘character’ thing. I’ve been doing backflips since I was a little kid,” he said. “I actually saw my dad hit one at a family barbecue growing up and I was hooked instantly.”
For Boone, the flips are less about spectacle than simply bringing something he has always loved onto the biggest stages of his career.
“It’s less ‘musical expression’ in some deep sense and more just something I love doing and now I get to do it on the biggest stages of my life,” he said. “If someone who knew me in middle school saw a video of me now doing a backflip off a piano they’d probably just think, ‘he’s still doing this?’”
In many ways, the spectacle is simply another extension of the person Boone was before the fame — a theme that also shapes how he views his rapid rise.
For all the attention surrounding his success, Boone said the most meaningful part of it has little to do with fame itself.
“To be completely honest, I think the most surreal thing about all of this would be telling my younger self that I can take care of my family and friends forever,” he said. “It’s the best feeling in the world to do what I love and be in a place to help the people I love.”
On Sept. 10, Boone will headline an exclusive Wells Fargo Autograph Card concert, giving eligible cardholders the chance to see the singer-songwriter up close and personal. The Wells Fargo Autograph Card Exclusives series, which began in 2023, gives eligible cardholders access to performances by major artists in intimate venues across the country. Previous shows have featured artists including Mumford & Sons, Fall Out Boy and Alanis Morissette.
Benson BoonePhoto by Justin Campbell
Ahead of his New York performance, amNewYork caught up with Boone to talk about his rise to fame since the viral hit “Beautiful Things,” connecting with his fans, affectionately known as Booners, and returning to the kind of room where his career began.
“It was absolutely insane — everything just took off so fast. I don’t think anything really prepares you for that,” Boone said. “But, at the end of the day, I try to remind myself that ‘Beautiful Things’ started as just me in the middle of whatever I was feeling, writing something because it’s therapeutic for me.”
The song’s massive success, he said, remains a reminder of why he writes in the first place.
“So the fact that it ended up connecting with that many people — it’s crazy and all an artist can really ever hope for,” he said. “As far as people waiting to hear what’s next, I try not to let that get in my head too much. I just want to keep writing what’s real for me in the moment and let it go from there.”
Boone skyrocketed into success after his breakthrough with “Beautiful Things,” he earned a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and followed it with songs including “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical.”
But long before the awards, sold-out arenas and screaming crowds, there was “Ghost Town,” the first song Boone wrote entirely on his own.
“I remember sitting in the back of an Uber on the way to my first writing session. I was so nervous I started writing in the Uber,” he recalled. “I wrote the melodies for the song humming in my voice notes in that car.”
He admits that having music he could call his own was a turning point.
“It wasn’t really until I had concrete music to call my own that I really started feeling connected to my career,” Boone said. “That’s what will always drive me.”
That connection becomes even more apparent when Boone talks about performing. Despite his rapid ascent to some of the biggest stages in the country, he says the live show remains at the center of his passion.
“For me, performing has always been the heart of my passion in music,” he said. “I think I’ve always had confidence on stage, but I never really knew what I was capable of until I started going on tour.”
That confidence has helped carry him from smaller rooms to Madison Square Garden, where Boone said the magnitude of the moment was not lost on him.
“There was a moment, for sure. I actually said it from the stage that night,” he said. “I told the crowd that me and my manager set that goal four years and 172 days before that show.”
Standing on the Garden stage after setting that goal years earlier was emotional, Boone said.
“I remember being choked up and telling them, ‘you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day,’” he said.
Now, as he prepares for a 35-date U.S. tour, Boone is looking forward to something different: getting close to his audience again.
“Arenas are amazing, but there’s a distance to them no matter what you do,” he said. “You’re performing for a massive room, and sometimes I realize there are people I literally cannot even see.”
Benson Boone at the Global Citizen Festival.Photo by Amanda Moses
The Palladium show, by contrast, offers Boone the chance to see and feel the audience in a way that is harder to replicate in an arena.
“In a space this size, I can actually feel and observe everyone’s energy again and that shifts the whole way I approach the set,” he said. “It takes me back to why I started doing this in the first place, playing rooms way smaller than this before any of the arena stuff was even a thought.”
“I think I need nights like this every so often, just to stay connected to what it felt like at the very beginning,” he said.
And while the scale of his shows has changed, Boone’s connection to his music continues to evolve with him. Of his songs, he says “Take Me Home” has taken on a new life through performing.
“A 100% ‘Take Me Home.’ It’s my favorite song to sing live,” he said. “I think the more I have matured vocally and physically, the song has developed into my own masterpiece. I truly love performing it, and I always will.”
His performances are also known for their theatricality and energy, something that extends beyond the music itself to what Boone wears onstage. He credits his father’s love of Halloween and elaborate family costumes for inspiring his approach to fashion.
“Now being on stage, I kind of see it as my excuse to dress up and be a bigger, more turned-up version of who I actually am,” Boone said. “A song can only say so much in three minutes, you know? But what I’m wearing while I sing it, that’s telling its own story too.”
As he enters what he describes as a “go big or go home” phase, that philosophy appears to be following him into every aspect of his career.
“I’m thinking a little flair and something with some movement built into it so it’s able to keep up with me,” he said. “If this whole era of mine had a color it’d be something in your face and something that kind of announces itself before I even open my mouth to sing.”
As a man known for not just hitting the high notes but backflipping high into the air, Benson shares that it wasn’t about making this a character for the stage but something he always would do as a child.
“Yeah, it wasn’t some calculated ‘character’ thing. I’ve been doing backflips since I was a little kid. I actually saw my dad hit one at a family barbecue growing up and I was hooked instantly. It’s less ‘musical expression’ in some deep sense and more just something I love doing and now I get to do it on the biggest stages of my life. If someone who knew me in middle school saw a video of me now doing a backflip off a piano they’d probably just think, ‘he’s still doing this?’ So I guess it became part of the character, but only because it was already part of me first,” Boone shared.
For all the spectacle surrounding his rise, however, Boone said the most meaningful part of his success has little to do with fame.
“To be completely honest, I think the most surreal thing about all of this would be telling my younger self that I can take care of my family and friends forever,” he said. “It’s the best feeling in the world to do what I love and be in a place to help the people I love.”
Now, with the arenas behind him and a more intimate New York stage ahead, Boone is getting a chance to bring the two worlds together, the performer who can command tens of thousands of people and the songwriter who once found inspiration in the back seat of an Uber.
The Wells Fargo Autograph Card Exclusive concert featuring Benson Boone takes place Sept. 10 at Palladium Times Square. The event is exclusive to eligible Wells Fargo Autograph Cardholders.