How Should Benson Boone Feel About the Early Reception to ‘American Heart’?

Benson Boone has backflipped his way into any number of American hearts over the last couple years, as his star has continued to rise through the release of 2024 smash hit “Beautiful Things,” its parent album Fireworks & Rollerblades, and any number of subsequent high-profile award show and festival performances.

This week, that ascent continues with the chart bow of his sophomore LP — appropriately titled American Heart — at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, with its two first singles (“Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical”) also ranking within the top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100. But the critics have not been as receptive as general audiences, having largely derided and dismissed American Heart upon its arrival.

Is the album’s debut performance better or worse than we might have expected? And is the criticism fair? Billboard staffers answer these questions and more below.

1. Benson Boone’s American Heart debuts at No. 2 with 61,000 equivalent album units moved. Is that higher, lower, or about what you would have expected?

Stephen Daw: The album’s placement on the chart feels right about on track for where I expected it to land, even if the number itself feels a little bit lower than I thought it could be. I figured American Heart could easily get close to six figures after Benson became a household name in the year since Fireworks & Rollerblades. But, the fact that this album earned a few thousand more units than his last in its first week despite not having a chart behemoth like “Beautiful Things” to bolster its numbers should be an encouraging sign for Mr. Boone. 

Kyle Denis: After the year that Benson has had, this figure is a bit lower than I anticipated. His last album, 2024’s Fireworks & Rollerblades debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 equivalent album units — and that was with “Beautiful Things” still in the middle of its run in the Hot 100’s top 10.

Lyndsey Havens: Higher! A No. 2 debut for an artist who is still relatively new to the charts is great, especially when the only one blocking Boone is Morgan Wallen. Considering Boone’s 2024 debut album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 6, I expected his second set to enter somewhere in the top 10 but wasn’t even sure a top 5 slot was guaranteed. But timing — and his faithful fanbase — were on his side.

Jason Lipshutz: Higher! “Beautiful Things” is still a gargantuan hit, but none of its follow-ups have approached its level of ubiquity, and Benson Boone’s appeal could have been limited to that one smash single — which isn’t included on this new album. Instead, American Heart was released following some splashy primetime performances and festival sets, and right as recent singles like “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” and “Mystical Magical” have continued to rise on the Hot 100. Neither of those songs will likely grow to the size of “Beautiful Things,” but the chart debut of American Heart demonstrates that listeners are interested in Boone beyond his breakthrough single, and that he has successfully transcended one-hit-wonder status.  

Andrew Unterberger: No. 2 feels about right, but I might’ve expected that first-week to be a little higher. Still, he deserves some credit for keeping American Heart to a tight 10 tracks when many artists would’ve stuffed it twice as full and gotten a few extra thousand first-week units out of the additional streams.

2. Both advance singles “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” (No. 19) and “Mystical Magical” (No. 21) jump into the Hot 100’s top 25 this week. Do either of the singles have a good chance of making it to the top 10 sometime in the near future, do you think? Which one?

Stephen Daw: Just looking at the way the upper half of the Hot 100 has remained so static over last few months, I’d say the odds of either of these songs breaking into the top 10 are slim to none. It makes sense that they’d both receive boosts on the week of the album’s release, but I don’t see that trajectory continuing in the weeks to come unless either of these tracks gets some gigantic boost at radio that I don’t know about.  

Kyle Denis: I think “Mystical Magical” is probably the one that gets there. While “Sorry” is my personal favorite of the two, “Mystical” has a bit more personality, the “Physical” interpolation is essentially an ear candy cheat code and it’s the soundtrack to a major brand collaboration and TikTok trend. 

Lyndsey Havens: Oh man, “Mystical Magical” feels like the kind of song that was injected with something to make it as catchy as it is. It suits Boone’s falsetto so well and has had me coming back more often than “Sorry,” even though I think “Sorry” might be the better pick here. 

Jason Lipshutz: “Mystical Magical” sounds like the natural evolution of Benson Boone’s aesthetic, trading in the grandiosity of “Beautiful Things” for some theatrical, summer-friendly pop rock. The song struts in a way that makes sense for Boone’s over-the-top charm, and already sounds like it will be a longtime live staple, with thousands of voices trying to hit that chorus falsetto. The top of the Hot 100 is pretty static these days (thanks, in part, to “Beautiful Things”!), but I wouldn’t be surprised if “Mystical Magical” pushes into the top 10 before the weather starts cooling down.

Andrew Unterberger: Honestly, with the numerous shifts in dynamic, tone and tempo in “Sorry,” I’m kinda shocked it even climbed into the top 20 to begin with. “Mystical Magical” feels like the much more natural radio and streaming hit — and for my money, his best pop song yet — so it mostly comes down to whether it gets an airplay embrace near what “Beautiful Things” has. It looks like it’s starting to catch on top 40, so my guess is it does ultimately scrape the Hot 100’s top 10.

3. Meanwhile, “Beautiful Things” remains the highest-charting song of Boone’s on this week’s Hot 100, though it slides out of the top 10 (to No. 12) in its 74th week on the chart. Why do you think the song has proven such an undying smash for him?

Stephen Daw: Say what you will about this song (and I have said a lot about this song), but it’s an earworm. Even if you’re not particularly fond of the way Benson wails the words “PLEEEEASE …. STAAAAAYY,” it is effectively designed to create an emotional, cathartic release that manages to plant itself in your mind and stay there. For all the people online who love to dunk on this song, the more they talk about it, the more it embeds itself into everyone else’s brains. 

Kyle Denis: “Beautiful Things” is one of those songs that can exist anywhere and be loved by virtually everyone. Instrumentally and vocally, everyone from rock fans to HAC fans can enjoy it; he’s an attractive Gen Z artist, so he gets instant access to that crowd (and some of their thirsty parents); lyrically, the song is quite CCM-coded which allows those who may stray away from secular music to embrace it, and it’s a got a big, belt-y, sing-along chorus that makes it a natural sibling to other recent hits like Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Hozier’s “Too Sweet.”

Lyndsey Havens: “Beautiful Things” has the mixings of many top charting hits, beginning as an acoustic, forlorn song before swelling into a pop-rock banger just over a minute in. Both sides of the track show off Boone’s range, while as a whole it satisfies a fanbase that spans genres.  Plus, I mean, that chorus is just undeniable. Who hasn’t bellowed it out once or twice… or more?

Jason Lipshutz: Part of it is circumstantial — “Beautiful Things” is one of a handful of 2024 hits that have been deathless on the Hot 100, joining smashes like “Lose Control,” “Espresso” and “Die With a Smile” — but Boone’s breakout hit has joined that stable of long-running hits by functioning slightly differently from them. “Beautiful Things” doesn’t go down easy, or scan as conventional; instead, the quiet-loud dissonance of the song strikes a nerve with the listener, and essentially divides the song into two halves. The fact that both portions of “Beautiful Things” have proven so durable to pop listeners makes Boone’s achievement even more remarkable. 

Andrew Unterberger: It’s just an undying kind of song, really. It’s got universal lyrics and an anthemic presentation and it hits places and themes that other pop songs don’t hit. There’s 2025-specific reasons why the song has had the commercial longevity that it has, sure, but the reasons why it’ll hold a permanent place in pop culture memory (regardless of how long it takes to fall off the Hot 100) are pretty eternal.

4. While the commercial success for Benson Boone has been relatively consistent, his critical response has been largely negative. Are the bad reviews largely fair (or at least understandable), or do you think they’re missing something fundamental about his appeal?

Stephen Daw: I think two things can be true at once. First, not all of the criticism is valid or made in good-faith (this man should be allowed do his little backflips in peace). But second, I think the general critical distaste for his contrived songwriting and his exceedingly generic pop-rock sound is more than fair. Yes, some of the hate he’s getting online is simply because he got too big too fast and people want to be contrarians, but some it is coming because Benson’s music doesn’t meet (or frankly, come close) to the high bar that has been set by other pop phenoms over the last few years.

Kyle Denis: They’re pretty understandable…. American Heart feels particularly drab, thematically empty and rushed. Very rushed. The album honestly sounds like Benson is still figuring out the kinks of his own appeal, so I can’t fault critics for picking up on that and calling it out. 

Lyndsey Havens: Look, I think many have a hard time looking past the glitzy jumpsuits and never-ending backflips. And while the gimmicks have been successful tools in generating buzz — both good and certainly bad — I would hope that in this phase and beyond Boone can establish himself without them. Having seen him perform at his label’s office years back in street clothes (the kind you might see a young man wearing in Brooklyn or Silverlake), it was a set I never forgot. And seeing him at Coachella I was reminded just how incredible of a vocalist he really is. I think if he can strip it all down to just that, he might win over some of his harshest critics. 

Jason Lipshutz: Generally speaking, the reviews for American Heart have nodded to Boone’s talent as a backflip-friendly performer and beguiling pop personality, while also focusing on his lack of song craft to this point. I think that’s mostly fair — American Heart successfully extends the Boone brand, but doesn’t contain any top-level songwriting or mine unexpected thematic territory. That’s okay! Benson just turned 23 years old, and already has plenty of mainstream buy-in. If the reviews were too negative this time, he’ll have plenty of time and opportunities to make future projects even more rewarding.

Andrew Unterberger: I think parts of it are understandable — the album’s not a masterpiece, and some lyrics lean a little too far into goofiness with others go a little too hard with the melodrama. Generally, there’s an extra-ness to it that often proves critical anathema. But I could say the same thing about countless pop-rock albums from the last two decades — from The Killers to Panic! at the Disco to even Harry Styles — which are similarly flawed, but also have similar moments of genuine inspiration and feeling and fun. The reason only the former quality seems to get acknowledged with American Heart is because Benson Boone is an easy target, and a safe one.

5. Boone has now peaked at No. 2 on both the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100. If he was deadset on grabbing a No. 1 next time out with either his third album or its lead single, what would you advise him to do?

Stephen Daw: I think his best shot for No. 1 at this point is to do a high-profile collab that strays just enough from the folk-pop screeching of “Beautiful Things.” If he were to do a collaboration with someone like Sabrina Carpenter on a tongue-in-cheek capital-P pop single, he could easily snatch his first No. 1 hit. 

Kyle Denis: In terms of albums… maybe wait a little longer into the run of a Morgan Wallen album before gunning for the top of the Billboard 200. For his next lead single, I’d also advise better timing, but, more specifically, give the songs time to breathe. Benson’s songs normally take some time to grow into hits, so maybe just focus on pushing one advance single and use the album release week to lift it to No. 1on the Hot 100.

Lyndsey Havens: Go… smaller. Everything the team is doing is certainly working, and a No. 1 on either chart does seem within reach, but I think having gone so big thus far, dialing it back at some point could be the key ingredient to hitting those top spots. As counterintuitive as that may seem. 

Jason Lipshutz: I’d stay as active as possible, with more tour dates, new music, new videos and different versions of his overall product. Boone has moved beyond “Beautiful Things” by presenting his live show to a much wider audience and cranking out new albums in back-to-back years; he’s been tireless over the past 18 months, but that hardworking attitude has helped make him a star. He just has to keep taking swings of the bat, and the more of himself he puts out there, the more likely he will be a chart-topper in the near future.

Andrew Unterberger: Benson might just need longer tracklists for a No. 1 album, but I don’t want to encourage him to just double down on the kind of songs he’s already doing and pump out lesser versions of them for volume’s sake. So how about this: Benson Boone Rock Opera. It’s the logical extension for all of his musical and theatrical ambitions, and it’ll help him expand the tracklist with all the necessary interludes and half-songs that you need to flesh out such a conceptual project. Plus maybe it’ll get the critics to take him more seriously? OK maybe not. But still.