Copy-Edited by Samia Orva
Benson Boone released the smash hit “Beautiful Things” earlier this year. Since then, Boone has gained five million TikTok followers, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, reached nearly 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and posted 38 TikToks promoting his song this month. In my opinion, Boone’s music falls under the category of “TikTok music.” “TikTok music” is essentially music that has been strictly written to create the”next best trend.” Some prime examples of this are songs like “Mad at Disney” or “abcdefu” which are most known for their 10 to 15-second snippets of their song on TikTok. Now, I’m not saying that this necessarily makes “Beautiful Things” bad, but it also doesn’t necessarily make it good either.
“Beautiful Things” encapsulates pop with a hint of country with Boone’s raw vocals, guitar, and lyrics about loving the beautiful things in life. The song starts simple, much like a Lewis Capaldi song, and works its way up to the strong drums of the chorus. Boone has soulful vocals that allow him to capture strong emotions. The lyrics are pretty straightforward; Boone tells the story of God giving him a life filled with the things he loves and describes how he prays to keep it that way. The track has all the qualities that make a top song — one that makes record labels money.
Honestly, the song is pretty average; it’s nothing groundbreaking and best listened to for 15 seconds on my TikTok feed. Overall, I’d give the song a 6/10. “Beautiful Things” may not be my first choice in music mainly because of how oversaturated it has already become. Nobody loves a song that has been overplayed, which might just have been Boone’s mistake. While researching for this article and scrolling through Boone’s TikTok account, I found nearly 40 TikToks of him promoting the song with cheesy captions like “Is this the song of 2024?” or “Listen to this song if you need to cry.” Boone is only just trying to promote his music, but those few 15 seconds have become so insufferable and tiringly repetitive. This is a prime example of the “TikTokification” of music catered to hook people in until it becomes overplayed.
That being said, Boone is an excellent artist himself. He’s got a strong voice that hasn’t been heard by many and he deserves the recognition he’s getting. However, the structure of trending songs that has been pushed onto musicians by their profit-oriented labels has doomed the music industry. As of now, artists like Boone are more likely to create songs with the most cheesy lyrics and make up for it with an amazing collage of beats afterward. Consequently, music like Boone’s has become a product of timeless songs with impactful storytelling slowly disappearing in the music industry.
