For the past decade and change, greater music culture has jokingly(ish) referred to Imagine Dragons as the worst band on the planet, despite their insane and inarguable commercial success. They’d taken that title from Nickelback, pop culture’s former punching bag, with widespread memes portraying the post-grunge Canadians handing off the unwanted baton to the radioactive pop-rock group from Vegas. Now, there are new jokes, signifying that we may have made it to the next leg of the relay. Gen X had Nickelback, Millennials had Imagine Dragons; finally, Gen Z has their own wildly popular poster boy of hateable international hits… and ours does backflips!
Yes, it’s Benson Boone, the mustached, mulleted, 22-year-old pop balladeer known for wearing sparkling one-pieces and belting into the microphone like he’s not sure if it’s on. Just 14 months after dropping his debut full-length LP Fireworks & Rollerblades, which housed his behemoth of a hit “Beautiful Things,” he’s back with a brand new album, American Heart. Without question, it’s one of the most anticipated releases of the year, thanks both to Boone’s extended fanbase and dedicated legion of haters.
Great news for those in both camps: You’re getting exactly what you expected.
The 10 tracks of American Heart dial in on the most successful aspects of its predecessor. The song lengths are kept tight (no tune reaches even the four-minute mark), the lead vocal lines consistently push Boone to the top of his register, and each cut comes complete with dynamic shifts that chase that of “Beautiful Things.” As a result, the record is not likely to convert his army of naysayers the same way that, say, Harry Styles’ solo debut managed to.
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Though, if you hit play from the beginning, you might be fooled into thinking it has such potential. The project opens with the pre-album single “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else.” Missing comma notwithstanding, the track is a slickly produced, easily enjoyable piece of modern pop that’s actually pretty fun. The verses boast Boone at his most charismatic while one-off sonic flourishes keep things interesting, and the chorus drops into a half-time feel that, ironically, makes it the most thrilling hook of American Heart — perhaps even of Boone’s entire career.
Slotting “Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else” in as the opener, though, is both a blessing and a curse. It starts the tracklist off with surprising energy, only for the following nine tracks to take the vibe from ‘driving in the summertime listening pop radio’ to ‘letting out an audible groan at the music selection of this Kohl’s.’
And it happens pretty immediately. The next batch of tracks includes an Electric Light Orchestra pastiche with a nonsense chorus (“Mr Electric Blue”), a strangely bitter but upbeat number that’s more grating than cathartic (“Man in Me”), and that well-mocked “moonbeam ice cream” one that partially lifts it’s hook from Olivia Newton John’s “Physical” (“Mystical Magical”).