Hey everyone,
For today's blog post I will be doing a music review to Benson Boone's debut album 'Fireworks & Rollerblades'. He has grown his audience through social media and even briefly appeared on American Idol, but he wanted to break into the music industry without a television show giving him a platform so after quitting the show he continued to write music and released his first album earlier this year.
The opening of the album had a brief snippet from the first son on the album which is called 'Be Someone'. It seems like a lot of the songs on the album are about previous relationships and experiences that he has been through, and described this one person as having long brown hair and a moon tattoo, adding that he 'hasn't met someone like you' and admits that he feels like this person needs someone, and he can be that someone. The next two songs on the album 'Slow It Down' and 'Beautiful Things' were two of the early single releases from the album and he speaks about being with somebody who had massive dreams of being on the big screen, but managed to slow their pace of life down, with the other song almost like a self reflection of all of the great traits that he has
The next song 'Cry' was more of a lyrical dig at somebody who might have been too big for their boots, or the way he acted in a particular situation. He says the lyrics 'you think you know me but you hardly know yourself' which suggests that this person wanted to have their opinion on Benson, but they didn't even know about their own state of life. He sings a lot of high vocals in the song and says the line '...more narcassistic than anyone in Hollywood', adding that maybe 'I should see things from our side...or you should just cry'. This line suggests that he knows a lot of people in the world of Hollywood are quite arrogant and over confident, so he's almost comparing that type of personality trait to someone he was speaking to, whilst also reflecting that they should just cry about it to try and get more attention from him
A few songs later, we had the track called 'Drunk In My Mind' which also seemed to be a reflection of being in a relationship with somebody, with Benson saying that it 'happened pretty quickly...I jumped in with both feet'. He also described having 'drank their wine', he was 'drunk in my mind' which maybe suggests that he was constantly thinking about this person. Benson also says that they never 'kissed in the park' but instead he felt like he had his heart ripped wide open, suggesting that this person wasn't romantically invested in Benson, or didn't want to show any of affection.
'The Greatest Fear' was Benson reflecting about dying and being out of the world with him singing the lyrics 'I'm terrified of the day that I'll die...lie here all alone, no flowers on my bones' suggesting that he might not be sure if he will find somebody to spend the rest of his life with, or suggesting that maybe he doesn't have people that he can count on for being there until the end. He said that the 'greatest fair of all is losing you' and says that when he losing his singing voice to this person's songs, he'll be paranoid about the way that they have been holding on. This could also be a hint that this person is in the music industry, but I'm sure we'll never know...
The next song that I made some notes about was 'Ghost Town' which is almost thinking back to the days that Benson and a love interest had together, saying that 'we've been down these roads before, but we don't live there anymore'. He also says that 'maybe loving me is the reason you can't love yourself', which is almost a way of Benson saying that this person felt like they had to give so much of their love and time to him, that they didn't really spend enough time on themselves. Benson also says the line 'show me everything we've built so we can tear it all down' which is quite a sad sentence for him to have sung, but it's almost a way to remove all of those old memories and moments shared, so they can both go on and live their own lives.
Song number 14 is called 'Friend' where he is basically calling out for a friend to help him, as he said 'I've been on my own, trying to carry this alone'. He also sings the words 'there's only so much weight my back could take, I'm sinking like a stone' which suggests that she is a moment in his life where he has had to do everything by himself without any support from anyone in his life. Benson also continues to say 'I could use someone to help me pick up the pieces that remain which suggest that he maybe went through a faze in his life where he was by himself, dealing with trauma or spending a lot of time away from other people. At the end of the song he also says the words 'I want to remember what it's like to be young and alive', as he is currently only 21 years old and has the whole world in front of him, he needs to remember how to act like a young guy and have fun, before it's too late. It's a sad but motivating song, showing that sometimes in life you will be on your own, but when you find that friend or those friends who just 'get you', you'll be able to do anything.
The final song on the album is called 'What Do You Want' where Benson just asks the simple question to one of his love interests as they seem to be giving mixed signals and signs about what they want. He said 'I ripped away my skin to warm your bones' suggesting that maybe he put a lot of effort into the situatinship and wasn't really getting anything back, and he added that there were things they wanted from him, and he gave them more than they asked for, such as 'you said you don't like secrets' and him replying by saying that 'I told you more than you ever had to know', suggesting that he may have been super honest and open about deep and private parts of his life. He also added that this person 'got me all dressed up just to stop the show' and that he was faithful to this person, and the same cannot be said for them, which may tell us that he was cheated on by somebody and this is a way for him to reflect on the situation. At the end of the song, he says 'I'm hearing music moving through me like a symphony' and he's almost happy that this person is not in his life anymore, as he continued to question 'what do you want from me', and never got the answer.
I must be honest and say that this is one of the best albums I've heard in 2024, and for a debut album I think he's done a great job exploring different emotions and song styles and being able to make it all relatable!
Hopefully you enjoyed my music review, and until my next blog post... Goodbye!
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