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“Ghost Town” is the newest debut single from American Idol finalist Benson Boone, and more importantly, the song is one of the best sent to us by Universal’s promo team.
Honestly, when I read Benson Boone’s description/bio I rolled my eyes and prepared for another boring pop song. When I inevitably listened to “Ghost Town” I was surprised because it seems to be a song I can genuinely understand having a large number of listeners, despite my personal dislike for the pop ballad tones of the song. Even the 5.5 million views on YouTube surprised me, but seemed reasonable once I heard it.
Something that instantly stood out to me was Boone’s vocals, for he can actually sing. His voice is quite unique in a sense that it’s sharp, raspy, but light. Not to mention that his vocals seemed to be professionally mixed, although it can be a little loud in some moments. His range throughout the song is quite interesting too, when he usually sings throughout the song with a (somewhat annoying) repetitive key he manages to use that high note just before it becomes too repetitive, and leaves you intrigued.
An important note about the vocals though is how it contrasts with the instrumental really well. The dark rolling piano sweeps its way into the intro, followed by Boone’s vocals. Towards the bridge we’re given some more sweeping strings and the drums begin not much later. About the drums though… whenever I hear one of these types of piano ballad pop songs the drums are almost always boring. They seem to constantly begin somewhat muted, much like they do in this song, and slowly turn themselves into the drums used in the chorus. This causes the chorus to feel so hollow because you’ve seen these drums coming from a mile away. Although, the breakdown after the second chorus saves me before I begin to fall asleep, with a crisp acoustic guitar and softer vocals from Boone, which I honestly wish were its own song. Then there is another chorus, this time with impact because of the instrumental breakdown, and it leaves me feeling fulfilled.
Despite what the physical description of the song may have felt like, the song as a whole isn’t bad at all. I can 100% hear this song on the radio, and gaining Boone a large audience (whether it’s strictly teenage girls is still up for debate). I’m quite honestly excited to see where his newer music career may go from here, considering this is his debut. One of the main things on my mind is whether all of his songs will sound like this moving forward, or if his sound evolves into a more unique genre of pop.
In conclusion, Benson Boone’s debut single “Ghost Town” is an interesting pop cut, leaving me curious as to where his career may lay in the future.
I probably should listen to the song…but I won’t
Benson Boones fake pop accent is one of the most annoying phenomenon I’ve come across in quite a while. Something about is comparable to chalk screeching on chalkboard.