Benson Boone on ‘American Idol’: Meet the Hopeful Katy Perry Thinks Could Win

Benson Boone was the first contestant to audition for season 4 of ABC’s American Idol reboot, and he wowed the judges with his unique voice.

Boone played the piano while singing for his audition, and American Idol judge Katy Perry told him that she thought he could win the whole show if he wanted to.

The young singer told the judges that he’d only been performing for a little over a year, ever since his friends told him that they wanted to start a band and have him as the singer.

American Idol hasn’t always been his dream, but he told Komo News that he was the most excited to meet Katy Perry.

“I had a little bit of a crush but – all business though, all business,” he told the outlet. “But yeah, definitely Katy Perry!”

Boone Got a Golden Ticket to Hollywood

SWOON Over Benson Boone And His Dreamy Vocals – American Idol 2021Self-proclaimed “goof nutball” and popular TikTok-er, Benson Boone, stuns the judges with his rendition of “Punchline” by Aidan Martin. Lionel Richie calls it natural talent, Luke Bryan says his voice is a true gift, and Katy Perry goes as far as saying she sees Benson winning American Idol, if he believes in himself. Will Benson…2021-02-15T01:10:53Z

Boone may not have always loved American Idol, but he was still happy to be there. Before auditioning for the judges, though, he had to go through two rounds of producer auditions.

“I play piano, so I just sat down at the piano and played a song for them,” he told Komo News. “Honestly for me, it was more nerve-racking than singing in front of people. It was just different I guess, singing for them online, but I’m glad they were able to see my passion and my voice and it went well.”

Boone is a Popular TikToker

Boone is a popular TikToker, having gained over 1 million followers and 42.6 million likes on his videos. He told Komo News he doesn’t believe that he’s TikTok famous, however.

“I would say that’s a lot of followers but I just started posting ten months ago, and my first video got like 400,00 views, and so that kind of shocked me – I’ve never had that kind of exposure before,” he told the outlet. “And so I posted another video and it got 1.3 million views.”

He added, “And I was like ‘OK this is so cool!’ I was kind of nervous to post a singing video for awhile, I finally did it wasn’t even that long ago – maybe five months ago. And it got 5 million views and I was just stoked. I was so happy.”

He says he took advantage of the “Driver’s License” phenomena and wrote his own version as Olivia Rodrigo’s song started flying to the top of the charts.

His version of the song, which is from the male’s perspective, has over 2.5 million views, 79,000 followers and 122,000 shares.

Boone launched his TikTok account in January 2020.

Boone Has Thousands of Instagram Followers

Boone has over 55,000 Instagram followers on his main account, where he shares photos and videos about his life.

Recently, he’s shared photos from his American Idol audition, a photo tribute for his mother’s birthday, and a photo and caption dedicated to his father on his birthday.

The Internet star seems to love the outdoors, posting plenty of photos of exploring various terrains and even one where he’s holding a butterfly.

Tune into American Idol Hollywood Week to see if Boone has what it takes to get to the next level of the competition.

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