You’re likely at least somewhat familiar with Benson Boone at this point, the crotch-grabbing, backflipping, no-shirt-wearing 22-year-old singer-songwriter. Hell, his song “Beautiful Things” was the top-selling single in the world last year.
What you might be less familiar with is the fact that Benson was raised in rural Monroe, Washington, in a devout Mormon family. He even (briefly) attended Brigham Young University, which you might recognize from the viral TikToks where BYU students are asked about soaking, coffee, and so on.
In a new profile with Rolling Stone, he said that he no longer identifies as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He explained, “I don’t want to be a part of one religion. I have my own opinions. Some are from this religion, some are from this religion, some are from no religion.”
“Growing up, a lot of people at church would talk about these experiences that they’ve had and these personal revelations and feelings and voices. I never felt it as physically present as they did, and so I was always confused and frustrated. I was always scared to bring that up to people because I just didn’t want to accept that, like, I wasn’t feeling what everyone else was feeling,” he said, adding that he was eventually able to confide in a friend who felt the same way.
“ My parents definitely have their own views, but when it comes to religion and God, they want me to figure it out on my own,” he continued. “And whatever I come to, and whatever I feel is right, that’s what they want for me.”
Regardless of his current status in the Church, he is still teetotal — though has tried coffee. ”There was a period of time where I really wanted to like coffee,” he said, “and [would] go out to this place in L.A. with [girlfriend] Maggie [Thurmon], and I would try sips of her coffee every day and, it literally tastes like burnt wood.”
He says that his “addictive personality” has led him to stay away from drugs, saying, “I feel like if I started, I would do it so much that my health would just decline and I wouldn’t enjoy touring as much.” As for his one vice? He told the interviewer, “Dude, candy.”
On the note of politics, he stressed that his upcoming album titled American Heart is “not political at all” and instead refers to himself. “ People think if you have one or two views that are on the left or right side, that you have to be the left or on the right. And I don’t think that’s how it is,” he said of his own beliefs.
HmmMmmMMMm okay! You can read the full interview here.