Benson Boone is Not Reheating Bruce Springsteen's Nachos

Or whatever the phrase is.

Album cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA

I'm sure most of us are familiar with Benson Boone, the mind behind the hit song "Beautiful Things" and backflipping at the Grammys. Well, he announced his sophomore album "American Heart," which is described as "very Bruce Springsteen, Americana, [with] like a little more of a retro vibe." And as a big Springsteener, I had to figure out what exactly this means.

Benson Boone does not make the type of music that Bruce Springsteen makes, and especially not the type of music that he made for Born in the USA, which I presume is at least a little bit of an inspiration for the album's aesthetic.

But the thing is, "Americana" is very different from the lead single from American Heart called "Sorry I'm Here For Someone Else." It's a very simple song that reminds me of the playlist at my old retail job. Americana is a union of folk, blues, country, gospel, and other related genres. The popularity of Americana began with the folk revival, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger heading this movement, using acoustic instruments traditional to the genre until Bob Dylan popularized "folk rock" or the use of electric instruments (See: A Complete Unknown for more). It then evolved again in the 2010s as the rise of "folk punk" with the Lumineers and Mumford and Sons, or more recently, Noah Kahan. The issue here is that our current Americana is very different from Americana, of course, in the 70s and 80s. Somewhere between then and now, Americana split from a lot of its older styles, creating a subcategory occasionally called Ameripolitan, which holds a lot more of the 'country' parts.

The second issue is that Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA is a sub-genre called "heartland rock," which is characterized by telling stories about the Rust Belt and the Midwest region. A good portion of Springsteen's work is based on the premise that he is playing characters, or is the mouthpiece of others. So when he says, "I met her at a dance at the union hall," he is talking about the character of "Working on the Highway." Boone's album is about his own personal experiences or has direct connections to his personal life. Now, this isn't a bad thing in the grand scheme of things, but due to his specific Springsteen comparison, I choose to list this as an issue.

So yeah, Benson Boone is in no way making the next Born in the USA. They are the only people who would say that they have never listened to the album. Also, no offense to Benson Boone. I'm sure he's a chill guy or whatever, and I just wanted to talk about Bruce Springsteen.