After makingquite the splash at the Grammyswhere he backflipped in a body-hugging, baby blue sequined jumpsuit, Benson Boone is back with new music and a very tongue-in-cheek music video.
The singer and former “American Idol” contestant released his second studio album “American Heart” on Friday, paired with the record’s fourth single “Mr. Electric Blue,” with an accompanying music video that sees him in various getups that are more than a little self-deprecating.
The clip opens with Boone, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “One Hit Wonder,” being called into the office of a smarmy agent – identified by a deskplate as “Benson Boone Agent” and played by Jack LaFrantz, Boone’s sometime songwriting partner. The agent breaks the news to the 22-year-old crooner that “we put all our money in moonbeam ice cream and the backflip, and it’s done absolutely horrible,” a reference to one of Boone’s earlier singles on the record, “Mystical Magical.”
“We need something new. We need a new gimmick!” the agent exclaims. “Maybe, good songwriting?”
“You know I can’t do that,” Boone replies. He is then informed by the agent that he “owes” the label $10 million and spends the rest of the music video doing odd jobs to raise funds.
The song itself is fun and pleasantly retro-feeling, with Boone donning shirts that say things like “Inauthentic” as he walks dogs or mows a giant lawn.
At one point, he takes to helping advertise “Discount Jumpsuits,” holding a sign that on one side says “100% Artificial.” He does this while wearing said baby blue jumpsuit thatfamously turned headsat the Grammys earlier this year. In another scenario, a group of kids trash his music to his face while he serves moonbeam ice cream from a truck.
Although upbeat, the “Mr. Electric Blue” music video confronts criticisms seemingly plucked from the bowels of social media comments, like with the shot of a bumper sticker that proclaims, “mustaches are lame.”
It all builds to a crescendo when Boone, who has taken a job as a pool boy, is shut down when he sees a sign forbidding backflips.
He’s clearly in on the joke, and it’s flipping fun.