Recently, my thoughts have been consumed by Benson Boone. If you haven’t heard of him, I would first answer, “Lucky you.” However, my disdain for Boone stems from a deep-seated jealousy of his ability to do backflips, with my own backflipping skills being inferior to his, almost null and void. 

Boone rose to stardom as an emerging pop artist with hits like “Beautiful Things,” “Mystical Magical” and “Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else.” While I can acknowledge Boone as multi-talented, he haunts my thoughts daily. There’s something in his lyrics that subtly fosters a sense of distrust towards Boone — one that feels both unwarranted and unprompted. The lyrics, “Moonbeam ice cream, taking off your blue jeans,” from his hit single “Mystical Magical” references the tempting idea of cosmic ice cream being enough to inspire someone to remove their blue jeans, which feels somewhat creepy and invasive. 

Without fail, every time I hear “Mystical Magical” on the radio, I can’t help but answer Boone vocally as though he can somehow sense that a girl in Winnipeg, Manitoba is trying to tell him that things are indeed not “mystical magical.” 

Although Boone has made a name for himself through his sequin-studded jumpsuits, backflips and his overall over-the-top enthusiasm and zest for life, it’s his excessive use of backflips in almost every on-stage performance that has me questioning why he persists in doing these on-stage stunts when they risk being both unnecessary and dangerous. 

Through Boone’s use of nonsensical aerodynamics to cultivate an onstage presence based in flamboyancy, he had me doing weeks of research as to why he keeps trying to defy gravity. Through my research, I found a Boone theory dubbed the “Mormon Backflip Theory.”

Boone’s upbringing was rooted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, growing up a devout Mormon in a small town in Washington. 

With so much of Boone’s early years being shaped by his Mormon identity, the connection to why he backflips so much makes a little more sense. 

A few creators on the internet have flocked to share their perspective on how backflipping in the Mormon religion is, often how young Mormon men attract attention while staying within the parameters of the church’s rules. 

YouTuber and former member of the Mormon church Alyssa Grenfell shared her perspective in a video, stating, “I grew up in the church, and I can confirm that doing a backflip is one of the classic ways for a Mormon boy to attract a mate and to simultaneously dunk on his less athletic friends.”

If the Mormon strategy for attracting attention is a backflip, then is the secular alternative the consumption of alcohol?

The video continues with Grenfell alluding to the fact that neither smoking nor drinking are permitted within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with backflipping being the family-friendly version that can attract attention as an alternative to “Chad” potentially trying to woo you with his cup pong skills. 

Although the Mormon backflip is a cool alternative to the consumption of alcohol, I cannot seem to get over the fact that Boone is constantly risking a potential neck injury just to attract attention. 

Even with his signature backflips being on brand with his on-stage persona, I feel like a lot of his energy is manufactured as a way to draw in an audience of young women, not only with his backflips but also with his suggestive non-lyrical lyrics that, at the surface level, are highly illogical. 

Benson Boone, I am sorry that I cannot seem to get past what I think is a highly curated inauthentic version of yourself. I know it’s senseless, yet my dislike persists. I think that, at the end of the day, it’s truly your ability to do a backflip and my inability to do the same that makes my disdain for you grow.