Benson Boone: Musical Expression Through Physical Performance

He may be best known for his energetic live performances and backflips, but there’s no question that Benson Boone is a musical powerhouse. His first two albums, Fireworks & Rollerblades and American Heart, released in 2024 and 2025 respectively, were both chart-toppers, as were the accompanying hit singles “Beautiful Things” and “Mystical Magical.” Today, he’s a major touring artist selling out arenas worldwide, with a massive online following.

Boone’s athletic abilities were evident at a young age — he was a member of his high school’s competitive diving team as well as the tennis team — but he discovered his musical talent when a friend asked him to play the piano and sing in a battle of the bands during his junior year. After graduation, he decided to focus on his music exclusively.

Benson began posting singing videos to TikTok in late 2020, eventually amassing 1.7 million followers. His debut single, “Ghost Town,” was released soon afterwards, with Boone playing drums, guitar, and piano on the recording, which charted in 14 countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

In the years since, Boone has won several prestigious awards and has made many unforgettable live appearances, including opening for Taylor Swift and playing at Coachella 2025, where, using a Yamaha-created custom piano, he covered the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody” with original Queen guitarist Brian May joining him onstage. Benson has also appeared on numerous TV shows, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and Late Night with Seth Meyers, and gave memorable performances at the 2025 Grammys and AMA shows.

THE AMERICAN HEART TOUR

In the summer of 2025, Benson embarked on his first all-arena concert tour, titled the American Heart Tour, spanning 50 shows across North America and Europe. Incredibly, 29 dates were sold out in just nine seconds.

For the tour, Boone opted to perform on two customized Yamaha pianos: a C7 Concert Grand for the main stage and a C2 Grand for the B-stage. These instruments would not only be at the heart of a landmark live moment and a consistent visual focal point across changing venues, they would play critical musical, visual, and physical roles in the live production, and so they had to be musically exceptional and designed to meet the demands of a high-energy, theatrical, emotionally driven show, while also supporting Benson’s uniquely physical performance style.

The C7 was chosen because it has a large, commanding sound suitable for arena-scale venues, as well as a visual presence appropriate for center stage and full dynamic range for expressive playing. The C2 matched the physical space and staging footprint of the B-stage, while still providing true Yamaha tone and professional playability. The two pianos — the C7 with a silver-flake finish and the C2 with a blue-sparkle finish and adorned with jewels — reflected and amplified stage lighting and motion, reinforcing the scale, intensity, and emotion of the live experience.

Because Boone physically interacts with the pianos he plays, Yamaha did significant structural planning, along with extensive testing to ensure stability during movement and jump-off moments. Both pianos were outfitted with custom legs and a reinforced lid with a special high-traction grip coating applied to the top surface, along with rubber-coated locking casters for secure staging and solidity. Also, because these are active touring pianos, custom high-durability finishes designed not to crack or dull under travel conditions were applied.

Even with all these custom visual and structural modifications, the instruments remained fully professional, fully expressive Yamaha pianos, with their action quality, tone, and responsiveness preserved. They were, after all, built to be played, not just looked at.

A Creative Collaboration

Benson Boone’s collaboration with Yamaha grew naturally as his live performances continued to scale. After working with Yamaha on select key performances, including Coachella, his production team recognized the level of craftsmanship and attention required to support an artist whose show blends music, movement, and spectacle. When planning the American Heart Tour, the team reached out to Yamaha to design custom pianos that could serve as visually iconic centerpieces while also being structurally reinforced for physical performance and durable enough to withstand a multi-continent tour.

During the tour, the C7 Concert Grand served as the bold visual and musical centerpiece of the main stage. Yamaha and Benson’s creative team worked with great attention to detail in order to ensure that the instrument would integrate seamlessly with the staging, lighting, and screen content. Piano designer Justin Elliott (who has worked on numerous projects for Yamaha) finished the piano with a custom multi-layer silver-flake paint that required 17 to 20 layered coats. Each coat used different flake sizes to create depth and varying light reflection, resulting in a highly reflective, sparkling, light-amplifying surface.

The C2 Grand was conceived by Benson’s creative team as the focus of a surprise theatrical moment, when the piano rises in darkness from below the B-stage at the far end of the runway just as an enormous chandelier is traveling from the main stage with Benson riding on it. Boone would then jump down onto the piano lid and perform atop the instrument. It was an interaction that created a cinematic visual storytelling moment and one of the tour’s most dramatic live reveals — one that garnered an explosive reaction from the audience every night. For even greater impact, the C2 was finished in a deep blue sparkle and adorned with jewels to visually match the chandelier.

Benson Boone’s rise has been meteoric, and the emotional intensity of his live shows have become a defining part of his artistry. He is an artist who thrives on connection, energy, and authenticity. His piano is not just an instrument on stage. It is central to how he performs and how he communicates with his audience.

Yamaha was honored to support Benson Boone by building custom world-class instruments that were visually iconic, structurally engineered for performance, and musically exceptional. These pianos were not background; they were part of the narrative, part of the choreography and emotional arc of each show, supporting an artist whose performances demand both musical expression and physical freedom.

The silver-flake C7 used by Benson Boone during his American Heart tour will be on display at the Yamaha booth during NAMM 2026. Stop by and check it out!

For more information, visit https://www.bensonboone.com/