Why Benson Boone left American Idol even though Katy Perry predicted his win

Benson Boone did not want to be a product of American IdolAt a performance on Zach Sang ShowThe 22-year-old singer spoke about the reasons for his exit from the competition series after making it into the Top 24 of the 19th season in 2021.

“The reason I stopped American Idol is because I wanted to make music. I decided I wanted to make music,” Boone said. “I don't want people to say, 'Oh, Benson Boone.' American Idol blew him up. That's where he came from.' No. I want to be Benson Boone because I write huge hits and they love my music. That's why I quit. I just didn't want to have that label on me.”

This move ultimately paid off for Boone, as he subsequently released hits such as “Beautiful Things” and even opened for Taylor Swift on her Eras tour.

Benson Boone's risky decision to leave “American Idol”

“I think I like taking risks, and I've been that way my whole life,” Boone said. “I've been that way in sports, cliff diving, things like that. I always like the thrill of not knowing exactly how something is going to go. That's obviously a lot different than jumping off a cliff into ten feet of water.”

Although he enjoys taking risks, that's not the only reason Boone believes he was able to plunge headfirst into uncharted waters.

“I have really great parents. I think they played a big role in this,” he said. Benson added: “I talked to my mom while I was on American Idol. When I told them I wanted to quit, they knew nothing about music and were therefore very confused about why I was quitting.”

“After I explained it, something like: ‘I don’t want to be labelled as a child for the rest of my life, American Idol kid. But if I really want to make music and I really believe I can, then I'm going to try my best to go as far as I can.' – they just believed in me,” Boone continued. “I think because they believed in me, I really believed I could do it.”

Benson Boone: “I didn’t know how to write a song”

Despite his parents' support, Boone doubted he could make it on his own.

“I had never written a song before. I didn't know if I could write a song, I didn't know how to write a song. I didn't know where to start writing a song,” Boone said.[There were] I just didn't know a lot of things and just expected everything to go well, like it does for a 19 or 18 year old. I just saw an opportunity and took it.”