Album titles and covers are an underrated part of the world of music. Benson Boone, the singer behind “Beautiful Things,” only has one album to his name: Fireworks & Rollerblades. That album has an atrocious cover. The cover was, perhaps, the only image that could have come from such an atrocious title.

Benson Boone’s ‘Fireworks & Rollerblades’ sells itself like it’s a sleazy magazine

Nobody ever should have named an album Fireworks & Rollerblades. There are so many things wrong with that name. Firstly, it sounds random and annoyingly quirky. What do fireworks and rollerblades have in common? That question is like the Alice in Wonderland riddle “How is a raven like a writing desk?” — it has no answer.

Secondly, in musical terms, the word “firework” is owned by Katy Perry for the foreseeable future. No songwriter can claim it right now. It would be like naming your pop ballad “Wrecking Ball” or your psychedelic album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Certain titles are just taken.

However, the real issue with the title is the image it inspired. Posing shirtless on an album cover can feel a little silly, like a photo from a 1950s beefcake magazine. However, Boone made it all more ridiculous by rollerblading and shorts while showing off his body. Furthermore, and most damningly, his rollerblades have fireworks shooting out of them. What on earth is this photograph?

‘Fireworks & Rollerblades’ will give fans the wrong idea

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or an album by its album art. However, that’s exactly what people do all the time. With an album cover like this, it’ll be interesting to see what serious fans (if any) Boone attracts.

If anything, his decision to wear firework rollerblades makes him seem intentionally campy. However, he’s anything but that. His breakout hit, “Beautiful Things,” is a gut-wrenching power ballad where he desperately cries for his lover. It’s a lot more serious than you would expect from the cover, which could have come from an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

What was Benson Boone thinking?

During a 2024 interview with Grammy.com, Boone explained the origin of his horrid album title. “Each one is different, but that title came from a lyric from one of the songs called ‘Hello Love,’” he said. “It goes: ‘I can try to blame you, but my mind ain’t safe / Like two fireworks tied to a rollerblade.’ It always stuck out to me and in the session I wrote that I said, ‘Dude, if this is part of an album, we should name it Fireworks & Rollerblades, imagine how sick that would be.’ Everybody was super hyped on the idea, and it actually happened. I loved the lyric and that sentiment.” 

“Hello Love” isn’t even a single, so most of the people who encounter the title won’t understand it. They’ll just shrug. Is that really what Boone wants?

Boone said something else about the phrase “fireworks and rollerblades” was personal. “It’s also similar to my life: I feel like things have taken off for me like a firework tied to a rollerblade, all very quickly,” he added. “And rollerblading is something I love, so it all made sense. I’m so happy with that title.”

And I’m not. I’m really not.