Leaping from his piano in a red jumpsuit with “Austin” written on the back, stunning pop star Benson Boone was in evidence mode from the start. The 22-year-old singer of Mormon heritage, who studied at BYU, ignited passions at ACL on Saturday.

His message was clear: I’m “so legit,” as Taylor Swift said. (Boone played for them at Wembley.) I’m a real boy. And sure, my pop songs are viral on TikTok, but they’re also polished and built to last.

You can’t say he didn’t get the job done.

Before “What Do You Want,” he cut out his overalls with scissors and was shirtless.

“Drunk In My Mind” featured distinct, high-pitched vocals. Boone made the friendly “drink some water” banter that ACL artists do when they realize that it may be October, but also that it’s hot. Sometimes he played the piano, from which he jumped; and one of those creepy, serious Gen Z ballads about girls with green eyes being chip-tuned into a viral cutout. He turned the Freddy Mercury Arena on its head with the call-and-response “Day Oh.”

So there’s no doubt that my boy Benson is a real looker. He also did a freestanding backflip. And he went through the entire hour, closing with the ubiquitous single “Beautiful Things.”

The catalog isn’t his fault – the acceleration of his fame is completely sudden. Eras Tour, VMAs, “American Idol.”

But before “Cry,” he heard an enthusiastic “I love this song” from an adult standing behind me. Think of the tempo and crisp strum of the Cars’ “Just What I Needed.”

His music combines the balladry of Lumineers, the breakdowns of Imagine Dragons and the magnificent falsetto of the guy from Fun.

“He’s so hot. “Oh my God,” someone in line at the bar said mid-set.

It certainly seemed like a nod to his virality to use a background screen of three vertical panels, the way blog editors screen Reels and TikToks for social art in stories.

Boone also said that what makes us human is seeing our loved ones die, and “that sucks.” He urged us to put our phones in our pockets and focus on that feeling. Maybe I’ll call a loved one, he said.

“Have you ever been afraid of something?” he also asked Zilker. When I think about it, yes.

“He’s better than I thought,” said my 41-year-old college friend Clint when he met me in the audience on the Honda stage.

Clint is right.

This article originally appeared on the Austin American-Statesman: Buzz-worthy pop Benson Boone proves he’s worth the attention at ACL