Benson Boone Says His Debut Album — Which He Confirms Is Coming — Is the Start of a 'New Era'

Erica Hernandez Benson Boone

Benson Boone is gearing up for his biggest year yet.

The 20-year-old singer-songwriter released his new single, "Sugar Sweet," on Friday, and the upbeat hit marks his entrance into a new era of music, he says.

"I've been writing a lot of upbeat songs lately, and I just kind of forget that people don't know that side of me yet," Boone tells PEOPLE. "So 'Sugar Sweet' is exciting."

He says that 2023 is "a new era of Benson Boone music," sharing that he's "never been more proud of a body of work than the songs that I have ready."

Boone released his first ever single, "GHOST TOWN," in October 2021, which he followed up with "Room for 2," "In the Stars" and "Better Alone" before releasing his first EP, Walk Me Home…, in July 2022.

All of those songs were written in the "first couple months and weeks" of Boone ever writing music. He says he's "developed a lot musically from then," as he's evolved from writing songs that are "just sad" to more mature, emotional songwriting.

"I'm really excited for people to hear a different side of my music because it doesn't sound the same as anything you can hear that's on Spotify right now."

The artist adds, "I think I have unlocked — not my full potential, but I have unlocked a lot more than I knew I ever had."

Though Boone feels like he's progressed past his first batch of music released last year, it was that eight-song EP that earned him more than 9.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and has positioned him to take the stage in 2023 in more ways than one.

In April, he'll embark on a 10-show European tour, but he's most excited to share that a U.S. tour is — finally — coming.

Paired with the release of "Sugar Sweet" on Friday, Boone announced an 18-date summer tour that will take him across the U.S. in June, including stops in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"I am really excited for the U.S. tour," Boone says. "I've done a lot of stuff in Europe and Australia and New Zealand and [people are] like, 'Where's the U.S. shows?' Well, they're coming! They're coming soon!"

He says performing is his "favorite part" of making music, and teases that the U.S. tour will be "way bigger" than anything he's done previously. (He notes that he did spend December touring the West Coast in what he called "a baby tour" with just a few shows in Utah, Arizona, California and Washington.)

"It's gonna be sick. People are going to be so excited. I'm so excited."

For Boone, who says he loves to "show people new music" when he's performing, the tour will also coincide with the release of his upcoming debut album — which he also exclusively confirms to PEOPLE is coming this year.

"There are whispers of an album," he jokes before confirming, "An album is coming. I'm not going to say when yet, but it is coming."

Like "Sugar Sweet" — for which he sketched and painted the cover art himself one day at his label's office in Los Angeles — the new music is more upbeat than what Boone has been releasing.

"I want people to know I'm not just some guy who cries in his room and writes ballads," he says. "I'm more than that."

Erica Hernandez Benson Boone

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Boone, who was named one of Amazon Prime Music's 2023 Breakthrough Artists to Watch, wants to make it clear that he's still learning when it comes to songwriting and singing.

In fact, it wasn't until his senior year of high school that the Monroe, Washington, native learned he could sing. "The only musical thing I'd ever do is we had family dinner every night and we'd clean up the kitchen and listen to old '70s music after," he says of the extent of his musical experience prior to entering a high school battle of the bands contest with his longtime friend, Eric.

While he was supposed to just play the guitar for the band, Boone ended up singing when the group's singer dropped out at the last minute.

"I just started singing with everything I had, and it worked. My voice just was there. From that day on, I started singing more, and I started eventually posting videos [online]."

Matt Eastin Benson Boone in his new music video

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He jokes that he might have just "hit the jackpot" with puberty and had "something magical unlocked" that led him to develop his uniquely rich and raw tone — which he described as a mix between Lewis Capaldi and Justin Timberlake — but it wasn't battle of the bands that convinced him music was in his future.

He started college in the fall of 2020, as he'd always planned to, studying architecture and interior design, but soon after, singing videos he'd posted on TikTok caught the eyes of Hollywood producers, and he was invited to audition for American Idol — which he says he'd never actually watched before.

After a brief stint on Idol — he made it past the first round to reach the in-person audition, and then got a "Golden Ticket" to Hollywood after impressing Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan with his rendition of "Punchline" by Aidan Martin — he chose to step away from the show to "build something" on his own. (In the only clip of Boone that aired, Perry announced that she could see Boone winning American Idol that season, if he "believed.")

Two years later, he's ready to share his debut album with the world — and he says this is only the beginning.

"Everything that I want to be able to build in the next 10 years – it starts here," he tells PEOPLE. "So this music will be very important."