Ears Wide Open: Benjamin Carter

Kevin Bronson on June 19th, 2022

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Singer-songwriter Benjamin Carter hails from the Cayman Islands, where he spent his early childhood before emigrating to Washington, D.C. His very catholic tastes in music are the product of his upbringing as a the son of church choir director, being part of a family that loved country artists such as Shania Twain, Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire and bingeing on YouTube videos that exposed him to everything from Japanese anime to 50 Cent, Lil Jon and Chris Brown.

A genre-fluid dynamic runs through his releases thus far, too — two EPs, “Self_Portrait Vol. 1” and “Self_Portrait Vol. 2” and the singles he has released leading up to his third EP, “Black Boys on the Radio: Part I” (out this week).

The new EP is notable not just for its sonic mood swings — from Aughts-era indie-rock to alt-pop/R&B and things in between — but for what the L.A.-based artist continues to address on the EP.

The title track, made with songwriter-producer Jesse Barrera (ex-My American Heart), starts with the lyric: “She says ‘Black boys always play on the radio’ / I said, ‘It’s strange how you listen but don’t have time to watch me grow.'” Here, Carter addresses the disconnect between how American culture idolizes the athlete, artist or actor who is Black and in entertainment, “yet many who look just like them are being stereotyped, marginalized, face various prejudices that keep them this way,” he says.

“It’s not enough to pay the actor, rapper or athlete and say ‘Look, we aren’t racist.’ We must each — Black, white, Latin, Asian — be vulnerable and willing to own up to our mistakes and look for ways to grow. This is why the chorus sings ‘And I know if I cry it’ll make you stay / So please don’t, please don’t run away.’”

||| Stream: “Black Boys on the Radio”