Paul Luke Bonenfant took a semester off for a reason. Who knew it would lead to late-night sessions and New York City bookings? 

At the ages of 12 and 13, Paul Luke Bonenfant and Gavin Kim performed alongside each other in Broadway’s School of Rock; nearly ten years later, they now do so in Blush Boy as budding guitarists.

“I told Gavin, ‘Come over, let’s record music, let’s write,’’ Bonenfant shared. “He brought Jake [Radano] over, and we were just writing pretty mid demos, honestly, for a while.” 

Months later, they were joined by Kenna Heim and released their debut album, Heartstrings & Other Things. “That (the EP) actually happened a year and a half after we started writing. Yeah, it took us a while,” he explained, laughing.

Growth comes with time, practice makes perfect, and Blush Boy is a living example of it. They began with the underground college scene at Rutgers’ basement shows and moved their way up, as did their streaming numbers. Their EP garnered fast attention with hit singles like “Candy Hearts” and “True Colors.” Now, as they prepare to release their debut album, things are different. For a week in the summer of ‘25, Blush Boy camped out at Bonenfant’s home. No sleep. Just music. Some of it made it. Some of it was never completed, but their sound was solidified. 

“It’s night and day. The recording quality is way better; we’ve all gotten better at playing. I now listen to the EP, and I’m like, ‘Man, this sounds so flat, the new stuff is so much better,’” he revealed. “We’re just better at writing music now. It’s better. It’s faster. We’re bouncing better ideas off of each other. We’re more efficient and more decisive.”

These ideas bounce off of notebooks, minds, and Bonenfant’s bedroom walls. In high school, Bonenfant had a small studio in his bedroom, and he recorded vocals, guitar, and even bass just to send to fellow producers. As his career began to grow onto movie sets, his hotel rooms became a studio with room service. During the spring semester of his freshman year, he began building a studio in his bedroom, inspired by his year in Nashville. He experienced a studio that was one room that did it all. So at home, he took acoustic foam and quilts and built Blush Boy’s palace. 

“It looks ridiculous, but we record everything in the bedroom,” Bonenfant said. “I want to get even more specific, especially with Blush Boy. I tried to make every instrument on the album sound super specific, not really like other engineers/producers would kind of go about it.”  

And it’s not just Blush Boy. Over time, Bonenfant has written and produced in collaboration with 15 different artists, which wasn’t easy at first. 

“I’m a music business major, so I would always be like, ‘Well, if I’m doing stuff that’s related to the music business, why should I focus on what grade I’m getting as long as I’m learning?’ But that’s a cop out,” he confessed. “At one point, I was working on three different albums for three different artists, and I just had to be like, ‘Let’s finish this one, then that one, and then only focus on Blush Boy and maybe one other project, then finish school.’”

That focus and dedication are what make Blush Boy work. What has helped them grow, oozing from every member’s core. And it just pushes them harder. From basement shows to self-built studios, Blush Boy’s story is one of steady growth fueled by persistence and trust in one another. As the band prepares to release its debut album, their journey is no longer defined by where they started, but by how far they’re willing to push their sound together.

Photo taken from Instagram @blushboyband | Interviewed on January 21, 2026