The Kid LAROI

“No one ever told me what I’d have to sacrifice for fame,” The Kid LAROI sings on “SORRY,” the opening track on his debut album, THE FIRST TIME. “I’m just trying not to go insane/But I got all this weight on me and I just want to run away.” It’s a very real depiction of a fundamentally unreal experience: a young teen from Australia thrust into global stardom at rapid speed. In an Apple Music interview from mid-2020, The Kid LAROI reminisced about the short but formative time he spent in LA living with the late emo rapper Juice WRLD. They’d hang out all day, bonding, making music, seeing friends, whatever. People always coming and going, never a dull moment. Sometimes, he’d be woken by Juice in the middle of the night to lay a verse on a track. Other mornings, he’d wake to their respective managers saying it was time to pack up and head to Texas. Like, now. He was 15, 16 years old. “I’d never experienced anything like that,” he said. “Especially coming from Australia, where everything is kind of like its own bubble.” Not that 15-year-olds outside Australia would be used to it either. But such is the meteoric ascent of a talented young rapper circa 2020. Born Charlton Howard in 2003, LAROI—the moniker honors his Kamilaroi heritage (the Aboriginal community of his maternal ancestry)—grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, and began to work on music when he was a preteen. Like Juice WRLD, Post Malone, or even Lil Peep, LAROI’s key tracks—“ALWAYS DO,” “TRAGIC,” and the Juice WRLD collaboration “GO”—blend ultra-melodic trap with shades of alternative rock and classic pop, a fusion that has put him on the front burner of pop rap. LAROI was just shy of turning 17 when he released his first mixtape, F*CK LOVE. Two extended versions followed, with the project totaling 35 tracks overall—including “STAY,” the megahit collab with Justin Bieber that topped charts in more than 20 countries. His debut album, THE FIRST TIME, came next in late 2023, featuring BTS’ Jung Kook, Future, and Central Cee among others across the original and deluxe versions. And though both releases were breakup records, his emotional and musical maturity—as well as his growing understanding of fame as a poisoned chalice—developed on the latter. LAROI was set to release his second album in mid-2025, before scrapping all of its songs bar one. Inspired by another breakup, he wore his broken heart on his sleeve on BEFORE I FORGET, recorded in three months and released in January 2026.