The Kid LAROI is a 20-year-old rapper and singer from Australia. He started gaining popularity in 2020 with his association with late rapper Juice WRLD. The Kid LAROI has released two studio albums with Columbia Records, “F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU” and “THE FIRST TIME.” “F*CK LOVE” was released in 2020 and “THE FIRST TIME” was released on November 10, 2023. Both of these albums are mainly about relationships and heartbreak. While listening through both of these albums, the growth and maturity of The Kid LAROI himself and in his music is very noticeable. Noticing this growth is what made me, personally, really enjoy listening to his most recent album, “THE FIRST TIME.”
Laroi’s album “F*CK LOVE” has more of an angry tone to his music and really emphasizes his thoughts as an angsty teen in both his lyrics and instrumentals. This album focuses the most on heartbreak/breakups, he expresses his anger and sadness with lyrics like:
“I gave you love and I hate it
Yeah, all of the time that I wasted“
in his song “F*CK YOU, GOODBYE” featuring Machine Gun Kelly. This song is one of many of the songs he mainly raps in with anger in his voice.
In his sadder songs, he tends to sing rather than rap. This next song consists of an acoustic ballad with more melancholy lyrics and is one of the more popular songs on his album. The chorus of “WITHOUT YOU”:
“You cut out a piece of and now I bleed internally
Left here without you, without you
And it hurts for me to think what life could possibly be like
Without you, without you“
In this album, The Kid LAROI sounds angry and feels sorry for himself, but this changes in his latest album “THE FIRST TIME.”
In “THE FIRST TIME,” it focuses on The Kid LAROI’s recent breakup that created an uproar among his fans, support him through the aftermath of the breakup. This album does not consist of the angry tone in his previous album, however it’s definitely quite sad with fast-paced trap beats, synths, and audio samples while also incorporating acoustic songs with lyrics filled with melancholy and nostalgia. Not all of his songs in this album are about the break up. At the same time, some of his songs are also about moving on and focusing on himself. Some of the sadder songs are actually events that happened in his family and friend life, such as the death of his uncle Wayne, who was murdered in 2015 and was also The Kid LAROI’s father figure. In his song “WHERE DOES YOUR SPIRIT GO?” he reflects on the death of the rapper Juice WRLD, who was also a close friend of The Kid Laroi that guided him from the start of his music career. The chorus of “WHERE DOES YOUR SPIRIT GO?”:
“Numb today, but tomorrow I’ll feel it
Truth is worse every time I hear it
Know you’re gone but tell me, where did you spirit go?
Run away from the way that I’m feeling
Maybe that’s just the way I’m healing
Know you’re gone but tell me, where did your spirit go?
I just don’t get it“
This song is one of his acoustic songs of him singing rather ran rapping. The only instrument used is a grand piano with sorrowful chords as he grieves his friend.
In other songs like “TEAR ME APART,” “DESERVE YOU,” and “YOU,” The Kid LAROI shows how much he has grown and matured. Unlike in his album “F*CK LOVE,” he acknowledges that he’s made some mistakes in his relationship and apologizes for it. For example, in “TEAR ME APART,” he says:
“I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused
Sorry for the problems I’ve brought
I know that it’s not your fault“
It’s pretty cool watching an artist grow through their music and in their personal life. I can’t wait for what else The Kid LAROI has in store for 2024.