The Kid LAROI

Australia's the Kid LAROI blends hip-hop and R&B with touches of emo, pop, and alternative rock, a combination that propelled the teenager to prominence first at home and then worldwide. His swift rise unfolded toward the close of the 2010s, aided by a close association with Juice WRLD, who guided the young artist while they traveled together and later joined him on the breakout 2020 single "Go." LAROI dropped the mixtape F*CK LOVE that July; he soon enlarged it by seven songs under the title F*CK LOVE (SAVAGE) and carried the series forward in 2021 with the chart-topping third chapter, F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU. In 2022 the single "Thousand Miles" earned him the ARIA Award for Best Pop Release and opened the door to his first studio album, THE FIRST TIME, which arrived in 2023. Several additional singles followed in 2024, among them "Girls."

Although born in Sydney, Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard spent his childhood in the remote New South Wales outback settlement of Broken Hill, where his mother introduced him to hip-hop and R&B through records by Fugees, Tupac, and Erykah Badu. Once the family returned to Sydney's Waterloo district, Howard began performing at age thirteen under the name the Kid LAROI. His independently released debut EP, 14 with a Dream, appeared in 2018 while he was still fourteen. That year he also placed as a finalist in the Triple J Unearthed contest and secured an opening slot on Juice WRLD's Australian tour, a connection that soon developed into a lasting mentorship.

A 2019 deal with Columbia Records and Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions helped expand the reach of his single "Let Her Go." The real breakthrough arrived in 2020, first through the Lil Tecca collaboration "Diva" and then with the Juice WRLD-assisted hit "Go." The track lifted LAROI's debut mixtape, F*CK LOVE, to number three on the Australian albums chart and number eight in the United States. In November he issued the expanded edition F*CK LOVE (SAVAGE), adding seven new cuts that included "Tragic" featuring Youngboy Never Broke Again and Internet Money plus contributions from Marshmello and Machine Gun Kelly. December brought the Juice WRLD-related single "Reminds Me of You" and a Miley Cyrus remix of "Without You," both of which charted on Billboard, the latter reaching the Top Ten.

Throughout 2021 further charting singles appeared, but the standout was the Justin Bieber duet "Stay," which climbed to number three on the U.S. charts and anchored the third installment of the series, F*CK LOVE 3+: OVER YOU. That project collected material from the earlier volumes plus thirteen fresh tracks featuring Polo G, Lil Durk, G Herbo, Mustard, and Stunna Gambino, ultimately topping the album charts in Australia, the United States, and several other territories. The following year the non-album single "Thousand Miles" peaked at number eight on Billboard's Top 40 and number four in Australia while also winning the ARIA Award for Best Pop Release.

LAROI launched his debut studio album, THE FIRST TIME, in November 2023 after issuing the lead singles "Can't Go Back to the Way It Was (Intro)" and "Love Again" in January; the latter reached the U.S. Top 40. Momentum built further with the Top Ten hit "Too Much," recorded with Jungkook and Central Cee, and with the placement of "Forever & Again" on the Barbie: The Movie soundtrack. Upon release THE FIRST TIME entered the ARIA charts at number three and included appearances from Future, BabyDrill, and Robert Glasper. Four additional tracks surfaced in 2024: "Heaven," "Still Yours," "Hatred" featuring Lil Yachty, and "Girls."