If you’re like us, you can’t get the lyrics to Stay by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber out of your head. Well, expect more ear worms from the artist because, if the Billboard charts are anything to go by, he’s got quite the career ahead of him.
Oh, and did we mention he just announced his first ever Australian tour?
WATCH: The Kid LAROI gives a tour around his childhood area in Waterloo, Sydney
Yeah, so 18-year-old artist The Kid LAROI achieved his first U.S. number 1 with his mixtape project, F*CK LOVE, and has racked up even more wins since then. He is the youngest artist this decade since Billie Eilish to gain this accolade. Damn.
Since dropping the project in July 2020 he’s clocked up over 350 million streams in Australia and more than 3 billion streams around the world. He’s the youngest Australian solo artist to hit No.1 on the ARIA albums chart and has even topped the US’s Billboard 200 albums chart. This kid is BIG.
So just who is this teenager making waves in the music industry? Where is he from? How did he get big?
Scroll on for everything you need to know about The Kid LAROI.
Is The Kid LAROI touring Australia?
Hell yes he is! The 18-year-old just announced his first tour Down Under, with dats set for May and June of 2022. And if the buzz around this tour is anyhting to go by, tickets are going to sell out FAST.
“The fact that I’m doing my own arena tour at home? That’s like truly weird,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I definitely feel grateful and blessed but, I mean, it’s just crazy.”
In another interview with Triple J he added: “I cannot wait to see my fans all around the world and give them something that they won’t ever forget. It’s been a long time coming.”
Here are all the 2022 tour dates that have been announced so far:
- Thursday 26 May: Qudos Bank Arena, Gadigal Land, Sydney NSW
- Monday 30 May: RAC Arena, Whadjuk Nyoongar Nation, Perth WA
- Wednesday 1 June: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Kaurna, Adelaide SA
- Friday 3 June: Rod Laver Arena, Wurundjeri Land, Melbourne VIC
- Monday 6 June: Riverstage, Jagera Turrbal, Brisbane QLD
How old is The Kid LAROI?
The Kid LAROI, real name Charlton Kenneth Jeffery Howard, was born on the 17th of August, 2003, making him currently 18-years-old. The young Aussie rapper was always destined to have a career in music, born to parents Nick Howard, a music producer and sound engineer who has worked with Nelly and Fat Joe, and Sloane Howard, a model manager and music executive.
When did The Kid LAROI get big?
While The Kid LAROI has been making music since 2015, it wasn’t until the late infamous rapper Juice Wrld shouted him out after he supported him on his Australian national tours in 2018 and 2019.
Then, in December 2019, Lyrical Lemonade published the music video to his song Let Her Go, and he gained international mass success. In March 2020, he dropped a song named after TikTok star Addison Rae. When Addison found out about the track, it went viral—the TikTok featuring the song has more than 15 million likes.
Then, on the 12th of June, he released a collaborated track with his late mentor Juice Wrld, titled Go, which quickly became his first single to hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, debuting at 52. The very next month, he was featured on Juice Wlrd’s post-death album, Legends Never Die, on the song, Hate the Other Side, which debuted at 10 on the Hot 100—what was to be his first top-ten. Later that month, he released a tribute track about him and the second single on his debut album F*CK LOVE, Tell Me Why, which debuted at 8.
In November 2020, The Kid LAROI released the deluxe edition of F*CK LOVE, featuring appearances by Machine Gun Kelly, Marshmello and Internet Money. As of February 2021, that album hit number one on the ARIA Charts, making him the youngest Australian solo artist and second Indigenous Australian male solo artist to hit the top spot.
Where is The Kid LAROI from?
The Kid LAROI grew up in the backstreets of Waterloo, Sydney. In 2019, the then 15-year-old rapper gave a US-based podcast group No Jumper a tour around his local area.
WATCH: The Kid LAROI’s Without You music video
Where does the name The Kid LAROI come from?
The origins of the name “The Kid LAROI” stem from his identity as a Kamilaroi man. The Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay peoples are one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Australia, originally situated with New South Wales to southern Queensland.
While Howard grew up in Waterloo, his great-great grandfather was a part of the Stolen Generation—a period of our country’s ugly history when the Australian government removed First Nations people’s children from their homes and relocated them into white Australian families. So, “LAROI” represents his family’s Indigenous ancestry and origins as members of the Kamilaroi nation.
Who is The Kid LAROI dating?
On the 2nd of January, The Kid LAROI, sporting a prep school boy look, revealed that he’s dating Instagram star Katarina (@katarina.deme on IG). Posing in front of a nice warm fire, LAROI admitted, “I know I said f**k love but… Katarina 🥺💕💍.”
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WATCH: The Kid LAROI spills on his song about TikTok star Addison Rae
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