It’s the year 2021 and one-time millennial heartthrob Justin Bieber is appearing on an Australian teenager’s mixtape. Savvy move? Very.
Seventeen-year-old Charlton Howard,better known as The Kid Laroi,has been quietly amassing a homegrown following since 2018. If he wasn’t on your radar then,there’s no escaping him now. In fact,if the pandemic nudged you even slightly in TikTok’s direction,you’ve likely been listening to his work for months.
The Kid Laroi.Sony
Born in Sydney’s Waterloo,Howard’s teen years were spent couch surfing with his mother after his parents’ split thrust them into financial hardship. Under the wing of,Howard’s rapping turned from an adolescent coping mechanism to a passion,and then to a full-blown career when he was discovered by Lil Bibby in 2019.
By late 2020 The Kid Laroi’s mixtape projectF--- Love had and he has since hit No. 3 on the Hot 100 with his 2021 collaboration with Bieber,Stay.
Now living in L.A.,The Kid Laroi boasts collaborations with,a spot on Bieber’s studio albumJustice, a remix of breakthrough hitWithout You with none other than Miley Cyrus,aSaturday Night Live appearance,over 35 million monthly listeners on Spotify (that’s more than The Rolling Stones or The Beatles)... oh,and,too.
Today,almost a year to the day since The Kid Laroi dropped the first mixtape of theF--- Loveproject,the final instalment,F--- Love 3:Over You,is ours for the taking.
Where a studio album might take us on a smoother journey,FL3is a sometimes-erratic patchwork of angst,anger and – eventually – the burgeoning confidence of new love,all fashioned in Laroi’s signature pop-infused,lyrical emo rap. Gone are the lo-fi “skits” fromF--- Love and the wide-eyed hurt ofF--- Love (Savage), but in a digital age that threatens to void mixtapes of their meaning,Laroi takes the DIY format and preserves the rough-cut,middle-finger energy of his previous releases,albeit with the slicker production values of his new LA crowd.
F--- Love 3 is a sometimes-erratic patchwork of angst,anger and the burgeoning confidence of new love.Sony
The second,most notable difference fromFL3′s predecessors is of course the rising calibre of the cameos. Besides Bieber,this instalment features American rappers Polo G and Stunna Gambino,and producer/beatmaker Mustard – and you can thank pop darling Charlie Puth for the rippling synth groove that likely sealedStay’s fate as a sure-fire chart success.
But alongside the bevy of more experienced voices,Laroi’s vocals are often the most compelling here – simultaneously fresh and streetwise,with genuine chops that have matured sinceF--- Lovebegan. His lyric game is strong too,with a masterful balance of simile and straight-talking in the verses. OnNot Sober,a broody piano riff underpins a vulnerable litany of past hurts and has enough fight in it to counter the wound-licking:“I see my best friends change colours like the tie-dye” is quickly followed up with “I was down in hell believe me/ Packed up my bags and told the devil I’m leaving”.
The sentimentality ends hard and fast whenSame Energy kicks in with an effortless,funk-tinged swagger through classic “I can’t believe I wasted my time on you” territory. It’s a slightly jarring,if welcome,change of direction that softens by the time we reach the gently pleadingStill Chose You.
Laroi has made it clear that theF--- Love era is over,which can only mean one thing:a new chapter is on the way.
You’d do well to keep up with The Kid.
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