16-year-old Australian artist The Kid Laroi releases debut project

An Aussie teenager is on the verge of pulling off what many have tried and failed, but there’s a good reason he might be the one to succeed.

An Australian teenager is within touching distance of pulling off what many have tried and failed — cracking into the American music industry.

Charlton Howard, 16, is already much better known by his stage name The Kid Laroi, and is making his first appearance in the top 10 charts and racking up more than 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify ahead of his debut release on Friday.

The teen, whose childhood upbringing spanned stints in outback Australia and public housing in Sydney’s south, is about to become more of a household name following the release of his debut studio project on Friday.

The Taylor Swift album no one saw coming might be hogging all the attention right now, while those who expected a new Kanye release were left disappointed, but that same Friday, The Kid Laroi debuted his first full-length project, titled F**k Love.

The Kid Laroi's Spotify ad in Times Square. Picture: Twitter

Streaming service Spotify celebrated with an ad for Laroi in New York’s Times Square, as well as telling listeners to check out the new release from the Australian act it described as a “prodigy”.

The project spans 15-tracks in a tight 30-minutes of Laroi showcasing his abundant musical talent, dispersed by a series of phone voicemail “skits” that tie together the feelings and themes, blurring genres along the way.

“In terms of boxing it into a certain sound, it can’t be … he’s a hit maker,” Sydney-based Taha Sayed, who’s become a trusted voice documenting and promoting Australian music through his Instagram tahaxsayed, told news.com.au.

“Since it’s dropped I’ve not stopped listening to it, it’s just that good.”

Taha has been a close follower of Laroi’s career from the start, first discovering him when he had only a handful of songs and 20 Instagram followers (he now has more than 860,000).

“You have something brother … keep at it,” Taha wrote to Laroi on the day his debut EP 14 With A Dream was uploaded to YouTube.

“I knew he was going to be special,” Taha said.

Taha sent Laroi some early words of encouragement.

Laroi’s rise to prominence began around two years ago when he was named as a finalist in youth station Triple J’s Unearthed High competition which seeks to promote talented artists who are still in school.

The EP soon followed and then in March last year he inked a deal with Sony Music on the Grade A Productions label run by Chicago rapper Lil Bibby.

Laroi relocated to the US but returned to Australia in November last year for a run of shows supporting labelmate Juice Wrld.

“I got to learn from a real life legend,” Laroi later wrote in a tribute.

Those shows tragically ended up being some of Juice’s last: the 21-year-old died a few weeks later from an accidental drug overdose shortly after landing at a Chicago airport.

His first posthumous album Legends Never Die featured an appearance from The Kid Laroi on the song Hate The Other Side, which also landed the Aussie teen his first appearance in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 charts earlier this month.

Taha has had the access to Laroi’s circle and has been listening to the new project as it was made throughout this year.

He said there are a few things working in the Kid’s favour.

“No bias, I would say if this was a bit of a cash grab or if it was just an Aussie gone mainstream, but if anyone does listen they realise this kid is not only very talented, he’s a very strong, very good songwriter.”

“What he’s trying to tell through his story is that he’s young, and he wants to enjoy life and he’s got no time to be falling in love and giving his commitment to people when he’s very driven with his career and where he wants to go in music.”

Already he’s started using the attention he’s getting to bring up other Australian artists as well, giving his mate and tour DJ Haan a shot with production credits on the tracks Maybe, Running and Need You Most and tapping other Australians like Khaled Rohaim (Same Thing, Running, Need You Most) and JOY. (Selfish) to assist as well.

But despite his young age, Laroi’s music has already shown an ability to cross generational boundaries.

“I’ve shown my father, who’s a 60-year-old, he’s super impressed with his vocal delivery, his ability to create melodies and his songwriting ability,” Taha said.

“He’s going to be a superstar and he has a very direct plan of how he’s going to get there.

“If he’s in a room where there’s opportunity he makes it his mission to get his music heard,” Taha said.

“It’s 24 hours a day, if he’s not showing his music to somebody he’s making music, that’s where I think his ambition shows.”

The Kid Laroi has signed a record deal and relocated to the US.

It might just be a classic case of Australian tall poppy syndrome, but the reaction when Laroi moved overseas brought out detractors.

People wanted him to stay in Australia, not go to America and leave it behind, but the tide has shifted.

Taha said while Laroi is by no means the first to chase his dreams to America, the difference is that “he’s gone there and impressed a lot of people, which in turn is going to funnel down to the Australian music scene”.

“That’s not unprecedented but it’s really exciting, especially with a talent like Laroi, in terms of the reception right now, everyone is really proud of him, because he’s put this body of work out and it’s actually really impressive.”

While it’s obviously a clear win for The Kid Laroi, the old adage of the rising tide lifting all ships still applies.

“It’s shown a lot of Australians you can actually do it.

“He’s inspired kids … someone who’s 16-years-old sitting in their room, it’s shown that someone can literally come from nothing and go over to the American market and dominate it.”

Australia has no shortage of talented and driven artists, but with a small population and little infrastructure it’s difficult for even highly recognised local acts to successfully transition to the much larger and more competitive American music industry.

“There are a lot of artists blowing up in Australia — Hooligan Hefs, ONEFOUR, ChillinIt — you’ve got a number of big acts in Australia growing in Australia but you’re capped off, you’re not going to win everyone over,” Taha said.

“If you want to be really successful, you’ve gotta go … you can’t be a Drake from Australia.”

The Kid Laroi poses with the biggest artist of the past decade. Picture: Instagram

Taha said it’s still an exciting time and the Australian scene is coming into its own.

“We’re Australians we need to own our culture, let’s be proud of it,” he said.

“It’s already started but in 12 months it will be even better and a lot bigger, because of what’s happening.”

The coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to concerts for the time being, but a recovery in Australia’s virus situation could provide opportunity for local artists, as overseas acts won’t be visiting any time soon.

“The Australian scene has already started to grow, couple that with what Laroi is doing overseas and I think in 12 months time Australia is going to be in a really good spot for this particular industry,” Taha said.