The Kid Laroi tops US Billboard chart with Stay, his song with Justin Bieber
Very few musicians ever achieve their dream of writing a chart-topping pop song, and fewer still manage it before they’ve reached adulthood.
Plenty of artists fantasise about writing a song that reaches the top of the chart in their home country and abroad. Very few musicians achieve that dream, and fewer still manage it before they’ve reached adulthood.
Count The Kid Laroi among that tiny minority, then, for the Australian artist – who turns on 18 on Tuesday – currently sits at pole position on national charts in the US and Australia, among others.
The hit track is titled Stay, a fast-paced pop song featuring superstar Canadian singer Justin Bieber that’s buttressed by a memorable, explicit vocal hook: “I’ll be f..ked up if you can’t be right here.”
With this achievement, The Kid Laroi has become the first Australian male solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart since Gotye, who spent eight weeks at No.1 in 2012 with his song Somebody That I Used To Know.
Only two other Australian performers have hit the top of the US chart since then: Mullumbimby-raised rapper Iggy Azalea in 2014 with her song Fancy, and pop singer-songwriter Sia Furler in 2016 with Cheap Thrills.
Born Charlton Howard in the inner-Sydney suburb of Waterloo on August 17, 2003, The Kid Laroi – whose stage name is derived from his Indigenous heritage of the Kamilaroi people – has called Los Angeles home for several years.
With 51 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, he has become one of the most popular recording artists on the planet.
His previous single, Without You, reached No.1 in several countries including Australia, and was re-released in April with the distinctive guest vocals of American singer Miley Cyrus.
As is commonplace in the highly collaborative world of modern pop, Stay features nine credited co-writers.
Among that group is Isaac De Boni and Michael Mule, an Australian production duo who work under the name FNZ.
After growing up in Perth, FNZ have now spent a decade based in the US, and the pair has recently worked on tracks with star rappers including Kanye West and Drake.
Of their collaboration with The Kid Laroi, De Boni told The Australian from Los Angeles, “People call him a rapper, which is strange, but it’s just where music is at the moment with the more melodic hip-hop. The way everything’s fused together now is so cool: you can be from Australia, and just kill it.”
Their shared upbringing on our shores helped build their musical connection when FNZ began working with the teenage performer, too.
“We’re all living over here in the States, and you just immediately have so many things to relate about – even if it’s something as silly as, ‘Damn, why isn’t there a Nando’s out here?’,” said De Boni with a laugh.
Like many of their musical peers, FNZ share a sense of awe at Howard’s meteoric rise into the upper echelons of pop music.
“It’s just insane how young he is, and how talented and mature he is,” said De Boni. “He knows what he wants, more so than many adults. Not everyone’s like that.”
“It’s prodigy-type shit,” he said. “It’s a combination of him just being an insanely hard worker, and talented – and then sometimes the stars just align in the right way.”
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