EXCLUSIVE: The Kid LAROI is undeniably the biggest artist to come out of the Australian music scene in years.
At just 22, the musician – legally, Charlton Howard – has produced hits with the likes of Justin Bieber and sold millions of copies of his three studio albums.
Howard, a proud Kamilaroi man born and raised in Sydney’s south, tells nine.com.au the support from his hometown is overwhelming at times, especially when he takes to the stage in Australia.
“It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced,” he said.
“I’ve been so lucky to receive the love I do from home, and I don’t take it for granted … it’s honestly hard to process sometimes.”
He recently performed at the 2026 Australian Open and sold out his concerts Down Under in 2024, with another hometown tour in high demand.
His performance at the AO came weeks after the release of his latest album, BEFORE I FORGET.
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The album is full of hits, but also shows a vulnerable side of the hip-hop sensation.
Tracks like Maybe I’m Wrong let the listener into Howard’s thoughts and feelings as he navigates a public break-up from a certain Canadian pop star.
Despite the deeply personal lyrics, the singer says he never hesitates to be honest when he is in the studio.
“It’s not really something I think about when making the music. I think about it more so before releasing it,” he explains.
“Like… ‘is this too personal?’ But every time I think that way, I’m like… ‘that’s the best stuff!’
“The stuff that’s human and that people can relate to, that’s my favourite stuff from my favourite artists.”
Howard had written an entirely different album and was planning on releasing it, but he ultimately decided to scrap it and start again from scratch.
“I just realised one day that if I’m not connecting to this 100 per cent, how is anyone else going to?” he said.
“I want to be proud of everything I put out. I have to promote it and tour it… it would suck doing that with something I’m iffy about.”
The album takes clear inspiration from the ’80s and ’90s, but Howard confessed the nostalgic sound of Before I Forget was a happy accident.
“I was listening to a lot of ’80s and ’90s tunes while making the album, so I think naturally it just ended up sounding the way it does,” he said.
As if he wasn’t busy enough, Howard also joined Uber Eats’ latest Get Almost Almost Anything campaign.
The 22-year-old was transformed into an old man for the project, which took hours of prosthetic makeup and special effects.
All that time sitting in the makeup chair gave him a chance to think about what he would ask himself in the future.
“I appreciate my youth a lot more now I think,” he joked to nine.com.au.
“I guess if I could ask my future self something, it would be… what would you have done differently in your youth, knowing what you know now?”
In the ad, he orders a new name on Uber Eats, wanting to be called “The Man LAROI” to be taken more seriously, but he transforms into an old man instead.
He added that when he is back in Australia, the first thing he orders is a meat pie – you can’t get more Aussie than that.
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