Album Review: The First Time | The Kid Laroi
Moments of greatness overshadowed by inconsistencies and questions
Aussie born singer/rapper/hybrid The Kid Laroi’s new album (and technically his first studio album) is filled with questions…..WHERE DO YOU SLEEP? WHAT’S THE MOVE? WHAT WENT WRONG??? WHAT JUST HAPPENED and WHERE DOES YOUR SPIRIT GO? are all different song titles on this record. Intentional or not, he doesn’t seem to find many answers.
Of his many critics, The Kid Laroi is faced with being a clone of popular rap-pop hybrid artists of the late 2010’s. “Record companies really tryna clone me” Post Malone sings on a recent cut on his latest LP, and despite The Kid Laroi & Post Malone previously collaborating - it’s hard to not think how similar their music and sound can be. Check out their collab below and let us know when you hear The Kid Laroi come in, they almost sound identical.
Despite their similarities, it’s been a difficult feat for The Kid Laroi to stand out. Huge collabs with Justin Bieber (Stay) just get drowned out that you even forget that was his song, not Bieber’s. The industry changes so quickly these days, and breakout stars get forgotten if they don’t follow up quickly.
The Kid Laroi finally dropped The First Time in November, In roughly 3 years he broke through with the track “Without You.” 3 years might not seem like much, but for an artist who isn’t well-established, that’s career-ending to wait that long to follow up.
The First Time is tied together with Laroi’s fears and anxieties shedding an old version of himself and experiencing growing pains (he’s 20). The album starts with an open-ended question: “Do you remember the first time when…?” and sprinkled throughout the album, he enlists his friends (including Justin Bieber on Strangers 2) and family members to expand on the question to talk about the first time they were really afraid / fell in love / experienced death and grief, etc. These spoken word interludes ac
The most disappointing thing ever happened on this record, specifically on the track Call Me Instead. The Kid Laroi gets jazz pianist Robert Glasper (the heart behind Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly) to lay down some absolutely gorgeous keys to which Laroi delivers one of the best indie rap choruses of all time. The tragedy strikes when Laroi offers the second verse to none other than Youngboy Never Broke Again. Don’t get us wrong, we are Youngboy supporters, great at what he does, and a fantastic feature artist. (WUSYANAME, Need It, Bandit, Late To Da Party) This feature plummets short of our expectations for Youngboy. The feature itself definitely fits the song, it’s just that Youngboy unfortunately does not. He gave it a valuable effort but in the end, the choice to include him on this track - boggling.
One aspect about THE FIRST TIME that stood out was Laroi dipping into a more indie-rap sound at times. And while the genre is not super dominated and Laroi could easily have space to jump in, The Kid Laroi tries to be someone else. Giving us his best Dominic Fike impression with indie-esque guitar strumming on Bleed, and doing his best to channel Frank Ocean on Nights Like This. On an ablum where The Kid Laroi comes into his own, most of the songs feel so much like other artists. Here’s to the young man finding his voice.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Bleed, What Just Happened
You Can Skip: I Thought That I Needed You, Deserve You, Call Me Instead (but don't)
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 6.2
Carson’s Score: 6.3
Album Score: 12.5
Notes from Bennett:
okay! lil white boy is still good at making music! lol. This record has some really excellent takes and moments but they are rare and have the potential to be re-polished. For example, Where do you sleep has a mix match of great beats and makes the song really cool but the writing… just confusing.
Too Much is just another example of a track that needs polishing, This collab goes crazy. Jung Kook has a solid chorus here but the verses from laroi and especially Central Cee fall incredibly short. Central Cee sounds so out of place here and arguably bad. I struggle to find things about this track that I enjoy.
I’ve always known he’s Australian but like… ok bro. we get it.
I’ve spoken enough about Call Me Instead. a shame.
Notes from Carson:
Just here to say for the second week in a row I hate UK rap. Central Cee ruined another song for me. Too Much is a pretty catchy Starboy-esque track that I feel gets choppy with the rap verse.
Bleed is such a standout track. His lyrics sound great and I love the chiller vibe to this one.
The features on this are pretty so-so. The only one that really works is D4vd and my BOY the king of K-pop Jung Kook!
Call Me Instead could be a highlight if YoungBoy was left off of it. What an absolute tragedy. Worst feature of the year. This is a 9/10 before his part. I am so sorry to Richard Glasper.
All in all, Top 3: Bleed, The Line, Love Again
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Here are our all-time top albums featured on Pop Lobster.
Funk Wav Bounces, Vol 1 | Calvin Harris | Score: 16.60
GUTS | Olivia Rodrigo | Score: 16.33
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1989 | Taylor Swift | Score 15.67
Heaven knows | PinkPantheress | Score: 14.85
the record | boygenius | Score: 14.48
Lover | Taylor Swift | Score: 14.42
AUSTIN | Post Malone | Score: 14.41
Sunburn | Dominic Fike | Score: 14.33
Zach Bryan / Zach Bryan | Score: 14.19
Endless Summer Vacation | Miley Cyrus | Score: 14.00
Unreal Unearth | Hozier | Score: 14.00
In The End It Always Does | The Japanese House | Score: 13.92
Barbie: The Album | Various Artists | Score: 13.88
Gag Order | Kesha | Score: 13.77
Snow Angel | Reneé Rapp | Score: 13.00
UTOPIA | Travis Scott | Score: 12.79
The Album | Jonas Brothers | Score: 12.67
I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet | Del Water Gap | Score: 12.58
Bewitched | Laufey | Score: 12.50
THE FIRST TIME | The Kid Laroi | Score: 12.47
Stick Season | Noah Kahan | Score: 12.43
The Show | Niall Horan | Score: 11.42
For All The Dogs | Drake | Score: 11.35
Scarlet | Doja Cat | Score: 11.24