The First Time (The Kid Laroi album)

The First Time (stylized in all caps) is the debut studio album by Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi. It was released on 10 November 2023 through Columbia, with the deluxe edition being released on 9 August 2024. The album contains guest appearances from Jungkook, Central Cee, Future, BabyDrill, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Robert Glasper, and D4vd. The deluxe edition adds an additional guest appearance from Lil Yachty. Production was handled by FnZ, Parisi, Omer Fedi, Blake Slatkin, Bnyx, F1lthy, Emile Haynie, Clams Casino, Michael Uzowuru, Shellback, Cirkut, Louis Bell, and Mk.gee, among others.

The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards 2024. At the 2024 J Awards, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year.

At the 2024 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Hip Hop/Rap Release and earned Laroi a nomination for Best Solo Artist.

Background and release

In January 2022, Laroi first revealed the then-potential title of the album before referring to it as Kids Are Growing Up in March. On 12 January 2023, Laroi posted an album trailer on YouTube, first teasing the album title and announcing the lead single "Love Again". To release "the best music possible", he had "to take some time away from everything". The era officially kicked off on 19 January with a 95-second intro song "I Can't Go Back to the Way It Was (Intro)", which did not end up on the final tracklist. In an interview with Billboard in February, he explained that his debut was born out of "little ideas" and distanced himself from his previous mixtape F*ck Love 3, calling it "immature" and "a heat of the moment statement". On 2 August, after four months of silence on the project, he announced that the album was finished, except for mixing and mastering. He referred to the record as "the best music" he had ever made up to that point, and mentioned a short film accompanying the album release. The rapper and singer reassured fans of The First Time being his best work in an official announcement post of the album on 25 October, following the release of the single "Too Much" with Jungkook and Central Cee. Laroi shared the album tracklist on 1 November in an Instagram post. The album's deluxe edition was released on 9 August 2024.

Singles

The lead single of the album, "Love Again", was released on 27 January 2023. The second single, "Kids Are Growing Up (Part 1)", was released on 10 February 2023. The third single, "Where Do Your Spirit Go?", was released on 21 April 2023. The fourth single, "Too Much", a collaboration with South Korean singer Jungkook and British rapper Central Cee, was released on 20 October 2023. The fifth single, "What Just Happened", was released exactly a week later. The sixth single, "Bleed", was released exactly a week after that. The seventh and final single, "What's the Move?", a collaboration with American rappers Future and BabyDrill, was released on 8 November 2023, two days before the album was released.

On 26 January 2024, "Heaven" was released as the first single for the album's deluxe edition. On 28 June 2024, the deluxe edition's second single, "Girls", was released. "Baby I'm Back" was sent to Italian radio stations as the deluxe edition's third single on 27 September 2024. The single "Thousand Miles", released on 22 April 2022, is also included on the deluxe edition.

Reception

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2024)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	58/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Guardian
NME
Slant Magazine

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, The First Time received "mixed or average reviews" based on a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 from 4 critic scores. According to Slant, "The First Time features some of his weakest hooks to date and a slew of songs that are so unsatisfyingly short so as to feel half-finished."

Commercial performance

In Australia, The First Time debuted at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming Laroi's second top-three entry, following F*ck Love. It became his second top-40 album in the United Kingdom, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 29.

Track listing

*The First Time* track listing
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Sorry"	Charlton Howard Michael Mulé Isaac De Boni Jahmal Gwin Edgar Ferrera Antonio Zito Giampaolo Parisi Marco Parisi Khadijah Anwar Thomas McGee	FnZ BoogzDaBeast SkipOnDaBeat Dopamine Parisi	3:12
2.	"Bleed"	C. Howard Omer Fedi Blake Slatkin Billy Walsh	Fedi Slatkin	2:49
3.	"I Thought That I Needed You"	C. Howard Benjamin Saint Fort Jacco Troost Richard Ortiz	Bnyx Fallwood F1lthy	2:51
4.	"Where Do You Sleep?"	C. Howard Mulé De Boni Fedi Slatkin Dylan Cleary-Krell Dylan Teixeira Austin Howard Anthony Hester	FnZ Fedi Slatkin Dopamine Dez Wright Nami Auz the Kid	3:12
5.	"Too Much" (with Jungkook and Central Cee)	C. Howard Oakley Caesar-Su Emile Haynie Fedi Slatkin Jasper Harris Justin Bieber Walsh	Haynie Fedi Slatkin Harris Jenna Andrews Stephen Kirk	3:23
6.	"Tear Me Apart"	C. Howard John Cunningham	Cunningham	1:54
7.	"Strangers (Interlude)"	C. Howard		0:25
8.	"Nights Like This"	C. Howard Michael Volpe	Clams Casino	1:26
9.	"What's the Move?" (with Future and BabyDrill)	C. Howard Nayvadius Wilburn DelQuristo Wilson Mulé De Boni Zito G. Parisi M. Parisi Mickey de Grand IV Gerard Ferrer	FnZ Dopamine Parisi De Grand	3:19
10.	"Strangers Pt. 2 (Interlude)"	C. Howard Bieber		0:43
11.	"Call Me Instead" (featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Robert Glasper)	C. Howard Kentrell Gaulden Robert Glasper Michael Uzowuru Fedi Slatkin Benny Bock Douglas Ford Ryley Ladd	Uzowuru Fedi Slatkin Bock	3:17
12.	"Deserve You"	C. Howard Sampha Sisay Mulé De Boni Zito Keanu Torres Andrew Franklin	FnZ Dopamine Keanu Beats Pro Logic	2:37
13.	"What Went Wrong???"	C. Howard Saint Fort Graham Jonson	Bnyx Quickly, Quickly Nicco Catalano	2:37
14.	"The Line" (with D4vd)	C. Howard David Burke Fedi Dylan Wiggins	Fedi Wiggins	2:32
15.	"What Just Happened"	C. Howard Karl Schuster Fedi Slatkin Walsh	Slatkin Fedi Shellback	2:42
16.	"You"	C. Howard Fedi Slatkin James Stack Micah Gordon Richard Swift Kacy Hill Walsh	Fedi Slatkin Jim-E Stack	2:16
17.	"Love Again"	C. Howard Henry Walter Fedi Walsh	Cirkut Fedi	2:26
18.	"Where Does Your Spirit Go?"	C. Howard Mulé De Boni Louis Bell Walsh	FnZ Bell	3:25
19.	"You Never Forget Your First Time..."	C. Howard A. Howard Walsh TJ Mizell Elisha Herbert		2:04
20.	"Kids Are Growing Up"	C. Howard Michael Gordon	Mk.gee Catalano	4:20
Total length:				51:30

Deluxe version additional tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Baby I'm Back"	C. Howard Zito J.C. Crowley Peter Beckett	Dopamine Rogét Chahayed	2:51
2.	"Stick with Me"	C. Howard Zito Attrell Cordes Gary Kemp	Dopamine Khaled Rohaim	2:32
3.	"Pick Sides"	C. Howard Walsh Haynie Fedi	Omer Fedi Emile Haynie	2:52
4.	"Nights Like This Pt 2"	C. Howard Zito Volpe	Clams Casino Dopamine	2:46
5.	"Hatred" (featuring Lil Yachty)	C. Howard Miles McCollum Brandon Mitchell Gentuar Memishi George Hunter Shakir Givens Spencer Jewesson	Lil Yachty GENT! MitchGoneMad Snubnose Frankenstein WessGoneMad	2:52
6.	"Girls"	C. Howard Alexander Izquierdo Jason Cornet Jon Bellion Pete Nappi Chahayed	Rogét Chahayed Tenroc Pete Nappi Jon Bellion	2:32
7.	"Thousand Miles"	C. Howard Andrew Wotman Walsh Bell	Andrew Watt Louis Bell	2:44
8.	"Heaven"	C. Howard Walsh Slatkin Bell Fedi	Omer Fedi Blake Slatkin	2:54
Total length:				73:33

Notes

signifies a primary and vocal producer.
signifies an additional producer.
signifies a vocal producer.

Sample credits

"Sorry" contains samples of "That's Love", written by Khadi Jon Anwar, and performed by Sugar Hill, and "Takes a Little Time", written and performed by Tommy McGee.
"I Thought I Needed You" contains a sample of "Pictures", written and performed by Dave Dust.
"Deserve You" contains a sample of "Can't Get Close", written and performed by Sampha.
"You" contains a sample of "Can We", written by Jim-E Stack, Kacy Hill and Micah Gordon, and performed by Stack and Hill.

Personnel

Musicians

The Kid Laroi – lead vocals
Marco Parisi – keyboards, programming (tracks 1, 9)
Giampaolo Parisi – programming, synthesizer (tracks 1, 9)
Victor DeWitt - additional vocals (track 1)
Omer Fedi – guitar (tracks 2, 11, 14, 15, 17); keyboards (2, 5, 11); bass guitar, programming (tracks 2, 15, 17), drums (2), synthesizer (5, 15, 17), strings (5), piano (10)
Blake Slatkin – programming (track 2, 15), keyboards (2), bass guitar (5); guitar, synthesizer (15)
Jungkook - vocals (track 5)
Central Cee - vocals (track 5)
Jasper Harris – keyboards, strings (track 5)
John Cunningham – guitar, piano (track 6)
Future - vocals (track 9)
BabyDrill - vocals (track 9)
Justin Bieber – writer (5), vocals (track 10)
Ely Rise – bass guitar, keyboards (track 11)
Robert Glasper – writer, piano (track 11)
Youngboy Never Broke Again - vocals (track 11)
Ryley Ladd – vocals (track 11)
D4vd - vocals (track 14)
Shellback – bass guitar, drums, guitar, programming, synthesizer (track 15)
Cirkut – programming, synthesizer (track 17)
Austin Howard – vocals (track 19)
Billy Walsh – writer (tracks 2, 5, 15, 16-19) vocals (track 19)
Elisha Herbert – vocals (track 19)
TJ Mizell – vocals (track 19)

Technical

Randy Merrill – mastering
Manny Marroquin – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 4, 9, 12)
Serban Ghenea – mixing (tracks 2, 5, 16–18, 20)
Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing (tracks 6, 14)
Antonio Zito – mixing (track 8), engineering (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 12)
Graham Cruser – mixing (track 13)
Nicco Catalano – mixing (track 13)
Blake Slatkin – engineering (tracks 4, 15)
Eric Manco – engineering (track 9)
Omer Fedi – engineering (track 15)
Shellback – engineering (track 15)
Jeremy Daniels – engineering assistance (track 13)
Bryce Bordone – engineering assistance (tracks 15, 17)

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for *The First Time*
Chart (2023–2024)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	3
Australian Hip Hop/R&B Albums (ARIA)	1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	50
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	16
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)	19
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	30
French Albums (SNEP)	165
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	65
Irish Albums (OCC)	33
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	7
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)	3
Portuguese Albums (AFP)	129
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	78
UK Albums (OCC)	29
US Billboard 200	24

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for *The First Time*
Chart (2024)	Position
US Billboard 200	191

Certifications

Certifications for *The First Time*
Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)	Gold	35,000
Canada (Music Canada)	Platinum	80,000
New Zealand (RMNZ) for Deluxe version	Gold	7,500
United States (RIAA)	Gold	500,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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v t e The Kid Laroi
Awards and nominations Discography
Studio albums	The First Time (2023)
Mixtapes	Fck Love* (2020)
Singles	"Diva" "Addison Rae" "Go" "Tell Me Why" "Need You Most (So Sick)" "So Done" "Reminds Me of You" "Without You" "Stay" "Thousand Miles" "Paris to Tokyo" "Love Again" "Too Much" "Bleed" "Girls"
Other songs	"Hate the Other Side" "Tragic" "Unstable" "What You Say" "Nights Like This"

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