The Kid Laroi grew up quickly under the tutelage of the late Juice WRLD and Justin Bieber. And after the whirlwind No. 1 success of his and Bieber’s July 2021 hit “Stay,” the 19-year-old Australian star took a minute to reflect on it all. Laroi announced The First Time, his forthcoming album, last week. Today, January 19, he dropped the immersive, introverted “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro).”
In the Julian Klincewicz-directed video, we Laroi’s shadow as he sings wistfully about his pre-fame past: “I reminisce on the last Christmas / I spent with my mom and my dad / I’m still trippin’, wishin’ that I could go back / To know what I’m missin’.” Laroi even admits that “memories make me sick” and wonders whether “life is harder than death,” and this is all just the first verse.
As Laroi comes into focus, the catchy hook summarizes the peculiar feeling once you’ve realized you’ve reached a point of no return: “I can’t go back to the way it was / I broke bones and I shed some blood.”
At end of the video, Laroi teases that the next song will arrive next Friday, January 27, and it’s “Love Again,” which his fans are already very familiar with:
You guys still like “Love Again”, right?
— charlton (@thekidlaroi) January 18, 2023
Can we find love again?
— charlton (@thekidlaroi) October 27, 2022
3 versions of Love Again ❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/A7GkoTo1Uy
— The Kid LAROI Updates (@thekidlaroii) November 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/sumityou5/status/1567124262301110272
https://twitter.com/mikeyjardim/status/1566905095303925761
Per a press release, The First Time is slated for “later this year” but doesn’t have a specific date yet. Still, you can pre-save it here.
Watch the video for “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was (Intro)” above.
