The First Time (The Kid Laroi album)

The First Time is the debut studio album by Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi. It was released on 10 November 2023 through Columbia. The album contains guest appearances from Jungkook, Central Cee, Future, BabyDrill, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Robert Glasper, and D4vd. 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.

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.

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.

Reception
The First Time received mixed reviews from music critics. 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
Notes Sample credits
 * $undefined$ signifies a primary and vocal producer.
 * $undefined$ signifies an additional producer.
 * $undefined$ signifies a vocal producer.


 * "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)
 * Omer Fedi – guitar (tracks 2, 11, 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)
 * Jasper Harris – keyboards, strings (track 5)
 * John Cunningham – guitar, piano (track 6)
 * Justin Bieber – vocals (track 10)
 * Ely Rise – bass guitar, keyboards (track 11)
 * Robert Glasper – piano (track 11)
 * Ryley Ladd – vocals (track 11)
 * Shellback – bass guitar, drums, guitar, programming, synthesizer (track 15)
 * Cirkut – programming, synthesizer (track 17)
 * Austin Howard – vocals (track 19)
 * Billy Walsh – 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)