Apple Music taps The Kid LAROI as FIRST cover star

Australia’s latest international chart champion The Kid LAROI steals the spotlight for a new Apple Music campaign.

From today (Aug. 6), LAROI is selected as cover star for the streamer’s monthly FIRST playlist.

The Sydney-born, Los Angeles-raised hitman makes a big splash on the playlist with original artwork, a backgrounder, tunes and his very own origin story to ‘Stay,’ his global hit with Justin Bieber.

“’Stay’ came together in the most organic way,” he explains. “I first started working on it about a year ago – I was hanging out at a friend’s house and Charlie Puth went over to a keyboard and started randomly playing the ‘Stay’ melody and I loved it immediately so I jumped on the mic and sang the hook.”

Fast forward to now, and ‘Stay’ is the biggest song on the planet.

Earlier this week, it lifted to No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 survey, which ranks the most popular songs based on streaming and sales data reported by more than 200 territories.

The Kid Laroi’s FIRST campaign on Apple Music

The FIRST playlist showcases hot tunes from First Nations artists across Australia, and is curated and updated each month by Wiradjuri woman Jaja Dare.

The artwork for LAROI’s FIRST stint was created in collaboration with Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie.

‘Stay’ appears on the third and latest incarnation of his F*ck Love mixtape. Following the release of the Over You edition, the set this week hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, placing LAROI in rare company and making him the first Indigenous Australian artist to summit.

“If there’s one artist who can prove just how much First Nations artists from Australia have to offer, it’s The Kid LAROI,” reads the blurb accompanying his Apple Music campaign.

“The Gadigal-born singer and rapper with Kamilaroi roots (hence the name) has catapulted to international fame over the past couple years, with his gritty, emotional lyrics and melodic production earning not only a global following, but famous friends and collaborators such as Miley Cyrus, Marshmello, Juice WRLD and Justin Bieber, who features on ‘STAY’.”

Check out LAROI’s FIRST playlist here.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.