Pop stardom is a fickle thing, as the Kid Laroi knows. Barely three years ago, the Sydney musician was a teen living a dream, his F--- Love mixtape a chart-topper in the US, hip-hop’s own home, amid the globe-conquering success of Stay, his hit with Justin Bieber.

Now, at 21, he’s tasted the alternative. With expectation high for his studio debut The First Time, released last November, the Waterloo rapper zigged, embracing a more esoteric side, when fans and critics assumed he would zag and lean into his pop smash bona fides.

“That album taught me a lot,” Laroi, real name Charlton Howard, says over Zoom from Oklahoma City, ahead of a gig. “People may have expected me to do a full swing and just come out with a commercial pop record at that point in my career … But doing something forced and not genuine, that’s not the artist I want to be.”

Beyond Too Much, a crossover track with BTS’ Jungkook and UK star Central Cee, The First Time went decidedly anti-pop. The Kamilaroi rapper enlisted unlikely collaborators including 2010s cloud-rap producer Clams Casino and jazz pianist Robert Glasper, and tried his hand at Post Malone-ish arena rock and finger-picked acoustic ballads, beyond the emotive hip-hop that made him a star.

That it earned a tepid response, confusing critics and barely cracking the top 40 in the US, was perhaps expected. Any other young artist may have been startled by the commercial misstep, the feeling they might’ve goofed their moment. But Laroi trusted his approach. Eight months after its release, numerous tracks have bubbled across TikTok and re-entered the charts, including the spacey Nights Like This.

“What I learned through this album was that the most rewarding thing is to be able to put out a project and say you’re proud of it through anything,” says Laroi. “It didn’t get that immediate reaction, but over time it’s been crazy to see these tracks grow. I think that was a cool reminder to me that doing things I love and doing things I’m proud of is the biggest pay-off. I don’t ever want to look back at my work and be like, I’m not proud of this.”

Part of The First Time’s renewed buzz is Girls, a Y2K-era jam featured on a new deluxe edition that cements Laroi’s pop prowess and might’ve been the crossover boost the original release was missing.

“I was in a space where I just wanted to make something fun, something that can be played when you go out to a party or to a club or something,” Laroi says of the Neptunes-inflected hit. “I wanted to make something that wasn’t too serious – that’s how I was feeling and I thought other people probably felt that way too; we just want to have fun, we want a good vibe.”