The Kid LAROI announced the release date for his first new full-length album in two years on Thursday morning (Nov. 20). Before I Forget is due out on Jan. 9 via Columbia Records, with the album’s first single, the R&B ballad “A Perfect World” out now.
“In a perfect world we’d have it all figured out/ Baby, you would be my girl/ And if they talk, let them talk, baby/ I hate the way you love it when you hurt me/ But we could stick it out, we’ll make it work babe,” the singer croons in a falsetto whisper on the song’s chorus over a silky arrangement.
At press time a full track list had not yet been released, but the album is set to also include his previously released single, the skittery break-up ballad “A Cold Play.”
In a message on his Instagram announcing the album, the singer said the LP is a fresh take replacing a previously recorded album that he tossed. “I made this album in the last 4 months. I had a whole other album that was completed but I scrapped it,” he wrote alongside the cover art, which depicts the singer’s head floating just above the surface of the water. “started again from scratch with the exception of 1 song. it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever made. it’s also the most personal thing I’ve ever made. sorry it’s taken a while. I hope that it resonates with you in some way cause it means a hell of a lot to me. I love you and thank you for supporting me always.”
Last week, LAROI posted footage from the NFL halftime show in Berlin where he performed “A Perfect World” and “A Cold Play” during the game between the Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Falcons.
LAROI, 22, released his full-length debut album, The First Time, in Nov. 2023, with a follow-up deluxe edition adding Lil Yachty to a guest list on the original that included BTS’ Jung Kook, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Future, Central Cee and Robert Glasper, among others. The singer’s 2020 mixtape, F*ck Love, topped the ARIA Charts in his native Australia, then hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart a year after its release.
Listen to “A Perfect World” below.
