“They were so positive and so loving and so open and so vulnerable, and I wasn’t used to that,”
LAROI tells Zane Lowe of hanging with Bieber and friends
It seems likely that The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber are going to “Stay”
close friends and collaborators for many years to come.
In a clip from the Australian musician’s new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 premiering exclusively on PEOPLE, he opens up about how his friendship with Bieber, 29, has impacted his overall outlook.
The “Without You” artist, 20, reveals that Bieber — whom he worked with on the 2021 tracks “Stay” and “Unstable” — inspired him to be “more vulnerable” in his life and art.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(730x168:732x170):format(webp)/Kid-LAROI-Justin-Bieber-111323-tout-3148f21fc1f04a55a105d7c37811fbd6.jpg)
JERRITT CLARK/GETTY
LAROI (whose real name is Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard) told Lowe the “Sorry” singer’s kindness and honesty “was so jarring” to witness when they first started spending time together, and he’s since “implemented” that same emotional maturity into his own life.
He recalled noticing the admirable personality traits the first time he went to Bieber’s house “to play basketball with him and his friends.”
“They were so positive and so loving and so open and so vulnerable, and I wasn’t used to that,” said LAROI. “Even just the way I would grab the ball, and I’d miss a shot, and Justin would come pat me on the back and be like, ‘It’s all good, bro. Next shot. You got that’ — and that’s not how I played basketball with my friends.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(466x148:468x150):format(webp)/Kid-LAROI-Justin-Bieber-111323-2-7f2a793a4f1842ca97848d7631103dab.jpg)
COURTESY OF APPLE MUSIC
“It was so cool … I remember leaving there and just being like, ‘Whoa.’ I just remember being just jarred,” continued LAROI. “And over time, as we kept hanging out and just the way he was able to showcase his vulnerability and open up to me, and that encouraged me to want to be more vulnerable and open up and want to own my feelings more and own the way I feel and how honest he is about who he is.”
The hitmaker shares that he sees it as a testament to Bieber’s character. “And that is his thing. He is so honest about who he is and how he feels, even if — I mean whatever it is — he really owns that,” LAROI explained. “And I think that’s something that I took and I was like, ‘Wow, that is so admirable.’
“I saw the effect it had on me just being around that. And so I want to take that… I want to encourage that,” he added.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(764x268:766x270):format(webp)/Kid-LAROI-Justin-Bieber-111323-1-afe17b3364da40f794a6c63f4acf9ea8.jpg)
COURTESY OF APPLE MUSIC
Not long after LAROI gained a following with songs like “Addison Rae” and “Go” as well as the tribute track “Tell Me Why” about his late mentor Juice WRLD in 2020, he found a friend and collaborator in Bieber.
The pop-rap artist explained to Vogue in a 2022 interview that the superstar reached out directly to him to begin with. “I was in my bedroom and he DMed me,” LAROI told the outlet. “He said, ‘You’ve got the sauce,’ and I just remember freaking out. Like, oh my god, this is the craziest shit of all time. I ran to show my mum.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
After working with Bieber on the song “Unstable” off the Grammy winner’s sixth studio album Justice, they teamed up once again for the track “Stay.” The collaborative single ended up being a major success, going on to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remain in the position for a total of seven weeks.
LAROI previously shared with Vogue that the “Where Are U Now” singer couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the collaboration, recalling at the time, “I was trying to figure out what I should get him on, and I thought his voice would sound really nice on ‘Stay,’ so I took it into him and he was like: ‘F— yeah, let’s do it!’”
He added, “I’m always trying to get some knowledge out of [Bieber] and he loves it when I ask lots of questions. I’m always super grateful that I have somebody like him who has been through what I’m going through — times 10.”