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Justin Bieber Talked The Kid LAROI Into Releasing ‘Stay’, LAROI Says
The Kid LAROI says Justin Bieber urged him to release 2021 single "Stay," which went No. 1 and has over 3.9 billion Spotify streams.
The Kid LAROI says Justin Bieber convinced him to release their 2021 collaboration “Stay,” a decision he credits with turning the track into a global hit.
The Kid LAROI at the MTV Video Music Awards 2025 held at UBS Arena on September 07, 2025 in New York, New York.
Gilbert Flores/Billboard
LAROI discussed the song and his working relationship with Bieber in a recent conversation with Carter Gregory on The Set List. He said the pair first exchanged material when Bieber sent him a song intended for his album and LAROI replied by sending Bieber a track from his own project.
LAROI said he hesitated to release the song because he was worried it was “too pop” for his audience. He described overthinking the decision and even asked Bieber if he wanted the song for his own project.
“That song came about because he sent me the song for his album and I was kind of like alright I gotta send him back one now from mine,” LAROI said. “I don’t know, there was a part of me at that point in my career I think I was very in my head about like, ‘oh is this too pop of a song? Is this gonna be weird if I put this out?’ I think I was overanalyzing things, I remember asking him ‘do you want to put this on your project or something?'”
According to LAROI, Bieber was blunt.
“He was like ‘bro, are you out of your mind? You have to release this, you keep this for you,'” LAROI recalled. “He literally was like ‘Bro this is a smash, you gotta put this out.'”
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The advice paid off. “Stay” was released in 2021. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for seven weeks. The track won ARIA and APRA Awards. On Spotify it has more than 3.9 billion streams and sits at No. 10 on the platform’s all-time leaderboard.
LAROI also described Bieber as a candid listener and a practical sounding board in the studio and beyond.
“He’s always dropping some really good stuff. I think though, the most helpful and useful thing is something that you wouldn’t think of, maybe off rip, but something I think he does so well is that he just listens really well. He’s really good at just being like ‘man, I’m sorry. That sucks, let’s talk about it,'” LAROI said. “He always has great advice but just talking about something and being acknowledged like ‘damn that sucks’ you know, that’s a thing in itself that sometimes.”
“I find it helpful when he shares his experiences with me. He just cares too which is cool, he’s never approaching it from like ‘I know everything’ which is really cool. He’s very honest about things and if he doesn’t know something he will always be like ‘I don’t know, but I’m here for you.'”
The collaboration between the Canadian pop star and the Australian rapper continued beyond “Stay.” The two also appear together on “Unstable,” a track from Bieber’s sixth studio album, Justice, released in 2021.
LAROI, born Charlton Howard, is currently touring the United States on his A Perfect World run. The tour supports his third full-length project, Before I Forget, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year.
