Without You by The Kid Laroi

Album: F--k Love (Savage) (2020)

Charted: 2 8

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Songfacts®:

In this song, The Kid Laroi raps about a relationship where his girlfriend has had enough and walked out on him. He communicates his feelings of heartbreak and despair to his former partner.

You cut out a piece of me, and now I bleed internally
Left here without you, without you
And it hurts for me to think about what life could possibly be like
Without you

Though the relationship was toxic at the time, The Kid Laroi can't bear the thought of being without his lover.
The acoustic emo-rap ballad is the closing track from the deluxe edition of The Kid Laroi's F--k Love mixtape. The record finds him focusing on love and loss following the breakdown of a toxic relationship.

Billboard asked The Kid Laroi whether it was one particular broken romance that inspired the songs, or a mixture of different situations. The Aussie teen replied that rather than being inspired by one big serious relationship, "The project is about a girl or two or three that I was messing with or whatnot."
The Kid Laroi and frequent Post Malone collaborator Billy Walsh wrote the lyrics over the beatmakers' slow, guitar-based instrumentation. The producers are:

The Kid Laroi's frequent collaborator and producer Omer Fedi, who also co-helmed "Go!"

Blake Slatkin, who also co-produced 24kGoldn's "Mood" with Omer Fedi.
"Without You" started trending on the on the social media app TikTok in December 2020. Users made videos that made light of less-than-ideal romantic situations set to the lyrics:

And I can't take it back, so in the past is where we'll leave it
So there you go
Can't make a wife out of a ho
The song originated when The Kid Laroi asked Omer Fedi to strum the sort of tune on his guitar that Sia would sing over. The Aussie teen's frequent collaborator came up with the chords that became "Without You."
Miley Cyrus jumped on the remix, which The Kid Laroi dropped on April 30, 2021. The rework finds the two artists trading aching vocals.
Cyrus directed the low-fi video herself. It sees her and Laroi singing and hanging out together in different scenarios. According to Cyrus, they made the clip on a random week night. She hit Kid Laroi at midnight and he said, "I'll be there in an hour." He was true to his word.
The Kid Laroi bagged #1 on the Australian singles survey when “Without You" climbed to the top of the chart dated May 10, 2021. It was his first Aussie chart-topper.
The Kid Laroi performed the song with Miley Cyrus on the May 8, 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Elon Musk.
According to Billboard, this is the 13th Hot 100 hit titled "Without You." Prior to Kid Laroi's song, the best known singles with that title were Nilsson's 1972 chart-topper and David Guetta and Usher's 2011 electro-ballad.
Fedi, Slatkin, and The Kid Laroi spent months on end perfecting "Without You" right up to the cutoff date for F--k Love (Savage). The day before the album was due, Slatkin and Laroi stayed up all night on a FaceTime call with Fedi finishing the song's second verse and production.
When the record dropped on November 6, 2020, Slatkin said "Without You" is "one of my favorite songs I've ever been a part of" in an Instagram post. He later explained why to Billboard:

"Since I really started producing, it was always my goal to have a song with no drums be a hit. To me, that's a mark of a song where just the words and the melodies affect you and make you feel something."

Comments: 21

Michael from Madison, WiI think I relate to this song as well. Shortly after my college graduation, I wondered about what my future looked like after going through my bad habits, which caused me to ruin in my relationships with her and being very verbally and electronically hurtful to her in my college years. But the worst thing that I ever dealt with her was going through too many disagreements about what to do and what not to do for one college group we were a part of. Due to these reasons, she had enough and did not stay in contact with me for the way I treated her. I wished I could have treated her better in my college years, but the past is past. Like the Kid Laroi’s story, I believe it is time to move on. I hope people I know who maybe younger than me will not go through what I went through. I believe they will not same mistakes to impact others and hurt them.
From Canada from Gatineau, QuébecI've lived that song. Classic narcissist behavior. He's a psychological abuser. He's trying to control her. She gets fed up and leaves him. He starts turning the situation around on her saying he knew it would never because she's a hoe so SHE'S THE REASON they broke up, not because of his abusive behavior.
Ac from UsaI think she cheated on him and he reacted in the moment by hitting her. She told someone about what he did and then she left him. He regrets what he did but knows he can’t get her back but is still angry at her calling her a ho and at himself for what he did. Now he has to learn to let go.
Anonymous from Usaand read it yet again...he did help write the lyrics. his real name is charlton howard.
Gail from MelbourneHe doesn’t usually like to explain his lyrics. He prefers people to interpret their own meanings. I don’t think all of his songs were originally written about girls (although they might have been tweaked to fit into his F#ck Love project). This is a painful song: you can hear the grief and the regret. I feel like there was maybe a disagreement with a person who has passed away. And now he can never make things right. ‘Can’t make a wife out of a ho’ is a pretty random and provocative thing to say, even if if was meant to be a joke. It’s not clear if Laroi or the person he lost said it, but he is clearly very sorry for the rift.
AnonymousHe is only 17 he didn't write these lyrics. like dam chill out.
Someone Who Isn’t Lazy And Can Read from Planet EarthOnce again, HE DIDN'T WRITE THE LYRICS!!! For all of the lazy bums who have time to comment but not google the song’s creation.
AnonymousI’m trying to figure out if she cheated on him, or if he cheated on her, and is deflecting
Me Me Me from Da Town Of LocationsssI actually do like this song, BUT I don't love the lyrics, because he's legit calling someone a ho. And that is not okay. However, it sounds (to me, anyways) like he's just saying like, "it hurts that you're gone, but oh well. Guess you can't make a wife out of a h*." so maybe like he knew it was never going to work out or something? but srsly, this song was made by a seventeen year old, which I don't like that a guy that young would be making songs with lyrics like that also I hate it when the radio stations just play songs over and over again because even if theyre good songs you get so bored of them
Maggie from UsaIf they/you do remember words, songs, are expressions of feelings at the moment! 17 is for a moment !! Miley your promoting your regrets through others! Stop
Brooklyn from Queens, NuWhat exactly makes a woman a ho? These lyrics are so cringeworthy.
Emjay from NzThe Kid Laroi did not write the lyrics. It was written by 4 guys who work for Sony Music. So….you can dissect it any way want…but this was a collaboration from 4 guys…who write lyrics. That’s it.
A2z from Forsyth.ncIsn’t there a really old emo song that used the lyric “can’t make a wife out of a hoe”
Swedishgurl from SwedenThe fact that he is 17 makes it even worse to me. He sais he ”didn’t mean it”, he’s ”Sorry”, which makes me think he has done something wrong, then he makes a 180 and calls he a ho? Typical abuse, call a girl a ho, then apologize..? It’s not ok to call a girl a ho just cause she doesn’t want to be with you.
What Is Going On from From ConfusedLook, I don't see anything about what the first two comments are talking about. Im a girl and this is confusing. he says can't make a wife out of a ho bc he is talking about "her" aka a certain person. he never said men can't be. quit putting words in peoples mouths.
Sam from GermanyI was so concerned, because I hear this song so often on the radio and nobody seems to have a problem with these lyrics. To me it seems like someone who abused their ex-girlfriend, she left and now he calls her a hoe. How is this okay?
I dont connect this specially to the young artist, it's just so weird to me that everybody thougt this was a good idea?
Toni_ryder from GermanyThank you @Tired of The Misogyny for putting this topic into words. I completely share your opinion. I am from Germany and there are radio stations here that play this song like every 60 minutes. Every time it plays on the radio at work it gives me shudders and it makes me angry and confused, that the radio station is apparently promoting this kind of mindset...
Tired Of The Misogyny from UsaTo slightly confused - don’t know the background on the artist/his relationships, so can’t address that. The assumption that bc he is 17 it’s ridiculous to think he could have been the aggressor is idealistic in my experience. Most of the toxic ppl I knew were already that way in their teens. I *think* what the other two commenters were trying to point out is that “lashing out” bc a relationship ended poorly is a toxic response & normalizes toxic behaviors. Also the entire idea behind “can’t make a wife out of a hoe” perpetuates the repression of women as equal and free to be as sexually exploratory as men. That phrase is a great example of how prevalent misogyny is in most of society. Men “sow their oats” when they are with multiple partners and once they have they are seen as more ready to have a good marriage whereas women that have had multiple partners (& therefore are “hoes”) are seen as not “good enough” for marriage anymore. Complete double standard. Language informs beliefs and language like this teaches that women are less than. That women are only of value when they remain pure and ready to serve as a “good wife”. Makes my head explode every time I notice a new layer to how deeply embedded misogyny is in our patriarchal society.
Slightly Confused from AustraliaNot sure what the other two comments are about. They're making wild assumptions about whether someone has done something wrong. The writer of the song is 17.....for goodness sake, the assumption that someone abused a woman shouldn't be the go to. People say 'stop telling boys that they're not allowed to cry or express themselves'. If he isn't allowed to say 'hey, our relationship was toxic and it wasn't working...but I still miss you and I'm lashing out' then he isn't allowed to say anything at all?
Promoting Gaslighting from South Australia These awful lyrics promote domestic violence and gaslighting victims as deserving. Shame
Sickened from VictoriaSongs like this show why we domestic violence and violence against women is so prevalent. You’ve done something wrong, she won’t believe you, you’ve abused her in some way, she won’t let you forget it and put it in the past, she leaves you, so you write a song and call her a ‘hoe’, but blame her because you feel alone.
Disgusting.

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