Heartbreak Turns To Reflection with BEFORE I FORGET

By Staff Writer Gaurasundara Amarnani

Following a public breakup with Candian singer-songwriter Tate McCrae, Australian singer Kid LAROI released his second studio album, BEFORE I FORGET. Prior to creating this album, The Kid Laroi had another album prepared  — but driven by his fallout with Tate McRae  — he scrapped it, creating a new album focused on his heartbreak. With his resulting work shifting to more intimate connection, the album feels like a diary entry, deliberately unpolished and introspective, pulling listeners in like they’re sitting bedside with an old friend.

The album dives directly into heartbreak as LAROI examines his own faults and mistakes with a longing tone and soulful lyrics. Tracks like “ME + YOU” set a melancholy mood and the track leans into R&B and soft pop with gentle piano additions, light percussion, and airy layering replacing explosive beats of past works such as THE FIRST TIME. Much of the honesty comes from LAROI’s willingness to frame himself as part of the problem and accept his own faults. He shows regret and sticks to things he wishes he could take back, rather than delivering a cliché breakup anthem.

The emotional centerpiece of the album, “A COLD PLAY,” exposes the harsh reality that love and effort alone aren’t enough to make a relationship work. Lines like “Fix you, fix you, fix you, wish I could” directly challenge the notion of love fixing all. Here, the album stops circling around heartbreak and dives into the ugly truth: that effort doesn’t guarantee a happy ending and you cannot fix someone who doesn’t want to be fixed. Healing built on another person’s desire is like a house built on borrowed land. Even if you can stand in it for 50 years, the soil will remember it was never yours. LAROI’s controlled vocal performance borders on whispering confession — admitting his faults, yet acknowledging his deep love. The album works best in its intricacies like LAROI’s masterful hooks, which remain subtle but memorable without overpowering the lyrics; honest writing, raised off real mistakes and fears; and softened production, which makes the album feel like a story recitation and allows for non-performative vulnerability.

However, the same consistency that holds the album also begins to flatten it. The stretch of songs like “JULY” and “PRIVATE” begin to blur tempos and textures until the album feels hazy. Recurring themes make tracks feel one-dimensional since the lack of peaks and shifts make it hard to tell where you are in the story. What viewers crave is validation of a life beyond heartbreak, but the constant repetition leads LAROI back to the same wounds and blocks him from  a life past love.

Still, BEFORE I FORGET marks genuine growth in LAROI’s craft. Even when the album feels cyclical, it never feels fake. LAROI is clearly not over his breakup, but that makes it feel okay for listeners to not move on just yet either in their own relationships.  More than anything, the album feels refreshingly honest in a time where genuine connections feel increasingly rare.