The Kid LAROI has made his awards show debut at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, taking place at Barclay’s Centre in New York.

The 18-year-old LAROI opened the 2021 VMAs with a performance of his record-breaking hit ‘Stay’ with Justin Bieber. Bieber then went on to perform ‘Ghost’ from his most recent album, ‘Justice’.

Watch the performance below:

Bieber’s performance marked six years since he last performed at the annual VMAs, last appearing in 2015 with his ‘Purpose’ stand-out ‘What Do You Mean?’. He is the most nominated artist at this year’s award show, up for seven awards in total, including Artist of the Year, Best Pop and Best Collaboration (for ‘Peaches’). Additionally, ‘Stay’ is nominated for Song of Summer.

The Kid LAROI is up for Best New Artist and Push Performance of the Year, for his single ‘Without You’. Following his performance with Bieber, the Kamilaroi artist proceeded to make a series of tweets expressing his gratitude.

Just opened the VMA’s. What the fuck is life.

— charlton (@thekidlaroi) September 13, 2021

I love you family.
Thank you for everything.
NONE of this shit would be possible without you.
I’m forever in debt to you all.
I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to do what I love and support the people I love most around me.
There’s no way I will ever be able to repay you.

— charlton (@thekidlaroi) September 13, 2021

Speaking to NME earlier this year, LAROI explained how ‘Stay’ stemmed from an unexpected message from Bieber.

“I actually never asked him how he found my shit,” LAROI said of Bieber. “He just DM’d me one day on Instagram and was just like, ‘You got the sauce’, and I responded back and was like, ‘Yo, what’s up? I’m a big fan’. He liked my message and that was it from there.”

The chart-topping single appears on LAROI’s ‘F*ck Love 3: Over You’ mixtape, also featuring Polo G, Lil Durk and more.

The Kid LAROI’s latest release comes in the form of ‘F*ck Love 3+: Over You‘, an expanded edition of his third ‘F*ck Love’ instalment.

Back in July, LAROI told NME said he was in the midst of working on his debut full-length album, with a targeted release of 2022. “I wanna drop the album before I go on tour, like on a big tour,” he said.