More than 15 years after breaking through with “Whatcha Say,” Jason Derulo is in an interesting period of his career. On one hand, his early hits are finding new life with listeners drawn to nostalgia, and on the other, he’s preparing to introduce a completely different side of himself with his next album.
Joining me on Zoom from Brisbane, just hours before he takes to the stage and kicks off the Australian leg of his latest tour, the US star is visibly excited to be back Down Under. The set, he tells me, stretches from his old bangers like “In My Head,” “Ridin’ Solo” and “Talk Dirty” to newer releases “Mi Chico” and “Let Me Be,” the latter of which he’ll perform live for the very first time that night.
Spanning several eras of pop – and an industry that has changed considerably since Derulo first arrived – I point out that the setlist is a reminder of just how long he has remained a fixture in pop music. He smiles at the observation. “I’ve seen the industry change one million times, both personally and holistically,” he laughs.
All that change has inevitably coincided with his own evolution as an artist. His latest project, “The Last Dance,” captures both sides of that journey, revisiting his past before shifting its focus towards what comes next. “It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one,” he tells Variety Australia.
“The first part was a celebration of where I’ve been. The songs feel and sound like 2010, 2015 vibes. That was a celebration of who I was, the journey that I’ve been on for the last 15 years. And then this next album is the beginning of the next phase. I dress different. I speak different. I’m just a different man. So the music in turn has to change and evolve as well.”
Derulo is aiming to release Part 2 of “The Last Dance” in late October, with much of its direction shaped by a sound he says has taken over creatively.
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“I’ve been re-inspired and reinvigorated by Afro music in general,” he says. “You know, I didn’t listen to music at the gym. I didn’t listen to music in the car. But Afro has changed that, and I love listening to music more so now than I have in a while. The vibe has completely taken over me.”
That renewed inspiration is already translating into results. “Mi Chico,” one of the clearest early indications of Derulo’s new sound, is nearing 50 million streams on Spotify alone.
When I ask him if the feeling of watching a new song take off has changed over the years, he smiles, but shakes his head. “I think it’s a beautiful thing. These are all songs that I do on my own time and they have humble beginnings. And then to see droves of people singing to them at these live shows and even people interacting with these songs online, it’s incredible,” he says.
“It’s beautiful from the old to the new, it feels the same every single time. And to have one of the more viral songs at the moment with ‘Mi Chico,’ it feels just like the beginning, it feels like winning when I was 19.”
Of course, the way a song actually becomes a hit has changed considerably since Derulo was 19. He remembers travelling to Japan early in his career and being surprised when he was asked to sign cards rather than physical albums.
“They were like, ‘There are no albums here.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean? What do they listen to music on?’ They listen digitally. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is crazy. This is the future,’” he laughs. “And of course, just only months later, it started to trickle around the world… then the world changed from that to the ringtone craze. I remember that if you sold a million singles, you also sold a million ringtones. It was like hand in hand… It was like the gold rush. And then ringtones went away.”
Derulo’s career has since spanned the rise of streaming and social media, with TikTok fundamentally changing not only how songs break through, but who has the power to make them hits.
“When I was first starting, I went and kissed babies, shook hands with every single radio programmer in the world. And I would send Merry Christmas, Happy New Year [messages] to one million people,” he laughs. “But now programmers are not the gatekeepers. The gatekeeper now is really TikTok, you know, and the influencers on TikTok.”
He saw that shift play out with “Savage Love,” his 2020 collaboration with New Zealand producer Jawsh 685, which grew out of the viral “Laxed (Siren Beat).” The track exploded on TikTok, where a viral dance helped propel it to audiences around the world.
@jasonderuloMeet Mama & Pop Derulo ♬ Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) – Jawsh 685 & Jason Derulo
“It was the people that blew up the song. It was not an individual. It was not a company,” Derulo says. “It was a sound that blew up by itself. And I wrote a song to the sound. I did a lot of different collaborations with a lot of different influencers that then turned the song into a hit. TikTok changed the world. It was kind of like a change in the guard.”
Though his willingness to adapt has clearly served him well, he stops short of presenting it as a formula every artist needs to follow. “It’s not the secret… It’s my secret!” he says when I ask whether it is the key to longevity.
“I really try to keep up with the times and I try everything to just make my music just to be heard. I want every song that I do to have a fair shot and I’ll do anything necessary to get it heard.
“I would say I’m a ‘by any means necessary’ kind of guy. I’m going to get it done no matter what. It’s just about figuring out what the path is,” he continues. “But I’m always going to figure it out. So I think it’s partly being ambitious, partly being hungry, but partly being smart and just trying to figure out what is going to move the needle.”
Even the way Derulo thinks about albums has shifted. With listening habits changing alongside the industry, he’s approaching “The Last Dance” with the playlist era firmly in mind. “Albums now are kind of like playlists,” he says. “If you’re releasing an album, I think the new mindset should be like, this is my new playlist. And people need to be able to click through that without a skip.
“It should be like a playlist that people can actually just throw on and you can listen to it all the way through.”
See complete tour and ticket information here.