Mehek’s Music Monday: Jason DeRulo

January 25th, 2010

J Dizzle

If you’ve been listening to the radio recently, you may have heard Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” (aka the epic song played in the final moments of the Season 2 finale of The OC). Welllll, it is a little different these days.

And no. Imogen Heap did not have a sex change.

That’s Jason DeRulo, an R&B singer whose debut single “Whatcha Say” is becoming an extremely popular anthem for clubbers, road trip venturers, and pajama parties across North America.

UHM. Did I mention he’ll be here tomorrow on MOD, chatting it up and taking some of your questions!? Awww yeeuhh.

Jason DeRulo is a part of the new wave of R&B acts that is slowly trickling into current mainstream charts. In a time where passionate pop ballads are all the rage, DeRulo has been doing a pretty good job of staying ahead of the competition: he’s penned songs for Danity Kane, Lil’ Wayne, and Pitbull, opened for Lady Gaga over the last few weeks, and has one of the catchiest tunes out there right now.

The concept of a musical career was embedded in Jason’s mind since his pre-teen years. He attended performing art-based schools all the way up until high school, immersing himself into singing and dancing as much as possible. The drive to learn as much about the craft as possible certainly contributed to what he referred to as a “boot camp” lifestyle, consisting of an endless amount of practice, no sleep, and constantly putting himself out there in competitions to get his name out.

Back in 2006, DeRulo competed and won the Grand Prize on the show, “Showtime at the Apollo”, a reality competition for aspiring performers. After landing a song writing gig for rapper Birdman, DeRulo began to develop his credentials and was soon discovered by J.R. Rotem, the CEO of Beluga Heights, through MySpace. Though initially hired to pen songs for Sean Kingston’s sophomore disc, Rotem and DeRulo both realized that they had something special, and immediately began recording DeRulo’s debut album.

Many may be tempted to write Jason off as a future has-been, but he’s made it clear that he will not be corned in by stereotypes or pessimism. In an interview with BlogCritics.org, DeRulo said, “I never, ever wanted to be boxed in – unless it’s my personality. I want to reach the world and not just a niche audience. I want to change the world. As long there are things to change the world, I have to be able to appeal to the world.”

His one failing point: he’s never watched Glee. Sigh.

DeRulo’s second single, “In My Head” is creeping in on us, and will probably be a huge hit before his self-titled debut is released on March 2nd. The video came out last week, and it kinda reminds me of the “Like I Love You” video by Justin Timberlake. Just sayin’.

No matter, he’s a special one, he is, and he’s certainly got the potential to change the R&B game. It seems the industry agrees, because he’ll be honored this week with the very first “Future Icon Award” at the World Music Awards on Wednesday. Make sure you catch him on MOD at 5pm tomorrow to hear from him first-hand!

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I’m starting to break into a phase of music that’s a mix of synth-pop and hip-hop – just not the two together. If you’ve got some suggestions, I wanna hear from ya! mehekmusicmonday@gmail.com , yee dig?

Tags: birdman, Danity Kane, Glee, Imogen Heap, Jason DeRulo, justin timberlake, lady gaga, lil wayne, mod, Pitbull, The OC