American singer Jason Derulo talks music, Dubai, and success

Gulf News

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00:00The music should be the language and everybody should be able to speak that same language by

00:04the feeling that it gives you. Does it make you want to dance? Does it make you want to

00:07fall in love? Does it make you want to cry? Does it make you want to get through a breakup?

00:13What does that particular song do for you? Does it make you want to party at a wedding?

00:20Good afternoon, this is Manjusha from Gulf News. I'm with Jason Derulo who's going to perform

00:25in Dubai this Eid. So Eid has come a bit early. Firstly, we're so happy. You're really like

00:31adding some color to our festival. Yes, I'm really excited. It's a great time to be here.

00:38Really? And you called it the best place on planet earth while I spoke to you as he was

00:44in Morocco shooting with Nora Fatehi, right? Yes. Just a few days ago, but we didn't have

00:48a video interview at that point. So it's nice to have a face, you know, that's not patchy and

00:52that's not 100%. Yeah, I was in the middle of the desert somewhere. We're trying to, you know,

00:57get this call. But yes, it turned out really, really great, though. We had a great time. And

01:02I think the video is very, very special. So right about Dubai, you're a constant visitor. You love

01:08the city. We know that. And you have also filmed here. What's it about the city that speaks to you?

01:14You know, I think there's great people here. I think it starts with the people.

01:19It feels like the future, you know, I just feel like Dubai has it mostly figured out,

01:24you know, where I think the rest of the world is kind of, you know, playing it by ear. I feel like

01:28Dubai is the future in a lot of ways, you know, from a lot of different standpoints. I mean,

01:35architecturally, obviously, it's beautiful. But, you know, even business wise and what's

01:40happening here from a social standpoint, even, you know, all the way around 360, Dubai is just

01:47years and years away from a lot of the rest of the world.

01:50Brilliant. And you're also part of the Eco Earth Festival. So that's really Earth Soul Festival,

01:55which is a part of eco conservation. How committed are you to that cause?

02:00Do you travel in private planes?

02:03I typically don't unless it, you know, really calls for it. But, you know, I try to do my best,

02:10you know what I'm saying? So I think we all can do better, including myself. So it's a day to day

02:21battle for us all. And I think we need to hold ourselves accountable, as well as the people next

02:27to us, you know, because we only have one Earth. That is true. We have only one Earth. And it's

02:31also a part of your world tour. How do you keep yourself motivated? You were in Europe,

02:35you have been traveling around the globe. Does it get to you? Because there are a lot of artists

02:40who have been now talking about mental health and being just fatigued, being tired. How do you

02:45keep that away? You know, how do you stay?

02:47It can be really tough, you know, it can be really mentally taxing as well as on my body

02:51because my show is really taxing. But I love it. You know, I'm obsessed with performing. I'm

02:58obsessed with seeing the fans up close and personal and sharing that energy. So, you know,

03:03it's one of my favorite things to do in the world. So I wouldn't be able to give it up even if I

03:08tried. Right. Jason, do you have a ritual that you do before you get onto stage? Like have seven

03:14yellow M&M's or anything on those lines? A wacky one, perhaps?

03:18You know, being in Dubai, there's just so many dates around. I need to add the dates to my

03:23ritual because I love a good date. And it's a really healthy snack and it feels like you're

03:27having a dessert, which is not really. But rituals for me, me and my dancers will do like a 30

03:36minute ab workout. You know, everybody in the circle will choose one workout and then it's

03:41back to back for 30 minutes. Each person chooses one. That's one of them. Another one is like this

03:48dance that we do before every single show. A huddle? Is it a huddle or a dance?

03:54It's a dance. Oh, wow. It's a dance in a huddle. So every single show we kind of, you know, like

04:02people often ask about nerves and like getting on stage and how do you deal with that? I think

04:09rituals can help with that, you know, and maybe that's one of the reasons why I don't

04:13necessarily deal with nerves most times, because I'm just so prepared. I'm so in a routine that

04:20I feel like I know exactly what's going to happen on stage, you know?

04:23Right. You're so well prepped as well, I think, right?

04:25Definitely.

04:26I was watching a Bollywood movie this morning. It was about a Paralympic athlete who won

04:32gold for India. I thought of you at that point.

04:34Really? You think I can win the gold too?

04:37No, but you've done something even better. When cards were down, when you had an injury,

04:42you kind of bounce back. Again, this is also a real life tale. I thought of you at that point

04:47saying and he swims, but you dance. Therefore, you know, it's the same. You entertain people,

04:52so do you think you're the biggest hustler and also a fighter?

04:56Definitely. When I was down on my luck, I broke my C2 vertebrae, for those that don't know,

05:03and you never think that you're going to be the one to break your neck or have a freak

05:07accident like that. But when it happened to me, that was, you know, one of my lowest points in

05:12my life. You know, I couldn't tie my own shoes. I couldn't take a shower myself, you know, and

05:18for being from being somebody that has total control of my life to having no control was

05:23really tough to deal with. But I came up with a routine that kind of got me out of the rut,

05:30you know, and I go back to this all the time. If you're able to build yourself a routine

05:36for success, you know, and build a plan for yourself, the road seems way less daunting,

05:42you know, making small little goals for yourself and doing the same thing every day to kind of

05:49reach those small goals, because it's a lot less scary to achieve like the little goals as opposed

05:55to like, how am I going to get back to where I once was? Or how am I going to get to this crazy

06:02goal that I have of being the best in the world at something? It's way easier to take it step by

06:07step. And, you know, being in that kind of situation taught me that.

06:12Oh, that's so impressive as well. And 2024 is an amazing year. You've done so many collaborations.

06:18I feel, how do you do that? Like Michael Bublé and then there's David Guetta. And I'm like,

06:22how do you choose them? And I know you told me the song chooses them. I find that difficult

06:26to believe. I believe it's also about chemistry, right? You should vibe with that person. It's all

06:30about the vibe.

06:31I mean, if I'm being completely honest, not really. Honestly, I think a good song is a good song.

06:36And I think there are certain people that could add a different flair to that song. But

06:43most people at the highest level in the world can put their flavor on a specific song,

06:48and it'll probably be good to somebody. You know what I'm saying? To who? That's the question,

06:55to who and to how many is the question. I think, you know, most artists that are at the highest

07:00level, when you're talking about people like David Guetta and Michael Bublé and Nicki Minaj and

07:06those kinds of people, I mean, they could pretty much get on a lot of songs and they'll sound good

07:11on those songs. But I think it starts with the song, you know? I mean, when I say the song chooses

07:18the person, I really think that way because I'm like, I come up with this awesome song that I

07:23think is great, right? And then I'm like, hmm, what does it need? It's just like a recipe. It's

07:28like, you taste something, it's like, hmm, add a little more salt, let me add a little more pepper.

07:33And it's kind of like that to me. What makes you so popular in India, in the Middle East,

07:37where there's plenty of nationalities? I think music starts with a feeling,

07:43right? And it should make you feel something. I think the lyrical content is very secondary

07:50because all over the world, we don't speak the same languages. And my ultimate goal

07:57is to spread my music with as many people on planet Earth as possible. For that to be the case,

08:05it needs to not have bounds by a language. You know, I think the music should be the language

08:13and everybody should be able to speak that same language by the feeling that it gives you.

08:17Does it make you want to dance? Does it make you want to fall in love? Does it make you

08:21want to cry? Does it make you want to get through a breakup? What does that particular song do for

08:26you? Does it make you want to party at a wedding? To me, that is the ultimate goal. And I think it's

08:32a beautiful thing that, you know, you said those words. I mean, to be a kid from Miami, Florida,

08:39that comes from a Haitian background, to have my music played in India is a dream come true.

08:47You know what I'm saying? That's a real, real special honor.

08:51Fantastic. And last question, your social media game is so strong. I can't tell you TikTok has

08:5760 million followers. I think all media houses should take a leaf out of you. What are you doing

09:01right now? I tried to learn how to social media for the longest time, and I couldn't figure it

09:06out until the pandemic happened. And during the pandemic, I was like, this is the time that I'm

09:11going to utilize to make sure that I learn how to do this. Because for a long time, I was releasing

09:16these songs and people knew these songs, but they didn't, they couldn't really put a face to the

09:21songs. And I think it was because my socials were lacking, and I couldn't really figure out

09:28social media. And that's the day and age that we live in. You know, it's become like a really

09:35important thing to, you know, to just have some sort of community. But during the pandemic,

09:42I was like, I'm going to post six times a day, again, going back to routine.

09:46And consistency.

09:47Yeah. And I'm going to post this amount, and then I'm going to learn which videos that they like,

09:52and which they don't. And in the process of that, I started to post all kinds of things,

09:57because I didn't know what to post. I mean, six times, like, what am I going to post six times?

10:02And I was able to just like really learn about lighting more. I was able to learn about

10:08what made people tick more. I even learned about what the things that I liked more,

10:14and the things that I like to post more. So in learning my audience, I got to learn myself

10:21and who I wanted to portray online.

10:22I really hope you continue and you filter out the hate.

10:25Yeah, I mean, hate you take with a grain of salt. Sometimes you can learn from it, though.

10:31And yeah, you know, you just keep pushing.

10:34Thank you so much for entertaining us.

10:36Thank you so much.

10:37Such a pleasure. And thank you for speaking to Gulf News.

10:39Absolutely.

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