Hitting the right notes

American singer, songwriter, and dancer, Jason Joel Desrouleaux, popularly known as Jason Derulo is ruling hearts of music aficionados since his debut five years ago. The 28-year-old multifaceted artiste has 11 Platinum singles – "Wiggle", "Talk Dirty", "In My Head", and "Whatcha Say" to his credit. Before his foray into singing, Jason has been penning lyrics for artists like Diddy, Danity Kane, Donnie Klang, Sean Kingston, Cassie, and Lil Wayne. Jason will be performing in the musical extravaganza ‘Time Out 72’ in Goa. Renowned artists like Wiz Khalifa and Martin Garrix will also perform in the three-day fest. Jason states that he is excited about his debut tour in India and can’t wait to try naan and curries when on his visit.
Excerpts:

What are your expectations from Time Out 72?
This is my first time in India. Music is the soul of your country and I feel privileged and humbled to be coming to India. I feel very connected to the sub-continent.

What are the plans to explore the country?
I want to explore authentic Indian food because that’s one cuisine I tried at so many places, but I wanted to come to India and taste it. I want to try the naan and curries! I am definitely going to explore the Goan city and its architecture as well!

When did you realise that you wanted to sing as well, apart from writing?
My life has a dope balance because I’m able to go back and forth. I think my life would be a little too one-sided if I had to choose one or the other. Because there’s nothing like being on tour and getting that wave of energy from the crowd— it’s incredible. But at the same time, there’s nothing like building something from scratch. Having a blank slate— going in with an idea and then the next thing you know the whole world is singing those songs. So, they are both necessary to me.

How has been your journey so far?
I thought I would be performing in front of major crowds way before it actually happened. I remember giving myself deadlines like, ‘if I’m not famous by the time I’m 11, I’m quitting’. And then when that time came I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll give myself a couple of more years’. And a couple of years later, I was hitting clubs at 16 and maxing out my cousin’s credits card in order to build hype around my mixtapes when he passed them around to DJs. I was too young to be in the club in the first place, but at the end of the day, it was all about creating some kind of hype. My first single “Whatcha Say” was a defining moment for me. My career has been progressing in a really cool way though. My rise has been this slow precipice, it wasn’t like a big bang. I think I still have got to know the industry really well.

What is your dream collaboration?
I never believe in forcing a collaboration. I think collaborations should be organic. My favourite collaborations have been like that. Jennifer Lopez was on my wall when I was a kid, so that was amazing. Stevie Wonder is someone that I studied, and I bought his box set when I was a kid; that was incredible. But, you know I work with all kinds of artistes, from singers to rappers to country-music stars. I really want to continue to push boundaries and do different things, but also give some new artistes a chance. There are a lot of amazing artistes on the indie circuit that I think is cool. I think Khalid is really cool, SZA is awesome.

Would you like to collaborate with Indian musicians?
Indian music is so diverse and is making waves across the globe. I think it’s so very layered and I do listen to it online. Unfortunately, I don’t know names. I just love different genres of music and artistes. It's always exciting collaborating and exploring a different perspective on musical concepts. I think music allows you to express yourself and I always like to see how different artists interpret music.

What are your future projects?
I’m working on my album ‘777’. I always try to create an album that's overwhelming so that my listeners don't get bored and those are my favourite kinds of albums. But for ‘777’, I do dive in more emotionally. The songs go deep into some of my breakups and some of my failed relationships, why they may have happened or how they may have happened, or falling in love. It takes you on this rollercoaster ride of who I am today. There's this song called “Point of View” – it's a ballad and I think it's one of the greatest songs I've ever written. I can't wait to release it. I'm putting out the music that I want to put out instead of chasing everything. Just putting out songs that touch me, you know! Whether it's a party song that makes me want to party, or a song that makes me fall in love.

By: Navin Pivhal