Jason Derulo Los Angeles Concert Recap

I had the privilege to check out Beluga Heights / Warner Bros. artist Jason Derulo live at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, CA on Monday, October 18th. It all came out of the blue very quickly, but I was prepared.

This past year has been a momentous year for Jason Derulo. While quietly releasing his debut album in 2010, Jason bursted on the scene with a vengeance spawning 3 chart topping hits and completing an impressive tour run with the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga as the coveted opening act.

I came into the show with no preconceived notions of what I was about to witness, which helps to keep matters at hand fresh. Little did I know, Jason unleashed a juggernaut of a live stage show.



As the lights went down and the fog rolled in, the anticipation at the House of Blues was on high. Jason came out in all black stage regalia and 'laser beams' on his finger tips. Then he proceeded to tear the premiere live spot on Sunset Strip down with "The Sky Is The Limit" and "Whatcha Say" his 1st chart smash with the Imogen Heap sample in place. It didn't let up from there. With his dancers and his superb back up band, Jason seduced the audience with his brand of music, swift dance moves, emotionally drenched songs and entrancing stage presence. Not quite Usher, not quite Justin Timberlake, only better - brand Jason Derulo I call it!

Check out more highlights from the show below.











In the middle of his set, Jason did his version of "Billie Jean" (view above) and J. Timberlake's "Sexy Back," the crowd ate it up. Later brought a girl from the crowd on stage and did a bump and grind sort of thing. The girl from the audience was tickled pink, to say the least.



Something is to be said about the opening act, fellow Beluga Heights artist Auburn. Auburn brought an unspecting surprise that you don't normally find in a opening act, full on entertainment! (view above) Judging by the audiences' reaction, Auburn is in good company on this tour and ready to break out into 'super' stardom. Look for Auburn soon to be taking over the charts and stages across the world very soon.

Special Thanks to K.S., Jennifer and all the fine folks at WMG / Warner Bros. / Beluga Heights who helped in arranging the show.

Be sure to catch Jason Derulo on tour while you can.

Dates below.

Fri 10/22/10 - Lawrenceville, NJ - Rider University
Sat 10/23/10 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
Mon 10/25/10 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
Wed 10/27/10 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage
Thu 10/28/10 - Tampa, FL - The Ritz Ybor

(video courtesy of AyumiPULP, distant sights & aznzondemand)

J.R. Rotem: Music Producer Los Angeles Times Feature Story

Four years ago, J.R. Rotem made a pivot from straightforward, trunk-rattling gangsta rap productions to helming saucy mainstream pop tracks. The switch worked. His hit tracks for Britney Spears and Rihanna vaulted him from rap’s A-list into the clouds of frothy club-pop, with the attendant tabloid attention – including a quick-burning relationship with Britney that he vividly (he says jokingly) detailed in a notorious 2007 Blender Magazine article.

His extracurricular exploits threatened to derail Rotem the musician. So, in 2007, he re-calibrated his production goals and established Beluga Heights, a label imprint where he could cultivate new vocal talent. Sean Kingston, the teenage Jamaica-via-Miami singer, hit first with “Beautiful Girls,” one of the defining songs of that summer.

That tune set a template of Caribbean-inflected, beat-driven synth-pop for Rotem that, three years later, has sneakily become one of the dominant sounds of pop radio. His latest project, the debut from young singer-songwriter Jason Derulo out today, sports two sleek and absolutely inescapable singles in “Whatcha Say” and “In My Head,” while he simultaneously led Iyaz’s breakout track “Replay” to No. 2 on the Billboard's pop chart.

It seems like Rotem’s finally made a second major move in his music career, having become one of a select group of producers who spin singular chart gold out of completely unknown artists.

“That’s what’s becoming our forte, identifying raw talent,” Rotem said from the minimalist, workmanlike lounge inside his Mid-City recording studio. “My brother Tommy does our A&R and he spends an awful lot of time on MySpace.”

The idea of the Rotem brothers leaving the pop troposphere to troll through epilepsy-inducing MySpace pages for new talent seems unlikely. But the formula is paying off -- he has a perfect score on breaking his first three Beluga Heights debuts, and it’s given him a wide berth to refine his productions. He’s steered his sound away from such sample-heavy rewrites as Rihanna's “SOS” into an idiosyncratic mix of Euro-besotted trance synths, rap’s drum machine clatter and insatiably melodic, reggae-tinged songwriting.

“There is a weird connection to the islands here,” Rotem said. “There’s a lot of melody and soul in that music, and when you add synths, it’s just pure ear candy, but the vocals are still really organic. What I’m interested in now is how you can take an artist who is being true to themselves, but make everyone relate to it."

Along the way, Rotem himself became vastly more relatable. Gone are the the designer sunglasses and did-he-or-didn’t-he allusions to bedding half the starlets between Vine Street and the 405. It was all a projection of his aspirations, he said. He imagined that to produce for the best (or bestselling), you have to shop and party with them.

But today, in a rumpled hoodie fit for a Whole Foods run, Rotem’s finally put his hands back on something more creatively renumerative -- his keyboard.

“I wasn’t being evil then, it just wasn’t who I was supposed to be,” he said. “I needed to get that out of my system. It was insecurity, ultimately. Nothing productive ever came out of me being on a tabloid site. But it was a lesson that music has to take precedence.” (source)

Jason Derulo: Chicago Radio Interview & In Studio Performance

Jason Derulo interview with radio personality Special K at 103.5 KISS FM in Chicago, IL.

PHOTOS:
WENN Photo

Whatcha Say?: Kid Cudi Exits Gaga Tour Opener Jason Derulo Bumped Up

via TMZ

Kid Cudi -- the guy who sings that "Day 'N Nite" song -- has been officially dropped from the Lady Gaga tour in the wake of a brutal fan-punching incident.

Sources at Interscope Records confirm the rapper is "no longer" with the tour -- but wouldn't say if the decision had anything to do with YouTube footage showing Cudi punching fans in the front row of a concert in Vancouver this past weekend.

We're told Jason Derulo -- the guy who sings "Whatcha Say" -- will move up from his spot as Gaga's opening act to fill Cudi's spot ... no word on who will fill-in Derulo's.

Jason Derulo: Songwriter Steps Into The Artist Spotlight

(source)

Related:
R&B Newcomer Jason Derulo Interviewed In L.A.Times

R&B Newcomer Jason Derulo Interviewed In L.A.Times

via L.A. Times

L.A. Times: "Whatcha Say" comes from a long lineage of make-up songs. Did it do the trick?

Jason Derulo: My brother called me one day to tell me he'd cheated on his girl, but that he felt terrible and really wanted to stay together. I told him, "Tell her this!" That feeling was so real, people go through it every day. So I wrote the song, and he played it for her, and now they've got a beautiful baby.

L.A. Times: I guess it worked then. Speaking of interpersonal chemistry, you're doing your debut album entirely with J.R. Rotem. That must take a lot of trust, to work so closely with one producer on your first-impression record. Why him?

Jason Derulo: Our energy and connection was like nothing I'd ever experienced. We have a chemistry like Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones; we're really like soul mates. We've done something like 300 songs together. I'd always wanted the usual prospects to work on my record, like Timbaland. But I've got so many influences -- rock, country, rap -- that I really needed someone special. I didn't want to come off as an R&B artist just because of the color of my skin. When you hear the rest of the stuff, there's rock guitars, there's live drums, there's even banjos. I've studied classical music and jazz, and ballet and tap dancing and musical theater and Shakespeare, and I wanted all of that in there.

Read more of the interview here:
L.A. Times - Jason Derulo will save your relationship

Learn more about Jason Derulo:
Jason Derulo's MySpace Page