You might not know Jason Derulo yet, but you will soon. The 20-year-old singer has just hit No.1 in his native US and now he's setting his sights on our charts.
Debut single 'Whatcha Say' is a darn good place to start, with its heartfelt atmosphere inspired by Jason's brother trying to win his girlfriend back after cheating on her.
The concept may sound hard to swallow but Jason sells it well.
The tune is at its best during the savvy sampling of Imogen Heap's autotune delight 'Hide And Seek', as her sarcastic lines - "Mmmm whatcha say?/That you only meant well?/Well, of course you did" - form the female response to Jason's pleading for forgiveness.
Add in some spiky strings and slick beats and you've got a catchy r'n'b ballad that's undoubtedly destined for success.
We caught up with the star-to-be and asked him to introduce himself...
Tell us about your new single...
Jason DeRulo: We used Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' for my new single 'Whatcha Say'.
My brother actually called me one day and said: "I've cheated on my girl, I love her so much, she left me and I have no idea what to do." I said: "Wow, maybe you should tell her. Tell her like you just told me". I just thought that story was so compelling so I went into the studio with my producer J. R. Rotem.
What we do sometimes is we come together and will have idea time and in this period we'll bring up sample ideas and Imogen Heap happened to be one of those. In the sample it says "Mmm, what you say? That you only meant well? Of course you did" - she's being very sarcastic so it's just like a perfect match.
So what happened to that relationship?
Jason DeRulo: My brother's now engaged and they have a wonderful little baby together.
I get a little riffing for it because now the whole world knows their story so they say "Oh why did you use us?" It's kind of embarrassing.
You haven't experienced anything like that yourself?
Jason DeRulo: Being that I'm only 20 years old, I only have so much that I go through personally so I like to pull from people who are close to me, friends, family... so you better watch out!
Tell us about your upcoming tour...
Jason DeRulo: I'll be supporting Lady GaGa on the Fame Monster tour. She's been talking about how she's been emerging from an egg. Well I'll be emerging from her womb (Laughs). Nah, I'm so excited about this tour, it's important to surround yourself with people that are great and I think she's going to force me to step my game up. I'm always thinking of ways to better myself and to better my show. Throughout my life I've always been a competitor, competing against myself. I think that's really really important, you want to leave a lasting impression on your fans. They're coming to see your show, they're coming to see you, so what do you have for them?
