Album Review: Future History by Jason Derulo

A mid-1950s Harry Belafonte hit. An early 1990s dance-club smash. A crunk anthem. A thumping Eurodisco beat, some Auto-Tune. These are just a few of the bits and pieces that Jason Derulo crams into "Don't Wanna Go Home," the single from his second LP of party-hearty robo R&B. Derulo doesn't travel ….

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On his latest, Future History, Derulo makes several ?attempts at home-run club records and huge ballads. He swings hard, but often misses — perhaps his biggest problem ? is that he’s not rooted in any genre outside of people-?pleasing pop; lead single ”Don’t Wanna Go Home,” built heavily on multiple samples, is the rare victory here. It’s when he scales back on the synths, as on ”That’s My Shhh,” that he thrills.

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Deep down, R&B singer Jason Derülo is probably as complicated as anyone, but in pre-release press for his sophomore release he made the telling, youthful comment that “so much had happened” since he made that journey from 18 to 21. Granted, he went platinum and topped charts around the world, but for most that means the journey from being able to vote to being able to drink, along with a ton of other things that don’t seem so monumental down the road. Future History -- and that title fully displays the level of cleverness found here -- is an ambitious stab at growth in the pop-R&B world of 2011, where triumphant declarations of love are delivered over a sample of Toto’s “Africa” (“Fight for You”) and jamming together Robin S.

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It's currently mandatory for R&B mainstreamers to start songs by announcing their own name, and Jason Derulodoes just that here. The opening track (and No 1 UK single), Don't Wanna Go Home, springs into action with a cry of "Jason De-rooo-lo!", and that tells you exactly what to expect over the next 45 minutes or so: namely, an album that cleaves so closely to this year's ubiquitous pop/urban sound that you wonder whether the Florida-born crooner has an original idea in his head. All the boxes are ticked: Auto-Tune, a sample from an 80s hit (Toto's Africa, which gives the languid Fight for You a bit of bounce), washes of disco synths – and, of course, Derulo pledging his heart with gauche declarations such as: "Much more than a Grammy award, that's how much you mean to me.

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More of a collection of singles than an album ‘proper’ from the two-time chart-topper. Michael Cragg 2011 Jason Joel Desrouleaux, aka Jason Derülo, aka Jasoooon Deruuuloooo, has, in his short career, snagged two UK number one singles (including the excellent In My Head) and a top 10 album. He's also one of those pop stars who is able to walk the paper-thin line between awful and amazing with alarming regularity.

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