Jason Derulo
Jason Derulo
Release Date: Mar 2, 2010
Genre(s): R&B, Soul
Record label: Warner Bros.
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: Jason Derulo by Jason Derulo
Fairly Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 6/10
Even though he began his career writing hits for the likes of Diddy and Sean Kingston, singer/songwriter Jason Derülo always had his eye on becoming a solo performer. His Auto-Tuned, Imogen Heap-sampling debut single, “Watcha Say,” was an infectious, slick, and on-point way to launch a career, but his debut album is less satisfying, even with plenty of the same well-crafted, futuristic R&B as his breakthrough tune. Since Derulo seems entirely devoted to the song, the problem may lie with the album format itself.
Based on rating 3/5
"Nine hits, one album" claims the sticker on the front of this 20-year-old Floridian's debut – an optimistic way of selling a record that's produced precisely two hits to date. To give Jason Derülo credit, though, there will undoubtedly be more. He's followed an increasingly well-trodden path to R&B success by first serving an apprenticeship as a songwriter (for Lil' Wayne, Diddy, et al), so he's got the craft of making modern, hyper-slick tunes nailed.
Based on rating C+
This 20-year-old Miami native hit No. 1 last year with ”Whatcha Say,” a tasty club-pop confection built atop a sizable chunk of Imogen Heap’s 2005 hit ”Hide and Seek.” On Jason Derulo, though, Derulo has trouble making an impression. Sure, his precision-geared vocals are ?teen-dreamy enough, but tracks like the robo-folky ”Encore” and the dreary piano ballad ”What If”’ sound pilfered from Ne-Yo’s discard pile.
Opinion: Poor
As hot as a deep-frozen chicken fillet, this soulless Auto-Tune-fest is one to avoid. Mike Diver 2010 BBC chart blog critic Fraser McAlpine summarised baby-faced American-Haitian RnB superstar Jason Derülo thusly, in a review of his single In My Head: “(he) is basically a one-man Lynx advert, where the version of reality he would most like to see happen is straight out of a 14-year-old boy's ideal of what girls are really like.” If it wasn’t for the desire to get at least somewhere close to a rough-guide word count, we could just leave things there. This is music that rings shrilly with a deafening hollowness, an unashamed fakery akin to a dream-state where fantasy and reality have become mixed and hopelessly muddied.