Caroline Sullivan 

Jason Derülo: Jason Derülo

The former Lil Wayne songwriter has made an efficient, sometimes infectious, but impersonal debut, says Caroline Sullivan
  
  


"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. It's no surprise that his first single, the Imogen Heap-sampling Whatcha Say, sold 3m downloads: its chattering beat, and deceptively simple hookline add up to incredible catchiness. He achieves the same infectiousness on The Sky's the Limit, with its Flashdance … What a Feeling sample. The busy production feels impersonal, though, and producer JR Rotem has made far too free with the Auto-Tune, robbing Derülo of the idiosyncrasies that make an album worth hearing.

 

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