Jason Derulo

So my favorite thing about Jason Derulo is the fact that he says his name at the beginning of each of his songs.  I find that extremely helpful, because if he didn’t, I honestly wouldn’t know who he was.

I enjoyed his first song, and I really like his newest song, “In My Head.”  Not only do I like his voice, but I really like the song, and I really enjoy the fact that I can sing it relatively in tune!

Checked out the video for this song for the first time on his Youtube channel, and as soon as the dancing started 15 seconds in, saw exactly where his inspiration and dance moves came from.  Honestly, you can’t miss it.  Remember this classic?  This is one of my personal favorites. 

Now, I am not going to comment on anything relating to Michael Jackson’s life, death or in controversies in-between.  In this post, I simply want to observe the impact that his style has had on pop culture.  I think the “In My Head” video is cute.  JR’s a good dancer, and the story comes across in everything – from the chemistry between him and the female lead to the ‘fantasy’ club scenes.  He does well in this video.  I like that it’s not explicit.  And the influence is clear: you will recognize that about 50% of JR’s choreography in the video are purely MJ moves.  The other 50% is a blend of regular hip-hop dance moves. 

So then of course, I check out the behind the scenes where JR confirms that his inspiration for his video was in fact the video for “The Way You Make Me Feel.”

I think that’s wonderful.  Controversies, scandals and rumor aside, if you just look at the enormous amount of talent that Michael Jackson had, and the original ideas that he had as far as music, dance moves, and performance ideas go, you can’t say that he hasn’t had a huge impact on the development of popular music.  Even after his death, we still see artists using his ideas and dance moves and theme in their own work.  I know that there have only been a handful of people who have made real, original, and lasting contributions to pop music, dancing and performance, and I know that Michael Jackson was one of them.

Jason Derulo seems like a genuine guy.  I look forward to hearing more of his music and wish him success in his career.