You're fat. You had acne. Insecure had asthma,
Damn Randall! That's supposed to come out of my mouth, not yours.
We're talking about in our quest for success how we all have to get over these challenges. How did you come out of all the struggles you have struggles
were internal for a long time. And I think you know it. Still in my life, I feel like I internalize my struggles and I don't really share it. You know, it's equivalent of getting struck by lightning seven times to have a number one song, your first time out. So they gave me 40 bands of 40 bands to move my life to Los Angeles. This was like my signing bonus, if you will, I thought I was rich for the bands
who I was coming from nothing. I was literally coming from New York where I was eating four bananas a day because they were a quarter each. And I could I could survive off of these four bananas and only had spent $1 a day coming from that to having $40,000 was a life changing amount of money.
Well, welcome to a search of excellence where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes, motivational speakers, and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I'm a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and the host of In Search of Excellence, which I started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. My guest today is
the awesome Jason Derulo. Jason is a singer, songwriter, actor and author and is one of the most talented people I've ever had on my show. He has sold more than 250 million singles worldwide, and joins Taylor Swift, Elton John, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Maroon Five and Christina Aguilera as the only artists in history to have a number one single on us pop radio in three different decades. Jason is also one of the top 20 most followed people
in the world on social media. He has more than 300 million followers across all platforms. He is also a successful entrepreneur and investor. And as the author of the awesome book, seeing your name out loud 15 rules for living your dream. Jason, thanks for being here. Welcome to In Search of Excellence. pleasure.
My pleasure, man. Thank you for having me.
So I always start with our family. So we know where people came from and what motivates you in life. I want to start you were born in Miramar, Florida, the youngest of three children, son of Haitian parents, which is one of the poorest country in the world. Talk to us about your mom and how she went back to college and law school after she had your you the three of you, and what kind of influence she had on your life.
My mom is the 15th child of 15 kids. So my my grandparents had 15 kids and she was the last one to come out. So she was the youngest like me. My eldest uncle. He had a dream he wanted to bring his entire family to America. So he was able to work a couple of jobs in Haiti and then make his way to Miami. And then when he got to Miami, he started to work different jobs here as well. And then he sent for one sibling
after the other. And every time another sibling came in, they were able to add another income stream. And by the time my mom came, they were able to move out to New York City. And that's where that's where my mom pretty much grew up. So she she's from like, 12 years old. She was in New York City. So my mom had a my mom had a tough upbringing. And with her upbringing being so tough, she really wanted
something different for us. So what's tough for us in America is very different to what's tough in Haiti, you know what I mean? So, she wanted a different life for us. So she worked really, really hard. My mom worked two jobs at the same time going to law school. What were they by the way, she was an immigration officer. And she was also a bank teller. I think she was a bank teller. So she she had, she had decent jobs, you know, really time consuming jobs. But she had this dream of
going to law school. So I watched my mom worked tirelessly. So my work ethic I think stems from watching her work, so
you've never really talked about your dad before. So it's Tell us what your dad was like, and the influence he had on you growing up. So my
dad had this big dream of creating this humongous business. My dad did import export, where he would import and export goods from Florida to Haiti. And he had this business with my uncle. And it just never really, like, took off. But it was his life's goal. And unfortunately, you know, when you have, when you're an entrepreneur, and you have big dreams, and especially in a in a field, like import export, it tends to take you away from the
family, you know. So, you know, there were a lot of times where he was just not around. And it is, that was a little tough, you know, and I remember that feeling. So that is something that I feel like, creeps into, to my life in my mind's eye now, because I'm a musician, you know, and I'm constantly touring. And my job is to travel. So, as you can see, I have my son here with me today. So I try to steal every moment that I possibly can, can because I don't want him to ever feel
like I felt sometimes. So
many parents today, they want their kids to go into more traditional fields. I know your mom at one point wanted to go into law school, but she did something at an amazing young age, she told you nothing was impossible, right? She allowed you to believe in your dream. What's your advice? Everyone out there today? Who wants to be a musician or an athlete or whatever it is, or the odds of success are one in 100 million.
You know, what, I want to go just go back to my dad for a second. Because, you know, I've talked about the, the part that was a little tough, but my dad was an is a I like to say like, like my dad is a man's man. Right? So if something is broken in the house, my dad wants to fix it himself, almost to a fault sometimes. Because he might, he might fix the ship, but the ship might not be like actually fixed, you know. But like, I definitely learned how to be a head of a household from
my father. The way that my father treats my mother and how he speaks to my mother, I've always wanted to have that sort of relationship, because he's the most patient man that I know. And one day, you know, when I, you know, have that significant other, I want to be able to have that sort of patience that my dad has. So he he's showed me a lot from from being a man, you know that that standpoint, I feel like he is just a, he's just an all around
man. And my parents actually had a divorce about eight years ago. And then they got back together, which I'd never even heard of. I didn't even know that you could do that. But it's a pretty cool story.
We all have inspirations in our life. All right. Mine was as a 14 year old kid who didn't have a lot I would read Businessweek I'd read these stories about people. There are no podcast, you weren't going to see people speak. Tell us what happened when you were four years old, who you saw on TV and what spoke to you and the aspiration you had at that young age?
Yeah, I'd be my first inspiration was kind of like a lot of people's inspiration. I feel like Michael Jackson was and remains, you know, one of the best. Not one of the best, the best entertainer of all time. When I was four years old, I saw Michael for the first time and I was just like, Damn, that's it. That's That's exactly who I want to be. And I told my mom and she was like, yeah, yeah, of course, baby. I know. I know. I know. But I really just never looked
back. And I feel like one of my greatest gifts was that I knew what I wanted to do from a very early age. And, you know, just like anything else, I mean, with with time you're able to just compound and working hard from from year four, I think made my life trajectory. Very, very clear.
So it's interesting. My first concert was the Jackson Five. Oh, wow. And I was a young guy. I think it was five or six years old Pinetop music theater in Detroit, Michigan, where I was from and I said Holy shit. Now this amazing band, but this kid stole the show. was incredible. I didn't want to be a musician. I have no musical talent except maybe playing the drums which I took up at 35 years old. But But it was a it was a great show. It inspired me as well. As a kid a lot of us struggle. I was
bullied. I stuttered. I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't have a lot of confidence. You're fat. You had acne. Insecure had asthma. Tell us about the Miss touchdown you had?
And how are you attacking me for a second?
Tell me your
damn random. I supposed to come out of my mouth, not yours. We're talking
about in our quest for success, how we all have to get over these challenges and being bullied. I suffered a lot. How did you come out of all the struggles you have. And tell us about the myths touchdown as well.
Um, so my struggles were my struggles were internal for a long time. And I think you know it. Still in my life, I feel like I internalize my struggles, and I don't really share it. Even though I have great support systems my family is, is very tight knit, I still tend to keep my bullshit to myself. Today, even today even almost taught, I think it's to a fault. So it took a lot to tell
my brother that one night. And I believe that in telling my brother, it allowed me to actually have that real that realization for myself, even though like he teamed up with me and like we started to work out together. And like, that was awesome. I really needed to hear myself say it. So that I can make a change in my life. Even that young, I needed to hear it come out of my mouth. And that
became a game changer for me. I took my life into my own hands and started to do the things that would help the situation as opposed to dealing with it, you know, by myself and not taking action.
Were kids making fun of you. Did you were you afraid to go into school? Because everyone's picking on you? Not
really. I mean, not really. I mean, I grew up as a fighter. So it wasn't that situation. It was like more like an internal kind of thing. I wanted the girls to like me, you know, I wasn't getting the right. feminine energy back. I'm saying so it was more so that as opposed to being made fun of.
So let's talk about the girls like you eight years old and you write the song of the song was motivated by the song.
So I wrote a song called crush on you for this girl, Amy Hume. And she was a girl that set right in front of me. I never told anybody this but like I was in gifted classes. And this girl that sat in front of me was like a really gifted young lady was super smart. And I just wanted her to give me the time of day. I didn't have any money I hadn't to give her so I was like, you know, I sing really well. Why don't I write a song for and I wrote this song called crush on you. I was like I'm gonna sit
here for today. didn't sit here for that day. The next day. didn't do it. In the days kept one come in and I never sat here for but it started my my journey of songwriting. You
remember her name? Amy Hume. And she if she's listening today, is there anything you want to say to me? Not
really, to be honest.
You're a singer to her right now?
No, Amy. You're looking for your partner with my soulmate. Amy's probably got seven kids living in somewhere in middle America somewhere.
My Crush was this girl named Jill blade and kindergarten she also sat in front of me but I was not a cool kid and job Jill blade. Yeah, I don't even know how I would find her today. But I know Jill if you're listening my show somehow Hello. It's been a while by my grandfather had a jewelry store and he used to have these keychains fake gold plated keychains with a diamond. And I thought okay, first of all, what kindergartener wants to keychain. But I said alright, I'm gonna give her this fake
diamond piece of jewelry. I remember it took months for me to give it to her and like, okay, you know what I do with this? Thanks, but never really had a conversation. So it really, really didn't work.
So, so you gave it to her?
Yeah, I gave it to her. And then what she's like, Hey, thank you. It's so awkward. I mean, as I was in kindergarten, you know, my I got five kids like we talked about before the show. I've got a first grader now but all your kids are in school and kindergarten, they got crosses, they got boyfriend girlfriends. That's a lot of what we're going to talk about today. is on our path to success so many things that we're hoping for don't go well and result in something positive. Yep. So I want to move
on to junior high. You're not making the basketball team on the on the basketball team and now you're working on the Korean meet some dude, who's in law school, and has had a major impact on your life, one of the closest people to your life and help you become who you are. You want to tell that story? Yeah, for sure. So
basketball became basketball became my life for a period of time. I would say. Probably like fifth grade is when I started to, like really love basketball. And before then, I mean, when you grew up in Miami football is everything, you know, like you eat. It's like a staple. Like every kid has to play an optimist. Like,
Dan Marino was a guy back in the day. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Before I was born, you know? Yeah. No, by the way, I'm just
making me feel a little older than a different generation.
No, no, Devon, Rena was definitely around them around for sure. But um, I, I fell in love with basketball. And when I got to middle school, I was like, This is my moment, because I used to just play all the time on the street. But the school that I went to, was a very, very big athletic schools called Parkway middle, was actually a performing art school. But at the same time, it is in the hub of the ghetto, you know, and I'm in Fort
Lauderdale. Still, to this day. They're just freakish athletes coming out of Fort Lauderdale. When you talk about football, we didn't talk about basketball. There's just so many really, really talented kids there. So I went to this school, and I thought that I was I thought that I was decent. But when I got to the, to the practice, I instantly knew that I was I was outclassed. Obviously, it was just a totally different kind of
league. So I didn't make the basketball team and it crushed me, because I remember coming home and my brother was like, how did it go? How did it go? And I was like, I made the team. That's always the roughest conversation, right? Like when someone asks you how something went. And you got to tell them that you failed is the hardest conversations. So didn't make the team. So I decided that I was going to you know, continue my journey and still go out there and, and practice. I ended
up meeting, Frank Harris. on the basketball court. He had the short shorts on. And we Larry Bird time. Yeah, sure. Yeah, we need we needed one. So I was like, Ah, I'll take the old man over there. He steps on the court and just kills everybody. It's just like, way different. And then later, I found out that, you know, he played professional basketball overseas, and he was the real deal. But he was in law school at the time, and he would just go out and shoot, just to let
off some steam. And then he started helping me with my basketball game. And like, I would see him out there. And then we would just start like scheduling like, practices and like he would like literally train me. He's
22. And you're 12. Yes, it takes an interest in this kid. He seems like he's
a little older than that. But I mean, maybe. But I always think he's, he was older. He was like, 35 for like, 17 years. So yeah, so he started to train me. And then I ended up making my basketball team. But rewind a little bit. He found out that I could sing because he would work my ass every day on the court. And I was like, This ain't my thing. Anyway, I sing and he was like, you don't say, I was like, No, the singing is really my thing. And that's when
I sang for him. And then he was like, Hey, I have some connections in New York. He didn't really have any connections at the time. But that's how the relationship started. And we just figured out the whole thing together, you know, from meeting different labels to try to figure out what path that I was going to take, you know, because finding a big break is there's no real way to have a big break, right? Like you have to figure out whatever your journey is. Some people do
it through songwriting. Some people do it through building a bus. Some people do it through having a connection at a label. I mean, there's just no like One blueprint for everybody. Right? So you just have to figure it out and figure it out. We did.
So yeah, no connections kind of bullshitted you that I had some, but he found some. Yep. And you're 16 years old, and you go to New York to meet Sean Kingston what happened then.
So actually, when I was 16, I got my first writing placement, which was with Birdman. And from from there, I was able to start working with all kinds of artists, you know, you just kind of got to get one your foot in the door. And then like, people start calling and you start, you know, making connections in the industry and starting to get into sessions. I really just needed people to hear the music that I was doing. And after getting a couple of placements, Jr, Rotem flew me
out to LA. And when I got to LA, we wrote like four to six songs that evening. And he was like, Damn, man, you should be an artist. And I was like, Yeah, I mean, that's what I've always wanted to do. I mean, it's, it's incredible that you're saying that, but that's literally all I ever wanted to do.
He had produced songs for Rihanna and Beyonce at that point, so you knew he was kind of a big deal. And he has his own record label as well. Huge
deal. So yeah, so he had signed Sean Kingston, and actually flew there to to write songs for Sean Kingston and other people. But Sean Kingston was like his main focus, because that was his artist. And I ended up writing two songs that were in contention for Sean Kingston singles, one being what you say. And another one being replay. Shot
is like a melody in my head that I can keep algemeen like that
song became a number one for is because Sean Kingston turned it down. And then what you say became a number one song for me, because Shawn turned it down. I don't know if Shawn turned it down, or his label turned it down. But nonetheless, he didn't sing those songs. And it ended up being a perfect beginning for me,
right. So what to watch says your first debut single, yep, 5 million copies sold in the US. Huge hit. And it was meant to write for someone else. So what's your message to everyone out there again, that's, you're writing this for someone else? get rejected, right? So you're probably Oh, shit, you know, that's a bummer. I said, all right. I'm gonna do it myself. What's the lesson for everyone here in that story today?
You know what? You just can't take no for an answer. You know, when you're putting your best foot forward, great things just tend to happen. You know, I really relate it to all forms of success, right? So this is not just music, because same thing within business. Like, you just got to be right one time, right?
I mean, it's not like, I love how, you know, a lot of a lot of really successful people act like they have like this blueprint, you know, but that person just had to be right one time, you know, and if you create one amazing idea, it will change the scope of your life and your life will be changed forever. But you just got to be lucky or right one time
in timing is important. So that song came out during sex cheating scandals with David Letterman at the time, who was the biggest talk show host in the world, Tiger Woods sex scandal had just come out as well. And the song was about your brother, you want to talk about how important timing is in our life and our success. And maybe you can talk about songs about
Yeah, my brother was going through a situation where he was asking for forgiveness, for have having cheated on his girl at the time and I thought it was a cool concept for a song. I was writing songs every single day and pulling from my life pulling from my friends lives and my family's lives and just making songs when you're when you're writing a bunch of songs, you just need concepts, you know, and this concept just happened to be one that was very
poignant. And yeah, it was about his life and it ended up connecting in a lot of different areas. I remember going to Japan and they called it like the the Tiger Woods zone. Like it was like that deep at the time. It was like oh yeah, you sigma Tiger Woods. but it's the Tiger Woods. Yeah. Crazy.
So it's your first song, it becomes a big hit. When did you know it was a massive hit? And what do you say to yourself? You say, I can't believe I'm number one song. This is crazy. What were you feeling that exact moment? Where were you when you heard when you realize it was gonna be number one song.
So when I realized that it was a big song, I remember sitting in the CEOs office, and I played him. I played him, what'd you say? And I played him riding solo. And I didn't have in my head yet. But I played him those two songs. And when he heard what you say, he was like, I never say this. But that's the number one song very, like soft spoken man. Who was the executive arm Wally was his name at Warner Brothers Warner Brothers. Yeah. And he was like, I never say this. But
that is a number one song. And that made me feel good. But like, I've heard amazing words before. So like words don't equal, you know, the truth. Right? So like, it meant a lot coming from him because he has a lot of experience. But still, I didn't know. It wasn't until Jo Jo on a radio has this countdown that he does here in Los Angeles. And I believe the countdown starts from like 50 or
100, I just can't remember. But I would literally listen to his show every single day to figure out what number would you say was gonna come on. And like it went from like, 50 to 49. Like, every single couple of days, it was like going down and down. And when that thing got into the top 20 I just couldn't believe it. Like, it was the craziest shit that you could ever imagine. I mean, I'm this kid from Miami, Florida. Like, like, I knew that I was gonna have,
like a moment. Right, I knew that I was gonna get heard by more people than I ever had before. Because I was signed now. But I didn't know whether this song was going to be, you know, I didn't know the song was gonna be the biggest song in the world. I did not. But the growth was so study that I was like, Holy shit, we did something crazy here. Did you know is equivalent of getting struck by lightning seven times to have a number one song your first time
out. So with 7 billion people in the world, 8 billion now close to a billion. It is equivalent to being struck by lightning seven times for you to have a song to go number one on your first release.
So you're saying I'm not going to have a number one song? Basically, I'm
saying the chances are the same chances of you being struck by lightning seven times.
So I'm a technology guy. I've been in the tech world for a long time. And I want to talk about MySpace, which at some point was the largest social media platform in the world. In June of 2006. It was actually the single most
of them, I suppose that's posted on it every day. Do you have
Myspace? Myspace was sold to a News Corp. Back in the day, just so everybody knows for $580 million. Wow, that's a crazy story as well. But I want to go back and I want to talk about MySpace, which in June 2006 was the single most visited website in United States more than Google and Yahoo at that time. And so you're on MySpace, and you were discovered, I think on MySpace by Jr. Rotem was at the beginning of the
relationship. I think people know today that Justin Bieber was discovered by Scooter Braun watching YouTube videos, but you said MySpace was the start of it all. So tell us how the MySpace thing happened. Your progression on MySpace and how important it was.
MySpace was the beginning of my journey. I posted all of the songs that I did on MySpace. When I was doing songs in my car, I was doing, like making music in my car. I was making music. at my mom's house, I was making music at my cousin's house. I post all of
the songs to my MySpace. The reason why I was making music in the car is because my mom had to go to work the next day and she was like, if I can be successful Oh, so I made a makeshift studio in my car or in her car and posted it to this to this thing. And you had like a top four or something like that. So like my top, like four songs would basically rotate as I made new
music. And JR wrote on his brother Tommy wrote them found me on MySpace and he would start he started to send me beats to like, see if I, you know, could have had the chops to like, send them new material. And this went on for a year, two years. So the first time he messaged me, I thought it was my big break. There was so many times that I thought it was my big break. But then I just I just got exhausted, because it just never
was. So this relationship just kept on he kept on sending me beats and like saying, Oh, we love this. This is great. Like nothing would happen. You know? Did
you know at the time who his brother was? Yeah. Oh, you did? Okay.
So yeah, when he messaged me, I thought this was it because he's the person that found Sean Kingston as well. So that's how that's how they found me it was it was it was MySpace. I I didn't have like a large following or anything. But I had I had a little some
you signed with beluga heights, which was Jr's music company. Let's talk about how much money you had and what kind of car you bought. So
they gave me 40 bands, 40 bands to move my life to Los Angeles. This was like my signing bonus, if you will. I thought I was rich for the bands who I was coming from nothing. I was literally coming from New York where I was eating four bananas a day because they were a quarter each. And I could I could survive off of these four bananas and only had spent $1. That day. Coming from that, to having $40,000 was was a life changing amount of money. So naturally, I take half of it and
buy a car. I bought a SC 430 convertible I was going to Los Angeles palm trees, which is great weather. Get out to LA it's cold as hell never topped down. For a whole year, I was like I've been bamboozled. I can never let the top down. This is bullshit. Anyway, so I spend half the money on the car, then I gotta find a place to live. I found a beautiful place on Sunset and Vine. And that place was way too expensive. For me, I believe at the time. It was like
6000 a month? By the time? Yeah, 565 6000 a month at the time, which
was 20 years ago. No matter how many years ago, we
told me it's not that it's not that different. 50
years ago, you were younger? Yeah. Okay. 1515 to 50. Alright, let's go 15 years ago, this is last six days, you know?
I mean, we could edit this and say just say 10 years? Yeah. Now we're gonna keep it in. Joke. I'm joking. Yeah, 15 years ago. Yeah, it was a lot of money. Like, way too much money. And my mom was like, What are you doing? That's way too expensive. You're gonna run out of money within five months, like, what are you doing? I was like, exactly. It was like, I don't get it. I was like, if I'm going to run out of money in
less than half a year. That means I gotta work my ass off to make the money to pay for where I'm living. I do not recommend this strategy to anybody. So I'm not saying it, because I think you should do it. Why would I ever do it? But it worked.
You had a picture of a Lamborghini on your wall when you were growing up. And the reason was because you thought material possessions? potentially could and the bickering between your parents. Are people happier with material possessions in their life.
Yeah, my parents used to fight about money all the time. So I thought that I could cure that, uh, that part of the turmoil in the relationship?
Oh, wait, what part of that having money would make a cure the relationship? How would the money help fix things? Because
all I ever heard them argue about was money. You know? So like it was, it was the topic of conversation. And when I made the money, I feel like that became the even bigger argument. So, it didn't fix it. In actuality, I think it was partially, I don't know, I don't I don't know what to say it. So I won't even say that. But, um, I thought that having money would fix a lot, fix a lot in their life, fix a lot of my life. And this Lamborghini was a
symbol of that. But the truth is, that I don't want to say the cliche that money isn't everything. Because the truth is, money gives you freedom. The more money that I've had in my life, the more money disappeared. What I mean by that is, I just don't think of when I'm purchasing something, I'm just not thinking of the money. I'm just thinking of, of what I can have experiential in my life, right? If I'm buying clothes, if I'm buying food, like, I'm not really thinking
about, should I get this? Should I not? I'm just thinking about, is this going to add value? Or is it not going to add value. So that's some that's great freedom,
we say value, I'm talking about personal happiness, personal
happiness, personal happiness. So like, if I wanted to take a trip tomorrow, I could take a trip tomorrow, you know, that kind of freedom, I think is a great thing. So I don't want to be little money, because people belittle money all the time, which I think is kind of wrong. But what I will say is, money does not fix the problems within your life, if you actually have issues in your life, money is not going to fix that. Right?
And even if you look within your relationships, you know, if if you have problems within your relationship, and you're arguing about money, those arguments are probably just going to shift to something different. If the money, you know, then comes. I've had a lot of issues actually come into my life, because of money because people expect peace people expect all of your money, like it's throwing a stick in the world. But I take it all with a grain of salt. I try to be as giving
as I can be. I have a very large family. Whenever there's like some sort of turmoil within the family. Of course, it falls on me and I'm happy to take that burden because because I'm able to, you know, so I don't frown upon that at all. I think it's the beauty the most beautiful thing in the world that like if something major happens within my family, that I can be a backbone, and a help for the entire family.
Did you ever buy the Lamborghini
I did buy the damn well color, blonde, green, but I drove it like three times. And I was like, the shit is just parked in my I literally have this car parked in front of my house right now. It's an old school car that my brother said that I should get. And I bought this thing. And I promise you, I have not been behind the wheel one time. I spent hundreds of 1000s of dollars on this car. I have not one time started the damn car myself. So it literally
sits under a rap. And I was just like this is this is this is ridiculous. This is This is dumb as hell.
But is that a symbol of no not really dream it so no,
I don't I don't think so. Me personally, I think you should spend the money on the things that you like. I think I should just probably give that to my brother because in actual actuality, it's his dream is not mine, because I don't I'm not really a car guy. When you talk my houses. I'm a house guy. Like I really like architecture. I really like interior design, exterior design. I'm a house guy.
When I was young and I didn't have any money. I go into the Porsche dealership once a year. I'd sit in that car. I'd say one day, I buy that car. And when a company went public and I finally made money then I could afford the car. I felt got it. I felt a little guilty. And I waited a year when I went into that Porsche dealership, first Porsche dealership back in the day, maybe even today, you go in there and you build a car,
basically. Right? So you know, you want the leather visors or whatever you want the paneling, whatever it was, I remember what it takes to build. Well, it's it's a story that don't judge a book by its cover. Because I went in there and T shirt and flip flops and Beverly Hills poor said, Oh, no, you know, you're never gonna get a car. So I went to the dealership in Sherman Oaks. And I go in there, and I'm building the car or whatever. And it was $137,000. I couldn't believe I'm spending
137,000 on this car. And back in the day, the tech roll is going crazy. So they get to a month. And in California, you bought a car and you only put down $5,000. And you don't have to take the car when the car comes in. So if you don't take the car, the dealer's stuck with the car. And they'd rather sell $110,000, Porsche and $140,000 Porsche, which is fewer buyers. So I go in there, and I build a car when they're for, I don't
know, 40 minutes. And then I could see the salesperson go talk to the sales manager. They're having this conversation. It's awkward conversation. And the guy comes back and says, I said, What's that about? Oh, no, nothing. I said, No, what's it about? Said, manager wants to make sure you can afford the car. And I basically said, and my wife at the time, said, Don't do it. I know it's coming. Don't do it. So I'm doing it. We're out of here. And I was so fucking pissed. Some guy just shorts
flip flops white t shirt. Didn't didn't like the treatment. So I did call Beverly Hills Porsche, by the way, when they happen to have a car that was a little less expensive was $107,000. I still can believe I spent that on the car. But I bought that car. Still have it today. Came home wash the car. First they dropped the bucket on the back of the car. I still love washing my own car. So there's a little quarter size Nick in it. But still have that car. I'm going to keep it till it runs in the
ground. But
are you a car guy? No, I'm
not a car guy. But I always said to I want a Ferrari. So I said I'm gonna get a red Ferrari company went public, I can afford that too. So alright, so I went into the Ferrari dealership. And again, same thing, like the tech role is going crazy. So I had to wait like eight months or a year and I went in and I sat in the car. I said can't do it. I said it's not it's not me. Know, Like the dream. The reality sometimes is not the dream. Yeah, I thought you know, I had that vision of a
car. And number one, I I thought I would look ridiculous in the car. I thought it was showy. It wasn't who I wanted to be. And I didn't want to be this 31 year old kid driving around LA and Ferrari. Just a bad bad luck for me.
But what about the potholes and shit? Like? That's me. Yeah, honest. Like if I lived in Miami, I might have one of those. But the problem is, like, when I get out of the car, like, my back hurts, like, like it was a whole day. Like to drive I remember. Catches is a place that I frequent.
Yeah. You're friends with Eugene? Yeah, not mistaken. Yes. Yes. My wife worked with Eugene for three years. They're still they're still tight. Okay, amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Was one of the biggest investors in cash. Yeah, before they sold or the original. So get a good outcome on that deal. It was great sandbox on the poor. I don't know if you know, Sam showed me that deal. The first time they were running. Raising money, like Melbourne was in that deal. I don't know. Discovery Land
Company. Baker's Bay? Eldorado, do you know these residential communities? El Dorado? Yes. Okay. So Mike malaman was the guy that built all those but he was a big investor in that. But great outcome. Great restaurant.
Fantastic. So that was a place that I frequent. Right. So I remember my first time driving the Lambo to catch it was about a 25 minute drive from the valley. And I was excited to put like, Los Angeles like this. Like, who wants to ride like that? Like that is the most uncomfortable ride that I've ever had in my life. And then I had to pay all of this money for it. Oh, no, no, no. So like, I just probably drove it you know, two or three more times and and I was just like,
let me just do away with it. I do like being comfortable. So like, I think Rolls Royces are really comfortable. I do like to sleep in the car. You have a rolls? Yes. So I got it like I'll do that. Yeah.
SUV or sedan or SUV, SUV. cool car.
Very, very cool car.
I want to go back to college. You had four bananas? They you said it cause you constipation. You know for they don't tell you to Yeah, I mean for bananas a day kind of tough on the inside. It's but it's interesting. I was a student college and I didn't have money I was in DC one summer. And my friend Joe art and I would go to the Watergate Safeway and a Kraft macaroni and cheese box. 99 cents same except for meals, quarter, quarter
meal. And to this day, I really don't want to eat macaroni and cheese anymore, man.
Same thing with the noodles, the ramen noodles. I used to be the ramen noodle king when I went to college. Yeah, ramen all the time. So I just can't do Robert anymore.
What did you learn in college? A lot of singers. actors say okay, I really don't need college is college necessary today be successful?
I don't think college is necessary. But I think anything that you do, you should, you should be able to take something from it. A lot of people that were around me in college, used to say those words like don't know why I'm here. I don't need this that I'm already going on auditions that. But for me, I felt like I was able to really learn the meaning of hard
work. I was balancing out this really, really hard curriculum, you know, doing Shakespeare learning, you know, jazz dance ballet dance, doing all forms of classical training, tap. You name it, right? And at the same time, I was going out on auditions every single day, getting no after no after No. But it was part of the curriculum, you're supposed to go out and go audition. I think that was character building. Though those things don't specifically pertain to my life.
Today, I utilize the meaning of hard work. What I learned, you know, just just going to having to go to class when I didn't want to having to do Shakespeare when I knew that there was never going to be a time where I'm going to utilize Shakespeare. But that challenge, you know, I think I think was important for me. On
our path to success. We all have tons of challenges that we have to get past. Right. So here we got this massive song. And you had a problem with a Miami radio station, which is your hometown? What happened? And what's your advice to people who really start to get fucked over by people who try to take advantage of them?
Yeah, I had a crazy situation in Miami. Because this program director, actually, he was a music director of the huge station in Miami. He was doing these deals with different artists and getting their song to be played on the radio. So, you know, pit bull kind of came out of that school. And there was another artist that was really starting to explode at the time coming out of that as well. As well as like, you know, flow rider and a few other other people. So it looked like this, like shiny
kind of situation. That could put me on, you know, I was really young. And I he like puts this contract in front of me. And it's literally the worst contract that you could possibly imagine. It was like signing me for life and like he was making everything for life. And though I saw the effects of it and what like it could possibly do for me. I have no idea if anybody else signed that contract. But there was just no way that I was going to put myself out in that kind of situation. And thanks.
Thankfully I had Frank Harris in my life to make sure that you know, he went through it and was like, This is the worst deal that you could possibly get.
Let's talk about maybe your biggest challenge in life. We got to January 3 2012. Coming off a hit song, you're rehearsing for a tour, you're in great shape, and you're practicing 50 backflips as an endurance test what happened next?
I slipped during one of the bag talks and I landed on my head and breaking my seat two vertebrae and it was one The toughest things that I've ever had to deal with breaking my neck, I mean, who you don't really think that you ever break your neck. You know, it's one of those things that you kind of hear about what you never think that kind of thing can happen to you. We
were down on the ground and actually couldn't move paralyzed kind of thing. Yeah,
I knew that I wasn't supposed to move. Instinctively, I just grabbed grabbed myself by the neck, like here, you know. And stayed there for about five minutes. And finally, I got up and my mom was outside. And I didn't want to tell my mom exactly what happened. And so I just told her, I was like, Hey, I hurt my mom and my neck a little bit inside, we should probably go to the doctor, I didn't want to alarm her. But every single bump on the way to the hospital was
like, hell on earth. Like every single bump, I felt like crazy. Get to the hospital. And, you know, get the X rays and everything and the doctor comes in, and he was like, It's not good. You have the Heymans break, same break, you know, when someone gets home. And the good news is that it could have been a lot worse, you could have been paralyzed or worse. The bad news is you're gonna be out for seven months, had to cancel my tour. Life became different suddenly, you know, from being
fit, and owning my life. You know, at that moment. I no longer own my life, I couldn't tie my own shoes, I couldn't take a shower myself, I couldn't do anything for myself. So it was a very, very low point in my life. And the only thing that I could turn to was my mom, and music.
And in order to get better, you've talked about the importance of a routine. So I think a lot of us, I have a routine every day. Yep. But I wasn't in bed. Like, like you were, how important is routine, to our success doesn't matter what you're doing in life, whether you're an assistant, and executive and entrepreneur.
Yeah, routine routine, for me has been the I think, probably the single most important tool that I've used in all of my successes. routine, I created a routine in this low moment, because I knew what it had done for me in the past. So I would get up every morning, I would get on the treadmill. So like get some walking in. And I would then go to the studio. I would spend some time reading and then go to bed did the same thing every day for months,
even when you didn't feel like it said I'm not going to do it today, non negotiables.
It was the same thing every single day. And in that time period where I was supposed to be a very low time period, I wrote my most successful album to date. tattoos, yes. Which you know, had the other side on it talk dirty. Marry me Wiggle, wiggle, you know, a ton of a ton of huge, huge songs, right. And it was supposed to be a time of just like, my lowest moment, but it became the catalyst just push everything forward. But But routine has just been such a
staple in my life. I mean, when I when I first moved to Los Angeles, it was the same thing. Like, it was like, go to the gym, go to the studio. I ordered out of this, this big book. It was like it was the coolest thing in the world when I got to Los Angeles because we were able to order from this, this book and we were able to order one meal every day. It was me and my cousin Henry, who he engineered for me at the time. And we only ate that one meal because we didn't have we didn't have that
much money. Remember, we were trying to make that 20,000 stretch as long as we could. So for that one meal, you know, we got to look through this huge humongous book. So order our food, eat studio all day. Go to bed, same thing every single day. Same exact thing, same time, every single day. And that's what you know, I think that routine is what would did it For me,
you're listening to part one of my awesome interview with Jason Derulo, one of the most successful artists in history, and it's sold more than 250 million singles worldwide. Be sure to tune in next week to my awesome interview with Jason