Hey beautiful people, it’s been way too long, I know! As they all say, I’ve been busy. I’m working on getting the first draft of my current novel finished by end of February, so it’s all hands on deck with regard to the creatives in my mind! I can offer a small highlight of my busy-ness however, I had the opportunity to work for and film Jason Derulo live at the O2 Arena last Friday. Not my usual scope of show, but hey, well worth the experience! Here’s my mainstream review of the experience…

Get Ugly. J R Manawa.

He may have since fallen off a table at a Parisian afterparty and needed a rumoured 20 stitches, but we were lucky enough to catch Jason Derulo (you know you want to sing his name!) live at the O2 Arena last Friday on the European leg of his Everything is 4 world tour.

And it was a bloody good show! 

We could all be forgiven for thinking Derulo is a little bit full of himself, he is afterall best known for singing his name in every one of his songs, but the truth? Well, he works hard on stage and enjoys the fame attached to his moniker. And judging by an O2 Arena full of screaming girls, he’s one of those “All the women want to be with him, and all the men want to be him,” types. One girl even fainted right beside me, but then, we were in the front row…. and sorry ladies, he has a girlfriend. It’s thanks to her snap chat that we know about the Parisian afterparty incident. Though notably, this didn’t stop him serenading a rather red-faced “It Girl” that he pulled from the crowd.

Our favourite performance had to be Cheyenne. The spooky haunted house graphics on screen, the almost-zombie dancers and that creepy girl in the red dress, “Cheyenne” herself. Does anyone remember the 2002 Japanese horror, The Ring? The inspiration was easy to see.

Little Mix gave a surprise guest apperance for a duet (or would that be a quintet?) with Jason for Secret Love Song, and we can witness that the performance was worthy of a 10 out of 10, they sung well together, and in solid harmony. And let’s confess that we all wish we could look so good in dresses like theirs on a stage in front of thousands, singing love songs to Jason Derulo. Jealous much?

There are so many tunes that Derulo can count (or sing) to his name, and he hit all the big ones, even Wiggle, with Snoop Dogg making his appearance on the big screen. We also particularly enjoyed the performance he put on for Dont Wanna Go Home, dancing topless (actually, he did that a lot) with his boys, joined by girls in grass skirts and bikinis, and a giant jungle themed background. There was also a lot of baby oil invovled. It was pretty epic. Can anyone say daaaayyoooo?

New tracks like Ugly and Naked hit a good note with the crowd, we even got to watch him – ahem – undress himself during Naked, the much anticipated song that his instagram and social media accounts have been alluding to for a few weeks now, a track so new it’s not even on his Everything is 4 album. For those who weren’t there and want to hear it, the video is released this week!

And by the way Jason, how did you get to the Other Side? We are all still wondering how you disappeared from the top of stage in the middle of that song and reappeared on a platform in the middle of the arena in less that twenty seconds. It was impressive to say the least. Hashtag #crowdpleaser!

Derulo’s encore was Want To Want Me, his biggest UK hit so far, and for all you numpties who ducked out to get the tube early all we can say is, you definitely missed out!