Jason Derulo’s TikTok Presence Has Gotten Out of Control

Photo: Jason Durelo/TikTok

Many people have dabbled in TikTok during quarantine (or at least started learning the “Savage” dance), but Jason Derulo has used the time to seriously devote himself to the app. He’s upped his video quality, teased a new song with a viral sound, and gotten himself into his first controversy. In a TikTok posted Tuesday, Derulo “chips” his two front teeth in half while attempting to eat corn off of a power drill. “Hey, have y’all seen this?” he asks a bunch of teens about a viral trend (they’ve seen it). “I’ve always wanted to try it. Life hack.” While Derulo’s pearly whites reappear in subsequent TikToks (he posted 12 TikToks in total yesterday, 4 post-corn), the effect looks way too good. We were about to send dentist referrals.

While many of his videos have the potential to come off as … corny, the effort he’s putting in can’t go unacknowledged. This is Derulo’s second tooth prank this month. On May 5, he posted a TikTok pretending to knock his front tooth out while jumping in a pool. The corn special effects are much better, which looks to me like someone has been taking SFX night classes or something.

In another video, he enlists photographer David Strib to help him create the illusion of his head sliding off his body.

A TikTok where his friend uses an “invisible cloak” went viral on Twitter with the caption “Jason Derulo doesn’t use our type of tictok.” Like, did he pick up these SFX skills during Cats? With over 20 million followers, Derulo is on his way to fulfilling his dream of being the cool uncle on TikTok, that is, if he can get through his first controversy.

Presumably on the hunt for a TikTok-boosted chart hit, Derulo sampled a viral sound made by 17-year-old New Zealand musician Joshua Nanai (Jawsh 685) for his new song “Savage Love.” But when he first teased it on TikTok on May 11, he didn’t credit Nanai. Later, he tagged him in a post, but many commenters feel it’s not enough. Variety learned that Nanai was actually in talks to remix the beat with several artists, including Derulo, but Derulo went “rogue” and posted it anyway, according to a source. Giving credit where credit is due has always been an issue for the teens on TikTok, but for the 30-year-old Jason Derulo, it shouldn’t be that hard. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2020, it’s that TikTok can giveth and TikTok can taketh away.