Jason Derulo is drowning under the weight of his nostalgic pull

Opening your gig with a new song is always a bold move when your back catalogue is as stacked with nostalgic hits as Jason Derulo’s.

But he certainly wasn’t feeling timid as he stepped on stage at the O2 Arena in London.

After a slightly delayed start on Saturday night, the lights went down and he appeared — dressed in leather trousers and a jacket — singing the recently released track, Sexy For Me.

From the start, the show was a lot to take in as the female dancers, wearing very little, performed some acrobatics usually reserved for Cirque du Soleil.

While his new song was catchy, it paled in comparison to the explosion of cheers when Jason, 36, began his second number, Wiggle.

It’s a song that defined 2014 nightclub experiences and transported me back to those teenage years in an instant.

I screamed, I danced, and I laughed as my friend and I looked on in shock as one particularly flexible female dancer rolled around on the floor.

As far as opening numbers went, Jason absolutely nailed it.

He then brought out another heavy hitter, Whatcha Say, with the audience suitably losing their minds and belting out the track with him.

Somewhat unforgivably, this felt like a shortened version of the 2009 hit, allowing for his first of many scenery and costume changes of the evening.

His decision not to spend more time with one of his biggest songs should have been my first red flag that this would be a particularly stop-start show.

Only a handful of songs in, we paused to bring in the ‘Jungle Derulo’ era, which included hit track, Tip Toe, and other high-energy tunes.

Despite the buildup, complete with Jason disappearing below the stage, the reveal was deeply underwhelming.

While the dancers had had a full costume change, he’d swapped into another all-black outfit, one of several throughout the night that never ranged further than swapping his leather jacket for a fur one.

Unfortunately, the set didn’t help, as bizarre AI animations blasted on screen, making the actual stage look a little lacklustre with a few palm trees kicking about.

At points, I wondered if he’d lost half his decorations in the journey to London and was having to make do with the scraps found in the O2 basement.

Two giant Medusa heads were brought on stage with glowing red eyes, which were used for one song, then left on display for the rest of the show.

This would have been fine had the staging not taken an odd turn into a volcano, with animated eruptions projected on screens.

The random AI empty hospital backdrop made it feel like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy had relocated to Pompeii.

While that was still going on, three female dancers came out dressed in vaguely Spanish flamenco costumes, reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s iconic red lace fit.

Yet, the dancing seemed above and beyond what some similar artists might do. I even forgave the fair amount of auto-tune and backing tracks, as Jason and his team gave it their all.

When the female dancers were able to break away from the ass-shaking, back bends, and splits, their flawless routines were a real highlight of the show.

As for the music, of course, Jason sang his biggest numbers like Ridin’ Solo, Swalla, and TikTok hit Savage Love.

It’s undeniable that the Cats actor has a back catalogue of some absolute tunes, and the crowd was incredibly hyped during these.

There’s a real nostalgia surge hearing songs like In My Head, you can’t help but dance and sing along, and this is Jason’s real strength.

He had everyone on our feet from the start. The music is infectious and makes you want to move regardless of what oddity is happening on stage.

His more recent songs, such as Spicy Margarita (a collab with Michael Bublé of all people, sampling Dean Martin’s Sway), don’t have the power of his old stuff but are catchy.

The only time he really lost the crowd was a far too long outro of Marry Me, where he lay on the stage and repeated refrains — plenty of the audience headed to grab drinks during this.

There was also a fair amount of other people’s tunes playing in the set change breaks, which felt a little like he didn’t trust his own tracks.

During one transition, the DJ played a short medley of songs Jason had written for other artists.

Iyaz’s Replay was an instant crowd pleaser but then I Gotta Feeling came on, which, as far as we can tell, he had no involvement in.

The two-hour show was one of the most mismatched concerts I’ve been to, showing displays of incredible rehearsal against a complete lack of effort.

Jason told the crowd this was ‘the Last Dance’ — which is also the tour name — suggesting he was letting go of the old him to make way for this new era.

Yet, Sexy For Me is the most Jason Derulo-coded song I’ve heard in years.

At 36, he’s still got the moves and those bangers still have the pull, but it feels like Jason has no clear vision of the artist he wants to be.

While the nostalgia highs were great, I’ve left unsure of who he is as an artist now, and I’m not sure he knows either.

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