NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pop singer Jason Derulo has a lot to learn from country star Luke Bryan if he hopes to blend into the music scene in Nashville. The two teamed up for an episode of “CMT Crossroads” that combined each singer’s musical swagger and rump-shaking hits like Derulo’s “Want to Want Me” and Bryan’s “Strip It Down.”
During an interview with The Associated Press prior to shooting the episode, the “Talk Dirty” singer said he’s interested in making a country music record.
“I love country music,” Derulo said as he and Bryan prepared to tape the episode just outside of Nashville. “I love different melodies and I love the storytelling that country has. If I were able to flip that and bring that into my world, it would be fresh and new.”
Derulo and Bryan sang together on the 2014 CMT Awards and did an online duet on a karaoke app, so it was like reuniting old friends for the CMT episode that airs today.
Luke, did you teach Jason any dance moves?
Bryan: Absolutely, no.
Derulo: You did a little strange, a little booty roll.
Bryan: He’s got a dance move that I attempted and I tweaked a knee.
Jason is known for his falsetto, so was it a challenge to sing together?
Derulo: I don’t even know if he knew he could sing that high. He’s walking through it. It’s breezy.
Bryan: I always saved my falsetto for the shower. … What’s funny after singing with him for the last couple of days, I will probably go out on my next show and inadvertently something that he sang was just so (much) cooler than the way I recorded it, I will probably add it into my shows.
Derulo: Likewise. It’s always cool to get another perspective. … You have your ways, you get used to your ways and somebody else supertalented comes in and does it a different way and you’re like, “Oh, I haven’t really thought about it like that.” So it’s been a cool little revelation of some other routes you can take.
What have you learned from each other?
Bryan: Their lingo, how they describe something as a band, is so different. They would tell me the way that they describe it, and I would be like “Huh?”
Derulo: Yeah, basically I just curse at my band, so you probably won’t get that on “Crossroads.”
