Jason DeruloJason Derulo at The O2, Dublin, 30th March 2014

Jason Derulo isn’t exactly the most interesting man in pop music. His most famous characteristic is that he sings his name at the beginning of every song. He seems to have occupied the space that Chris Brown once inhabited  helped by the fact that, for obvious reasons, he has a better public image  but he’s not really on the level of Usher or Justin Timberlake.

His music plays it a bit too safe and doesn’t reveal a huge amount of personality. Perhaps the crowd gathered in the O2 on this Sunday night could gain a peek behind the curtain into the soul of the man and see what really makes him tick.

The first thing that becomes apparent when Jason Derulo cartwheels onto the stage is that the man has great abs. Like seriously, his abs are rock solid. Helpfully, he had covered his torso in baby oil before the show so we could all get the best look possible at his glistening, sculpted six-pack. It is pretty much the focal point of the show. Many in the audience were unaware that he had started singing until the first song was over, so hypnotic was his incredibly hot body.

As impressive as Jason’s immaculate physique is however, it quickly becomes apparent that the rest of the show doesn’t quite stack up. A few hits like Whatcha Say and Ridin Solo are thrown out early on and are admittedly quite fun. After about four songs, however, the show hits a massive stumbling block in that he doesn’t really have enough good tunes to keep up the entertainment for the duration of a full concert.

And so we are treated to many, many extended dance sequences that veer closer to a strip show than a pop concert. There is literally a ten minute break while Jason and his dancers to do pull-ups and then five “lucky” girls are picked out of the crowd to sit on their backs as they do push-ups.

Considering the average age inside the arena is probably in the mid-teens, there is something a bit creepy about this, although it’s probably not much worse than what the likes of Miley Cyrus and Rihanna get up to in their live shows.

There are times when extended clips of songs like Blurred Lines and Single Ladies are played to allow further tedious dance routines, and there is a fairly straight-faced cover of Lorde’s Royals at one point. There is nothing inherently wrong with this but it seems strange to remind everyone of better pop songs in the middle of your show.

Despite the massive dip in quality in the middle, the end of the show does offer some salvation. Don’t Wanna Go Home is a fun homage to house music and newer singles like Talk Dirty and Trumpets are decent party tunes that leave things on a good note. Derulo is undeniably a talented singer and dancer but he simply doesn’t have the back catalogue to justify a show this big.

The fact remains that he is a crowd-pleaser though. He hasn’t sold millions of records for nothing and the audience are in high spirits throughout. It’s unlikely that many who went in as a Jason Derulo fan left feeling cheated.

There is something a bit soulless about the whole thing though and it’s doubtful that Derulo will ever experience the kind of crossover success that someone like Beyoncé receives. If he can learn to write a decent lyric as well as he can backflip and stand on his head, maybe then we can start taking him seriously.