Jason Derulo -- A Day in the Life

Hopping from city to city, performing for packed venues every night and getting minutes of sleep whenever you can -- welcome to the life of Jason Derulo. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter recently flew to New York City to promote his new single, 'Ridin' Solo,' and invited PopEater along for the ride. Running on three hours of sleep and a couple of Red Bulls, Derulo proved he's a man who'll stop at nothing to bring his music to the masses.

Although many only know him for his chart-topping hits, 'Whatcha Say' and 'In My Head,' Derulo has been an all-around music man since he was a kid. He attended performing arts schools and even honed his dance skills in a local hip-hop company called Fusion when he was 12. At 16, he was writing songs for Diddy, Danity Kane, Sean Kingston, Cassie and Donnie Klang.

After writing music for others, Derulo finally had the chance to do his own thing with his self-titled debut album, which was released in March, and has been grabbing everyone's attention -- especially the young ladies -- during his energy-packed live shows. While most artists admit to having some stage fright, Derulo revealed he hardly feels nerves before performing. "I don't really get nervous," Derulo told AOL Music. "The cool thing to say is, 'Yes, I still get nervous.' But when you do something every single day, it's kind of hard to get nervous about it anymore. It's a lot of fun, though. I love performing."

As he jumped from one interview to another, Derulo seemed to always have his game face on and never failed to be camera-ready. Still, he admitted that whenever he's not in front of the camera, he's usually trying to sneak in a power nap, which was clear whenever he had even a second of free time to himself. "Naps are very important in this process," he said. "An ideal naptime would be as long as possible, but in reality, naptimes are like 10, 20, 30 minutes in a car. I'm pretty good with napping though. It's an art."


Derulo may not be able to get ample beauty sleep, but that doesn't stop his fans from seeing him as one hot guy. Known for ending shows by ripping his shirt off, the Florida-based singer revealed that he had a run-in with fans that thought seeing his onstage stripping wasn't enough.

"I was coming off my tour bus and saw a fan," he said. "She was looking at me and I was looking at her. Then all of a sudden, she runs towards me and starts ripping off my shirt -- I had a tank top on -- and then I see another girl coming across the other side, and then another and another and another. At the end of the day, there was no shirt and scars on my back. That was pretty crazy, but they meant well. They weren't trying to harm me."

Just as his lunch of vegetable soup and salad indicated, Derulo makes sure to keep a healthy lifestyle. "I just try to stay as healthy as possible and eat the right things and work out as much as I can," he said. "You know, I'd like to work out more but time doesn't always permit."

It's obvious that Derulo loves his life right now. He admitted that he loves keeping busy and making sure his schedule is packed in an effort to get his music out there, but living out of a suitcase and being away from home does get hard at times. "The hardest thing [about] being on the road all the time is not seeing my family," he said. "I don't get to see my family that often but my fans keep me going. The only thing that keeps me sane is my fans."

While Derulo can boast that he's been able to make a name for himself in the music industry, he is very grateful for having such a supporting mother. He still fondly remembers her introducing him to the music of Madonna, saying his mom would "freak out" if he ever collaborated with Madge. "My mom introducing me to Madonna was just something she didn't mean to do," he said. "She just listened to what she liked. I heard the songs so much that I learned them so I can sing them, too. That definitely played a part in everything."

Aside from Madonna, Derulo is a big fan of the Fray song 'You Found Me' and hinted that he may work with them down the line. "I met the Fray a couple of times and we actually talked about that," he said. "Maybe it'll be in the works sometime in the near future. We're two totally different kinds of artists and I think that works well."

As Derulo gears up for his own headlining tour, he hopes fans get to see him as more than just a sex symbol or performer. "I don't want people to just notice me as an artist," he said. "I want people to notice me as a real person who cares about other people and is in it to make a change and help people out. I want to be known as a philanthropist and be known as someone who cares."

Follow @AOLMusic on Twitter | Like AOL Music on Facebook | Sign Up for Newsletter

Download Jason Derulo Songs | Buy Jason Derulo Albums