Broke

Album: Everything Is 4 (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Derulo calling out a girl who is more interested in money than true love. The cut features country star Keith Urban on guitar, giving it a Nashville flavor.

    Derulo previously dipped his toe into country music waters when he appeared on a remix of Florida Georgia Line's "This Is How We Roll" in 2014.
  • The song also features harmonica solo from Stevie Wonder as well as a vocal contribution by the Motown legend. Derulo recruited Wonder for the track after the pair met at the home of US President Barack Obama. "We were having a dinner at the White House... it happens quite often actually, it's really nice there. I think I've been there about seven or eight times. Yeah. I think they like me man. You can come with me, I'll grab a plus one," Derulo laughed to BBC Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw.

    "We're getting to talking and I'm like in my mind, 'I got this song with a harmonica on it and it'd be crazy if I got Stevie on it.' So I'm like, 'Stevie, would you like to play harmonica on one of my songs?' And he was like, 'Of course man, you're family.' So I was like, 'This is going well, I can maybe push a little more.' So I said, 'Would you like to sing on the song too?' And he was like, 'Put it like this, if I hear the song on the radio and I'm not on it, I'm gonna whoop your [beep]."
  • "See You Again" vocalist Charlie Puth produced the track.
  • The song tells the classic story of how having more money often results in more problems. "I never really got that meaning until it happened to me personally," Derulo told Radio.com gravely. "The more you make, the more problems you have. It's just so real. So many problems arise in my life because of where I am in my life. If I wasn't where I am, a lot of things would be a lot different. So many things would be so different if I was just Jason from down the block."

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