Want to Want Me

Album: Everything Is 4 (2015)
Charted: 1 5
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Jason Derulo's fourth full-length album finds him unable to erase a girl from his mind as he lies awake at night. So obsessed is the singer that he flops out of bed and hops into a cab so that he can be with her:

    Girl you're the one I want to want me
    And if you want me, girl you got me
    There's nothing I, no nothing I wouldn't do
    Just to get up next to you


    According to some reports the feel-good track was written with reference to Derulo's former girlfriend Jordin Sparks. The couple dated for three years before their relationship crumbled.
  • Derulo co-wrote the song with Ian Kirkpatrick, Sam Martin, Lindy Robbins and Mitch Allan. Kirkpatrick, who also produced the track, has successful singles with Neon Trees ("Animal") and Breathe Carolina ("Blackout") on his resumé.
  • The steamy video follows the song's storyline as a restless Derulo grabs a cab over to his lover's house in the middle of the night. The clip was premiered on dating app Tinder. "Social media and dating together is the new wave," explained the singer. "It is the source of one half of the relationships in 2015, and I'm all about being part of the new wave. A lot of my friends and family members are on Tinder."
  • Jason Derulo explained to The Metro the meaning behind this song. "It's about the obsession with wanting that one person to want you back," he said, "and how you can't sleep, can't eat, unless they're with you."
  • This was Jason DeRulo's fourth UK #1, following 2010's "In My Head," the following year's "Don't Wanna Go Home" and 2013's "Talk Dirty."
  • Jason Derulo was inspired by seasons while creating the title for his Everything Is 4 album. "I actually wanted to involve four seasons," he told Entertainment Tonight. "Four is the number that follows us around. There's four legs on a chair, representing a strong foundation, and foundation is important to me because I come from a Haitian family and we literally started from the bottom and to where I am right now is just crazy. I'll always remember my foundation, I'll always remember where I came from and four seasons represents change."
  • The song was turned down by several artists, including Carly Rae Jepsen and One Direction; Chris Brown even cut a version before Derulo agreed to record the tune. "The process of 'Want to Want Me' becoming a single, was like, eight months of waiting and not knowing," Ian Kirkpatrick told Spin.
  • Derulo and his team were undecided between his song and "Broke" for Everything Is 4's lead single. "We were so stressed out about it, that by the time we found out it was the single, it was just like, okay," said Kirkpatrick.
  • Jason Derulo believes this was a smash hit because of its '80s influences, which meant it appealed to all ages. "It's one that got everybody, y'know?" he told ABC Radio. "I think songs that are able to just cross genres and [have] your grandma be able to sing it, and then your sister be able to sing it, those are the songs that I feel like are the biggest songs."

Comments: 1

  • Emmanuella from Ghana(teshie Lascala)I like jason derulo's songs their realy good but my fave is want to want me.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

Dino Cazares of Fear FactorySongwriter Interviews

The guitarist/songwriter explains how he came up with his signature sound, and deconstructs some classic Fear Factory songs.

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."