"But I don't need to be carried on-stage now . . . only when I've had a hard night drinking."
Two decades later, the singer/songwriter has continued in the footsteps of his idol, pumping out a string of radio anthems like In My Head and Talk Dirty. He has sold nearly 50 million singles worldwide and broken records - his recent 80s throwback Want to Want Me became the most added track in the history of Top 40 radio here and in the US.
Despite becoming an instant smash, the sexy up-tempo song almost didn't make the cut for Derulo's upcoming fourth album, Everything Is 4.
"It came about through experimentation in the studio, being foolish and crazy and doing sh** that sounds ridiculous. That's when special things happen," he says.
"But I didn't know if Want to Want Me was going to make the album.
I started playing it for people and the response I was getting was crazy.
"I'm glad people are digging it, and I realise now maybe I shouldn't be the one picking the songs."
In a clever marketing initiative, the song's video was launched on dating app Tinder after Derulo got talking on a plane to one of the company's heads.
Likening the theme of the track - about the obsession of wanting someone to want you back - with Tinder's premise of "swiping right" in the hope that a potential date will swipe right back, a partnership was formed.
Tinder may not be for Derulo ("my cousins and brother do it and it's fun to watch and if I could I would, for sure") but his own dating life has been well-documented. His three-year relationship with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks came to a messy public end last year.
He has hinted that Everything is 4 was partly influenced by the break-up, but the record, on which he once again teams up with producer Ricky Reed, is anything but doom and gloom.
"I don't want to dwell. I think dwelling on anything is boring and nobody wants to hear about one thing for a whole album - at least I don't.
"I want to hear diversity. I want an album where, if I'm turning up at the club, I can turn on this song, when I'm in the bedroom with a special girl I can put on another song and when I'm in the car with my Mum I can turn on another.
"So this album has a lot of diversity. It can be a soundtrack to different parts of your life."
His own life has been one speedy ride to the top in the past six years.
Transitioning from studying musical theatre (after promising his mum he would attend college for two years) to ghost-writing hits for Lil Wayne and P. Diddy and launching his own singing career was a relatively smooth ride, a near-fatal turn threatened to end his dream abruptly in 2012.
Rehearsing tour acrobatics, Derulo slipped and broke two vertebrae, leaving him in a neck brace for seven months and wondering if he would ever walk, let alone dance, again.
"The hardest part was trying to get back. Once I was healing and starting to try to move, I couldn't do the simplest things.
"I didn't know what I was going to be capable of any more, so that was a tough time.
"But I turned to music and that's when I did Talk Dirty, Wiggle, Trumpets, Marry Me and The Other Side.
"I was down, so was making really 'up' songs to get myself up and it helped a lot.
"Now, I live more like today could be my last day. I'm pretty positive and like to have a good time."
As if on cue, a publicist enters to check if Derulo wants a mojito, his drink of choice and one which nods to his Miami roots.
He opts for vodka (Grey Goose) and soda to avoid the higher sugar intake.
Derulo, who joins the judges' panel on the upcoming season of So You Think You Can Dance, makes no secret of loving to party.
Yet, unlike many others of his age and success level, the singer has managed to avoid the path to addiction, instead maintaining a work ethic that has him continuing to churn out hit after hit.
"I like to have a good time - drinking, partying, music, the club.
"But that's as far as I go.
I'm not into the hardcore sh**.
I keep my family members close. I'll have four cousins and my brother on the road with me instead of people who wouldn't tell me how it is.
"I keep people around me who are grounded and would tell me anything."
Having recently met Kiwi Lorde, whose track Royals he covered at last year's Auckland show, Derulo promises to return to New Zealand once his album drops.
"I met her through Taylor Swift a couple of months back. I can't wait to get back to New Zealand."
• Jason Derulo's album Everything is 4 is out May 29.
