Samoan star Nanai collaborates with Jason Derulo

By Hyunsook Siutaia 12 June 2020, 7:00PM

A Samoan living in New Zealand, Joshua Nanai, has released a collaboration with global superstar, Jason Derulo, after he made headlines about claims the U.S. pop star used his famous track 'Laxed' without permission.

Nanai is famously known as Jawsh685.


Jawsh685 is a 17-year-old half Samoan, half Cook Islander teenager born and raised in South Auckland and currently living in Manurewa. 

According to an interview with Mai FM, Nanai explained that he made the track when he got home from school and he was just playing around with some beats on his laptop.

"At the time I was relaxed and because most of the  beats I make I try and name it after what it sounds like," he told Mai FM

"So I called it Laxed because it's like a laxed beat."

The track has been viral all over tik tok ever since it was released and has amassed over 8 million views on Youtube and over 5 million streams on Spotify. According to Jawsh685, a girl from the islands posted it on tik tok and from there, his friends started tagging him.

U.S. pop star Jason Derulo used the track 'Laxed' and produced a new song called 'Savage Love' which caused a lot of chaos all over social media regarding ownership of the beat and how it was used without permission.

According to Jawsh685, it was a bit of unfinished business between him and the US pop star.

"It was a bit of unfinished business of him messaging me first and then just going back and forth but we never came to an official deal," he said

"And then people started to say that he stole it and I didn't want to say something."

The Samoan producer and US pop star have now put their differences aside and have officially collaborated to produce a full version of 'Savage Love (Laxed -Siren Beat)' after Jawsh685 signed a record deal with Columbia records. 

The announcement was made by Columbia Records on Thursday 11th of June and additional details of the collaboration were not disclosed in the label's statement.

'Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)' appeared on music streaming platforms at 12 am on Thursday morning and has already acquired  316 million views on TikTok.

Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat) is available on streaming music platforms including Spotify, SoundCloud and iTunes.





By Hyunsook Siutaia 12 June 2020, 7:00PM

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