Jason Derulo struggled two years ago. The pop singer-songwriter had many singles in the late 2000s and early 2010s, including “It Girl,” “Trumpets,” and “Whatcha Say,” but he hadn’t made the Billboard Hot 100’s top 20 in five years. Derulo left Warner Bros. in May 2020, citing “creative differences,” after his 2019 “2Sides” EP was poorly received. Was the 30-year-old done?

During the pandemic, Derulo tried TikTok. Derulo is now the 14th-most-followed account on TikTok with 51.6 mιllιon  followers, thanks to Isabel Quinteros Annous, the head of artist relations, and a lot of well-produced humor videos. The app also propelled his 2020 single “Savage Love” to #1 in several nations. Derulo embraced the fame with a new generation of kids who hadn’t heard his earlier successes. Not Usher.

Derulo signed with Atlantic Records last year after his TikTok popularity. The TikTok money is good, too—estimates claim a large account of this magnitude might earn $75,000 in advertising income per video, but Derulo says he makes “far more” than that.

Whatever you make of Derulo’s bizarre videos—one featured eating corn from a power drill, another required chopping off his eyebrow—his bank account is likely healthier than ever.

The Florida native already owns a $3 mιllιon mansion in L.A.’s distant Tarzana area, but records show he spent $3.6 mιllιon on a nearly-new Encino home. In December 2020, a non-famous bidder bought the almost 5,000-square-foot modern farmhouse for $3.3 mιllιon.

The new owner left quickly. The house was relisted six months later, but it took Derulo eight more months to buy it. Listing photographs show that person is long gone—the interiors are mostly unstaged and almost empty.