JUST before his last song at MTV World Stage 2015, Jason Derulo gave the crowd an inspiring anecdote about what life was like before he was shot into pop-song-stratosphere.

“The last time I was in Malaysia, I was performing in malls and trying to make a name for myself,” he said, looking sweat soaked and exhilarated. “Now I’m here in front of like, 20,000 people. Dreams really do come true.”

Before the night’s concert, we asked Derulo and Canadian pop princess, Carly Rae Jepsen a whole ton of questions about life, lessons, and the industry.

Derulo dropped some hard truths and tough love for any aspiring artist out there, still hoping to be “discovered”.

“Record labels are really tired of building artists,” Derulo, a producer and executive himself, stated. “Labels aren’t like ‘Oh my god this person has potential, let’s spend another three years helping them to become incredible.’

“2015 is so different from how it was in 1980. As an upcoming artist today, you have to build your own fan base. You have to have all the chops because [record labels] don’t just want potential anymore, they want an already finished product.”

His advice for all the hopeful singer-songwriters out there is to just keep doing what you’re doing.

“Keep posting and posting videos until one of them really catches on. Build a fanbase for yourself, that’s the quickest way to get noticed”

Not that it gets any easier past that. Even after making it big with her hit single, Call Me Maybe, Jepsen admitted that she felt the pressure to continue down that path of age-appropriate songwriting and to stay away from a darker, edgier feel.

“I think in all honesty coming up with Call Me Maybe was a gift, but also a challenge because I didn’t know what to write after that and that’s probably why it took me so long.”

E.MO.TION, her latest album, took two and a half years, and a total of 200 songs, before the number was cut down to the final 12 by label mates and herself as she went through them. We find it hard enough to choose 200 songs to sing to, let along come up with and compose them. That’s real dedication.

MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015 will premiere on MTV in Asia on Saturday, Sep 26, at 2.30pm.