DEV - full speed ahead

DEV has a massive fanbase at only 22.

I have to admit, when I first heard DEV on the airwaves I thought “did Amanda Blank actually make a new song?” How little I knew - this girl is much, much more.

Devin Star Tailes grew up on the west coast, the daughter of a painting contractor and a real estate agent. A self-proclaimed music-lover who grew up during the “Warped Tour generation” (like most of us), it makes perfect sense that DEV would favor acerbic lyrics and an edgier image. She “myspaced” her music until she was recruited by future buds the Cataracs. The three started making tunes, and by 2010 “DEV” became a household name when the Cataracs featured a verse from “Booty Bounce” (listen here) as the hook on “Like a G6” – need I remind you of this song?

DEV is nothing if not catchy. Her music is positively infectious, thanks to easy, sing-along rhymes and super-tight production by the Cataracs. Her insipid & sexual lyrics are not clever, but full of female self-promotion, which I generally approve of. Her sound is ultramodern, mainstream “electro-crunk” with a hint of humor (a great thing about the “crunk” sound is its ability to laugh at itself & make others laugh – exhibit A, the King of Crunk, Lil Jon). Lady DEV definitely has a good sense of humor - if only more artists would follow her example.

"The Night the Sun Came Up"

By now, we have all heard her second single, the club-banger In The Dark, which features unforgettable lines like “got a sex drive / just push to start.” The music video is as exciting as the song itself, featuring creepy, oily hands twitching to the beat. Take note: DEV's debut album “The Night the Sun Came Up,” already released in the UK, is set to hit the US next month. Aside from her first 2 singles, the hidden gem on the album is “Lightspeed,” featuring DEV "sing-talking" about something other than sex and/or alcohol (yay! listen to it here). The track also has great remix potential (which I might prefer, since the Cataracs can, at times, piss me off).

It took me a while to see DEV as anything other than a radio-friendly Amanda Blank, but when I did get her, I saw that underneath it all she is a sweet, laid-back girl from California with a fiancée and a baby on the way. Dev doesn’t care that her ‘image’ is completely paradoxical to her natural personality. Why should she? The girl really just loves music. Who are we to take that away from her?

From our end, we love ya girl. Keep doin’ what you’re doin’ - it makes us all so happy. Can "Lightspeed" be the third single please?

Unapologetically,

Minna