Devin Star Tailes (born July 2, 1989), better known as DEV, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, model and radio host of Mexican and Portuguese descent. She was discovered by the record label Indie-Pop and The Cataracs via Myspace after her friend Shane Crislip posted her singing. Her song “Booty Bounce” was sampled in Far East Movement’s hit single “Like a G6” which reached number 1 in the US, and sold over four million downloads in the country.
Dev was signed to Universal Republic in October 2010, and released her debut single “Bass Down Low” in November 16, 2010 which reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom. Her debut album "The Night the Sun Came Up" was released on March 27, 2012. The second single, “In the Dark”, peaked at number 11 in the US chart, making it her most successful solo single to date. In 2014, she released two E Ps, "Bittersweet July" and the second part as a follow up to part one. She also became a radio host of the popular radio Beats 1 by Apple, founded in 2015.
In mid 2016, Dev started promoting her album with an opening single called #1 featuring Nef the Pharaoh which reached the top 15 on the Billboard Rhythmic songs chart.
Dev’s sophomore studio album "I Only See You When I’m Dreamin'" was made available for pre-order in July 2017, it includes the singles "All I Wanna Do" & "Come at Me" and is her first full length project since her debut album.
Discography:
- The Night The Sun Came Up (2012)
- Bittersweet July (2014)
- Bittersweet July Pt. 2 (2014)
- I Only See You When I'm Dreamin' (2017)
"I like my beats fast and my tropes down low..."
- Album Title Drop: Breathe does this saying "this is the night the sun came up." This also happens in Have it All, the opening track of her sophomore album.
- Album Closure: Her debut album ends with "Shadows", a softer and more mellow ballad track that constrasts with the other songs.
- Auto-Tune: She uses it a lot on her music, especially her older work.
- Broken Record: Quite a few of DEV’s songs contain this, usually in their choruses.
- Boastful Rap: "Bass Down Low", of course, as well as many of her songs old and new.
- Cluster F-Bomb: DEV curses a lot in her songs, but her most successful single as a lead artist, In The Dark, has no swearing.
- Darker and Edgier: The video for In The Dark takes on a more Tim Burton-esque route and effectively shows a more dark and seductive DEV, even showing closeups of a snake and a spider.
- Deadpan Snarker: Most evident in songs like Bass Down Low or Kiss It.
- Evil Diva: Plays up this image in songs like In My Trunk and Take Her From You.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Some of her most recent songs like Y COMO YO and MAMI PAPI are in Spanglish.
- Indie Pop: She is an independent artist to this day.
- Self-Backing Vocalist: Some of her tracks have DEV harmonizing with herself.
