Dev (singer)

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Dev

Dev at MuchMusic Awards, 2011.
Background information
Birth name Devin Star Tailes
Born (1989-07-02) July 2, 1989
Tracy, California, United States
Genres Electropop, dance, hip hop, house
Occupations Singer, songwriter, rapper
Years active 2010–present
Labels Island, Universal Republic, Republic
Associated acts The Cataracs
Website www.devishot.com

Devin Star Tailes (born July 2, 1989), better known as Dev, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. She was discovered by the record label, Indie-Pop, and The Cataracs via Myspace after her friend Shane Crislip, posted her singing to some beats. Dev's 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 three 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. Dev was scheduled to release her debut album The Night the Sun Came Up on September 5, 2011. The album was pushed back and was released in the United States 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. Dev is currently working on her first EP Bittersweet July and a new album, both of which are scheduled for release in 2014.

Biography

Early life and career beginnings

Dev was born to Lisa, a real estate agent, and Riki Tailes, a painting contractor.[1][2] She has two younger sisters, Sierra Sol (born September 13, 1994) and Maezee Luna.[1] Dev is of Portuguese and Mexican descent. She grew up in the city of Manteca. At the age of four, she started swimming and was part of the U.S Olympic development program.[1] She attended Brock Elliott Elementary and graduated from Sierra High School in 2007, where she was a member of band and choir. She attended San Joaquin Delta College, studying English and art history.[1] She went to her senior formal with Ryan Fisher, a rapper who goes by the stage name of "Big Flaccid."

She made a cover of an Amy Winehouse song that she described as being "super-weird and super-different".[1] She recorded the song on her laptop in response to her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend, calling it a "diss track".[3] It was later revealed that the song was "Blonde Trick". A friend of hers posted the song onto MySpace, and production team The Cataracs noticed it and contacted Dev. She dropped out of college in her freshman year to pursue her singing career and was then signed by the Los Angeles based record label and management team, Indie-Pop, who also discovered The Cataracs. Six months later, Dev and The Cataracs' song "2Nite" began to gain exposure on the radio, the television channel MTVU and the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart.[1] In 2009, Dev moved to Los Angeles to produce music with the Cataracs and work directly with Indie-Pop. She is due to get married December 21.[2]

In 2010, the Cataracs produced "Like a G6" with Far East Movement and decided to use a verse from Dev's single "Booty Bounce" as the chorus.[4] The two songs were made in the same summer, at the time where Dev and the Cataracs "were grinding it out in the studio pretty tough together," making a couple of "simplistic random tracks."[3] "Like a G6", which features Far East Movement and Dev, was released in April 2010, and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[5] The song went on to sell over three million downloads in the US.[6]

2010–present: The Night the Sun Came Up and Second album

[...] I decided to put up this song on MySpace. [...] it was basically a “diss track” and I didn’t expect anything out of it. It was just to make me feel good like how music usually do but Niles [of the Cataracs] came across to my page and was really into my voice and they kind of got me into singing and opened up my eyes to business opportunities.

“
”
Dev on the start of her career[3]

In August 2010, a music video was made for "Booty Bounce" directed by Ethan Adler, and uploaded it onto YouTube, where it has generated over ten million views.[4][7] In October 2010, Dev was signed to Universal Republic and her first official single, "Bass Down Low", was serviced to rhythmic radio stations in November.[4][8] It was released digitally in select territories on December 6, 2010 and one day later in the United States.[9][10] The song reached sixty one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Heatseekers Songs chart.[11] In Canada, the song peaked at number thirty five in its fifth week on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.[12] The second single from the album "In the Dark", was released on April 25, 2011.

Dev in Santa Cruz, California, November 2010

Dev's debut album The Night the Sun Came Up has been released in United Kingdom on September 20, 2011.[3][13] Since 2009, Dev has been working on her debut album with main producers, The Cataracs.[1][2][14] In March 2011, Dev and The Cataracs traveled to Costa Rica for three weeks where they recorded and produced most of the material for the new album. She said of the album's genres, "[t]ypical pop music is not what I am only good at doing; I have a lot of ideas and hip-hop influence records, some electro ballads."[3] In March 2011, New Boyz's single "Backseat", featuring Dev and The Cataracs, was released. The song peaked at number twenty-six on the Billboard Hot 100.[15] She was featured on Demi Lovato's album "Unbroken" on a song called "Who's That Boy". She also featured on a single by English boy band JLS, "She Makes Me Wanna", which reached number one in the United Kingdom. Dev also released two more promotional singles through Twitter, "Poison" and "Call Me" both covers of Bell Biv Devoe and Blondie respectively. She also featured in house music artist David Guetta's album, Nothing But the Beat on a song called "I Just Wanna F" with Timbaland and Afrojack.[16] Dev has also featured on a single by Swedish singer Eric Saade, "Hotter Than Fire" which was released on November 2, 2011 in Sweden. Dev is featured on a remix of Girls' Generation's song "Bad Girl" by The Cataracs, featured on their Japanese remix album and Dev was also featured in Timbaland's single "Break Ya Back" for his upcoming album "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value III" which is set to be released in June 2012. Dev is featured on the Static Revenger track 'Turn The World On', set for release in Sept. 2012.

The American version of The Night the Sun Came Up was released on March 26, 2012 in the United States, which include new tracks compared to previous releases of the album. Dev has teamed up with singer Enrique Iglesias on a track called "Naked" which is produced by The Cataracs and will be the third single from the repackaged album. At the 2012 Lollapalooza, Dev revealed that she was currently working on her second album; "I'm using a lot more live instrumentation for this album", stating "I had such a great time making a very electronic-based album for the first one, but you know, I'm just moving to different things, different sounds, so we'll see."[17] Her track "Bass Down Low" was featured during match intervals of Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Basketball among others during the 2012 Summer Olympics. In mid-2012 Universal Republic Records announced that they were going defunct, all artists from the label moved to Republic Records making the label itself revived, since this happened, Dev will release her future material through this label.[18] Dev is working on her second album which is title to be announced, set to be released in early 2014. The album will feature the hip-hop producers Bangladesh and Hit-Boy"[citation needed] along the team Dreamlab, Brian Lee [19] and the producer-songwriter Mathew Musto also known as "Blackbear" who co-wrote Boyfriend for Justin Bieber.[20]

In November 1, 2013, DEV has posted on her official YouTube a new song, "Kiss It" featuring Sage the Gemini produced by Hit-Boy. A few days later it was confirmed as the first single from her upcoming EP, "Bittersweet July" which is slated for release on February 2014. While "Kiss It" will release on December 17, 2013.

On February 3, 2014, DEV released a remix to her single "Kiss It" which featured Casey Veggies in place of Sage The Gemini.[21]

Musical style

Dev's electro style and "sing-talk" vocal style have been compared to fellow pop singer Kesha.[22] Dev responded to this, saying, "I'm confident enough in what I do that people will see me for who I am ... I get why people compare us but once people see me live they won't connect us as much."[7] While comparing her to Kesha, Idolator wrote that "Dev's beats come off a bit more mellow and her songs a little bit more electro than pop."[22] In response to being compared to both Kesha and Uffie, Dev said, "I just feel that I have a lot more to say and the ability to have an electic sound, I'm not bashing either artist, but I'm going to be able to give you a little bit more than what you've heard on those records. When my album comes out, hopefully I won't have to hear another reference or comparison."[3] Much of Dev's music is inspired by rap music, as she believes that fans respond to "pop music but with rap roots". She said, "I've always been into hip-hop. Eminem changed my life when I was younger."[7] The Hollywood Reporter compared her "futuristic" and "pulsing" sound to underground electroclash musicians Peaches and Yelle.[7] Dev's musical genres have been cited as electro-crunk[23] and electropop.[7][22]

Personal life

In September 2011, Dev publicly announced that she and her fiancé Jimmy Gorecki were expecting a baby girl due December 24, 2011.[24] Dev gave birth to her daughter Emilia Lovely on December 9, 2011.[25] Dev aired an MTV Special about her life as a new mom and how she is juggling being a mother and a performer at the same time. The show also shed light on her daughter (Emilia Lovely Gorecki) who was born with a condition called gastrochisis, and how her daughter overcame it and is growing stronger every day.

Discography

Main article: Dev discography

See also

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Dev

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Sauro, Tony (2010-07-23). "Manteca native inspired on tour by Cataracs". The Record. Retrieved 2010-12-17. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Campbell, Jason (2009-04-01). "Dev taking singing on a spin around California". The Manteca Bulletin. Retrieved 2010-12-17. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Kazemi, Alex (2010-12-21). "An Interview With Dev". Fashion Indie. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Johnson, Billy (2010-11-10). "Pop Rap Newcomer Dev 'Feels So Fly Like A G6'". Yahoo Music Blog. Yahoo! Inc. Retrieved 2010-11-18. 
  5. ↑ "Like a G6 - Far West Movement - Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2010-12-17. 
  6. ↑ Grein, Paul (2010-11-27). "Week Ending Nov. 14, 2010: This Year's "Gift" Is Smaller". Yahoo! Music Blog. Yahoo! Inc. Retrieved 2010-11-18. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Amter, Charlie (2010-12-13). "Is Dev of 'Like A G6' Fame The Next Ke$ha". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2010-12-23. 
  8. ↑ "FMQB: Available for Airplay: 2010 - 11/16". FMQB. Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Inc. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
  9. ↑ "Bass Down Low (feat. The Cataracs) - Single by Dev". iTunes Store Australia. Apple, Inc. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
  10. ↑ "DEV / The Cataracs - Bass Down Low". 7digital US. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
  11. ↑ "Bass Down Low - Dev - Chart History". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2010-12-17. 
  12. ↑ "Canadian Hot 100 - Week of January 29, 2011". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  13. ↑ "Photo Shoot for my album, The Night the Sun Came Up". 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-02-25. 
  14. ↑ "Dev’s Debut Album The Night the Sun Came Up Release Date + Tracklist | It's The Cataracs". Itsthecataracs.com. 2011-04-16. Retrieved 2011-09-02. 
  15. ↑ "Hot 100 Week of March 5, 2011". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2011-02-24. 
  16. ↑ "Usher, Nicki Minaj, & Jennifer Hudson Step to David Guetta’s ‘Beat’". Rap-Up.com. 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2011-09-02. 
  17. ↑ "Dev Talks Sophomore Album, 2 Chainz Love at Lollapalooza: Video - Music Festivals". Billboard. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
  18. ↑ "Dev is now the Republic Records". Retrieved November 24, 2012. 
  19. ↑ https://twitter.com/DEVisHot/status/290690782623567872
  20. ↑ https://twitter.com/DEVisHot/status/275714465327108098
  21. ↑ http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/dev-kiss-it-feat-casey-veggies-remix-new-song.1811461.html
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Bein, Becky (2010-12-09). "Dev Wants The "Bass Down Low" On Her New Dance Single". Idolator. Retrieved 2010-12-23. 
  23. ↑ "Dev goes solo". Star Online. starobserver.com.au. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2010-12-23. 
  24. ↑ "Mom-to-BeDev Reveals the Due Date, Gender and Name of Her Baby". AOL Music. 
  25. ↑ "Dev Welcomes Baby No. 1: Emilia Lovely". Celebritybabyscoop.com. 

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