Dev - The Night The Sun Came Up Review

California club pop chirper Dev’s debut is as stark as it is sweet. This is owed partly to the casually giddy lightness of her talk-singing – familiar from her slizzered 2010 cameo on Far East Movement’s smash "Like a G6," and around-the way-girl frisky like 1980s Latin freestyle. Escaping her smalltown in "Getaway," Dev opens her album braving the unknown. From there, the Cataracs’ stripped-bare basement electro production ensures the darkness she’s dancing into feels exhilarating and disruptive."No Scrabble game night,"she warns, but her bass is down low and a thump's in her trunk – disco lives, and Dev will survive....full text Overall this album surprised me quite a bit. Admittedly I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Dev, who I’ve only really ever heard tacked onto a number of different pop songs, which have all been extremely different. Hearing her on songs ranging from Backseat by New Boys & The Cataracts to Hotter Than Fire by my favorite Swede Eric Saade, I certainly didn’t expect Dev to bring this kind of sound to the table. What’s interesting about this album is that it is so noticeably influenced by a slew of different sounds and genres and creates a sound that sounds so different but still so natural and unique. ...full text “The Night the Sun Came Up” is the debut effort by the Like A G6-hooker Dev. It has been released in various countries, including the UK, Australia and Ireland, but will be out in late March in the US.
Produced heavily by The Cataracts, the album holds an electronic, pop kind of era that, to my opinion, suits Dev well. The songstress opens up with “Getaway”, telling us of her starts and sacrifices in this soothing ballad that switches to a Rap-style unexpectedly. The last part is not bad, but the track was better without it. The second track that follows, “In My Trunk”, will be a letdown for many as the edits and electronic beats result in a cacophony that would please only a few. “Me”, the No. 3, is a happy-go-lucky song that coaxes the listener to sing along while putting their fists in the air. The real stuff starts at No. 4 when “Breathe” changes the atmosphere to a sensual one, and succeeds in getting the listener’s attention to the fullest....full text It’s hard to peg where Dev fits in the pop music scene. At times, she’s like a sexier version of Ke$ha. Other times, she’s a knockoff version of…well, Ke$ha. That’s the biggest problem with Dev’s debut album, The Night the Sun Came Up, which finally comes out in altered form in the U.S. after being out for months in Europe.

At her best, Dev’s laidback, monotone style meshes with her rapid-fire delivery to create a killer pop song, like on single “In the Dark.” Between a sax line and the killer “ooh la la” hook, “In the Dark” is one of the biggest earworms to succeed at radio in the past few years. It’s also far and away the best song on the album, which is a definite flaw for the album.

At the very least, Dev does show some potential with this album. In the future, maybe some distance from The Cataracs would help. Another producer might be able to get Dev to mine for more interesting material....full text