DEV ‘The Night The Sun Came Up’: Fall Preview

Becky Bain | September 5, 2011 8:00 am

Summer party season may be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the fall can’t drum up some fresh club beats. It’s been well over a year since Dev first got slizzard on Far East Movement’s “Like A G6” (an insta-hit that samples one of the Cali native’s own tracks), and she’s hot enough to score appearances on Demi Lovato’s Unbroken as well as David Guetta’s disco heaven Nothing But The Beat. Now it’s time for the swaggerific dance-pop newbie to break out on her own with her debut LP, The Night The Sun Came Up. Head below to uncover everything you need to know about Dev’s electro offerings in our Fall Music Preview.

ALBUM: The Night The Sun Came Up (Universal Republic/Island), the first full-length LP from Dev.

RELEASE DATE: September 20 in the US Dev pushed back her release date to November 1 so she could write new material for the album. (Possibly about her just-announced pregnancy?)

SINGLES RELEASED SO FAR: “Bass Down Low” and “In The Dark”. The singer has hinted that “Take Her From You” may be the third single, as she filmed a music video for it. “I can’t say too much about the video other than there’s a bomb car, a liquor store, and a dead body,” she wrote on her Facebook. “That sounds a little random…but what can I say, I like random things.”

ALBUM PRODUCERS: Exclusively The Cataracs, who discovered Dev via MySpace. “I was always a fan of theirs,” Dev told us in a recent interview. “I love that they made really fun songs for kids on the radio and at the same time they were normal boys, eating burritos, chilling in Berkeley. That’s how I grew up – really sort of simple and kick-it. I appreciated that from them. And really, at the end of the day, all they want to do is make music, and that’s what I want to do. All the extra stuff is just extra stuff.”

PARADISE: Dev and The Cataracs recorded the album in Costa Rica. “We stayed in this nice big house on the beach, it was like movie,” she told us. “I’m from a small town, and I couldn’t believe that I’m here and this is for me.”

WHAT TO EXPECT: Club-ready beats paired with a few more low-key numbers – listen to “Perfect Match” to experience the booty-shaker’s more sensitive side. And don’t assume every track will be sing-talked, as Dev has made sure that there was just as much singing on the album as rapping.

TOUR PLANS: After concluding her stint on the OMG Tour with Usher and Akon, Dev now plans to celebrate the release of her album with a string of solo dates in September. (Check out the full schedule here.)

OUR THOUGHTS: It’d be easy to peg Dev as a Ke$ha carbon copy, what with both party animals’ penchant for sing-rapping over electrified dancefloor jams. But there’s a reason we named Dev one of the leading 11 ladies about to pop in 2011. There’s more mystery (and a lot less over-the-top drunken debauchery) on this set of tunes, perfect for those out there who like the soundtrack to their late-night fiesta to come with a bit more subtlety.

Rev up your Autumn by checking out the other albums in our Fall Music Preview — Lady Antebellum’s Own The Night and Katy B’s On A Mission.