Dev (singer)

Early life

Dev was born to Lisa, a real estate agent, and Riki Tailes, a painting contractor. She has two younger sisters, Sierra Sol (born September 13, 1994) and Maezee Lua. 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. 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. She went to her senior formal with Ryan Fisher, who is currently a professional baseball player for the Miami Marlins.

2009–10: Career beginning

In 2009 she made a cover of Amy Winehouse' "Blonde Trick" and, after a friend posted the song into MySpace, the production team The Cataracs noticed it and contacted Dev. To Fashion Indie Magazine she said: "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". She dropped out of college in her first 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. In 2009, Dev moved to Los Angeles to produce music with the Cataracs and work directly with Indie-Pop.

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. 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." "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. The song went on to sell over four million downloads in the US. In August 2010, a music video was made for "Booty Bounce" directed by Ethan Lader, and uploaded it onto YouTube, where it has generated over twenty million views. 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. It was released digitally in select territories on December 6, 2010 and one day later in the United States. The song reached sixty one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Heatseekers Songs chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number thirty five in its fifth week on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. However, "Bass Down Low" saw massive success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart.

2011–13: The Night the Sun Came Up

On April 25, 2011, she released the single "In the Dark". The song enjoyed commercial success in the United States, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the summit of Hot Dance Club Songs and peaked in the top forty in Canada, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. The song's music video features shots of black-painted hands that touch Dev while she is standing naked. Dev's debut album The Night the Sun Came Up has been released in United Kingdom on September 20, 2011. Since 2009, Dev has been working on her debut album with main producers, The Cataracs. 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, "typical 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." 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. She was featured on Demi Lovato's album "Unbroken" on a song called "Who's That Boy". She featured on a song by British boy band JLS, "She Makes Me Wanna", which peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart 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 EDM artist David Guetta's album, Nothing But the Beat on a song called "I Just Wanna F" with Timbaland and Afrojack. 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 promotional single "Break Ya Back". 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 was released as the third single of the repackaged album. It reached the first position in Mexico and the second position in the US dance chart.

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." Her track "Bass Down Low" was featured during match intervals of Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Basketball among others during the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2013 Universal Republic Records announced that they were going defunct, all artists from the label moved to Republic Records. In November 1, she has posted on her official YouTube a new song, "Kiss It" featuring Sage the Gemini produced by Hit-Boy. While "Kiss It" will release on December 17, 2013. A remix version was released featured Casey Veggies in place of Sage The Gemini.

In November 2013, Dev also collaborated with singer Mia Martina for her single Danse which gained popularity in Latin and dance charts throughout spring 2014.

2014–present: Bittersweet July and I Only See You When I'm Dreamin'

In the middle of 2014, after the release of her previously single "Kiss It", Dev left Universal Republic and decided to release music on her own, without a label. On May 5, 2014 Dev released an EP called Not All Love Songs Have To Be So Sad with NanosauR. The EP was released via iTunes on July 31, 2014. On August 7, 2014, Dev has posted a snippet of a new song on her Instagram account called "Kids" and revealed that Bittersweet July will be available for pre-order on August 11. It is set to be released September 23 by Rica Lyfe Records, her own label. On November 5, 2014 "Honey Dip" was confirmed as the first single from the EP, the video was directed by the Californian rapper Kreayshawn. On December 6, 2014 Dev announced the release of Bittersweet July, Pt. 2 as a follow up to Part 1 and made it available for pre-order along with the download of "The Night is Young". The EP was released via iTunes on December 15. The two EPs will subsequently put together in one album but it will not be considered as a real album. The third track from the second part, "Parade", was released as the lead single.

In 2015 Dev collaborated with female electro duo Nervo for their single "Hey Ricky", which was scheduled to be released with an attached video in April 2015. The single also features Kreayshawn, who directed the video. A snippet of the video leaked on March 23, 2015. The video, released on Vevo on June 2, 2015, went viral, topping the real-time US chart. In December 2015 Dev was also featured as the main vocalist on the club hit "Electric Walk" by electro-house producer Nytrix. The song peaked at eight on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

On January 25, 2016, Idolator posted a snippet of a song called "Lowkey" and wrote that on January 27, Ebro Darden would premiere Dev's first single on Beats1 from her upcoming second album. Dev worked mainly with her friend-producer NanosauR, Dave Tozer and Rey Reel. "Lowkey" was released on March 8, 2016. The song was prasied by the critic and compared to Selena Gomez's "Good for You".

In February 2016 Dev was featured as the main vocalist on "We Rock It" by Sander Kleinenberg. In August 2016 Dev signed with Barry Weiss's record label RECORDS and began promoting her album with the single "#1" featuring Nef the Pharaoh, which reached the top 15 of the Billboard Rhythmic songs chart.

In July 2017, Dev kicked off the campaign for her sophomore album I Only See You When I'm Dreamin' with the release of two singles All I Wanna Do & Come at Me along with the pre-order of the album due September 8. Dev has worked with collaborators such as RAYE, MNDR, Sarah Hudson and Marko Penn on the record.

Musical style

Dev's electro style and "sing-talk" vocal style have been compared to fellow pop singer Kesha. 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." 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." 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 eclectic 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." 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." The Hollywood Reporter compared her "futuristic" and "pulsing" sound to underground electroclash musicians Peaches and Yelle. Dev's musical genres have been cited as electro-crunk and electropop.

Personal life

In September 2011, Dev publicly announced that she and her fiancé Jimmy Gorecki were expecting a baby girl due December 24, 2011. Dev gave birth to her daughter Emilia Lovely on December 9, 2011. 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 gastroschisis, and how her daughter overcame it and grew stronger every day.

Dev is a supporter of LGBT rights.

Discography

Tours

Headlining

Opening Act