Devin Star Tailes, known professionally as Dev, is an American singer and songwriter. She was discovered by the Cataracs and record label Indie-Pop via Myspace after Dev's friend posted a video of her singing.
Dev's song "Booty Bounce" was sampled on Far East Movement's hit single "Like a G6", which reached number one in the US and sold over four million downloads in the country.
real name: Devin Star Tailes
labels: Universal Records
genres: pop music, hip-hop
plays: voice
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Devin Star Tailes was born on July 2, 1989, in Tracy, California, to Lisa, a real estate agent, and Riki Tailes, a painting contractor. She has two younger sisters, Sierra Sol and Maezee Lua. Tailes is of Costa Rican, Portuguese, and Mexican descent. She grew up in the city of Manteca. At age 4, she began 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.
In 2009, Dev made a cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black", and, after a friend posted the song on MySpace along with an original song about an ex-boyfriend, the production team the Cataracs 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 Los Angeles-based record label and management team,...
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...
"Bass Down Low" is the debut solo single by American singer Dev. Written alongside producers The Cataracs, the song was released on November 16, 2010 through Universal Motown as the lead single from Dev's debut studio album, The Night the Sun Came Up (2011).
Initially, the song was made for The Cataracs with Dev as the featured act, but she was made the main artist as they believed it would be a suitable follow-up to Far East Movement's "Like a G6", which Dev and The Cataracs appeared on. British rapper Tinie Tempah was featured on an official remix of "Bass Down Low" that was made for the song's release in the United Kingdom.
In 2008, Dev recorded two songs using the software GarageBand on her MacBook that a friend posted onto her Myspace page. Production duo The Cataracs, consisting of Niles Hollowell-Dhar and David Singer-Vine, came across the songs and asked Dev to come to Berkeley, California to produce music with them. Six months later, the first song they made together, "2night", gained exposure on the television channel MTVU and local radio channels, which resulted in a debut on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart. In 2009, Dev signed with Indie-Pop Records and moved to a loft in Los Angeles, California to begin working on her debut album. The Cataracs eventually made the beat for a song called "Booty Bounce". Afterwards, a hook was written for the...
"Bass Down Low" was written by Dev alongside the production duo The Cataracs. The duo also produced the song, and recorded it at The Indie-Pop Sweat Shop. It was later mixed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee Studios and mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound in New York City. The song was originally conceived with Dev as a featured act, but she was later made the main artist as they believed it represented her. Dev described "Bass Down Low" as "sassy and fun" and considered it a great follow-up to "Like a G6". In an interview with teen magazine Seventeen, she spoke of the song's conception, stating: "We'd been in the studio writing some really bossy, fun stuff. We've got a studio in the loft that we live in together, so it was made in there....
"Bass Down Low" is an electro song with skittering synths and a pulsating electro hop groove. Dev utilizes her sing-talk vocal style throughout the song, but also uses her singing voice near the end. In the song's hook, she sing-talks in a "deadpan" delivery while remarking that "If you wanna get with me, there's some things you gotta know / I like my beats fast and my bass down low." According to Scott Shetler of AOL Radio, Dev entices listeners with lines such as, "Straight buzzin' Robotussin / Wanna get ya mitts in my oven? / Wanna get a lick of this lovin'?" The song includes a shout-out to The Black Eyed Peas while The Cataracs sing about a sexual promise: "giving you that Black Eyed Peas – you know, that 'Boom Boom Pow'". Lyrically,...
Ed Masley of The Arizona Republic recognized "Bass Down Low" as one of December 2010's best singles, placing it as number four on his "December's 10 best singles" list. He wrote, "The Black Eyed Peas may be the ones who earn the shout-out here. But every other element of 'Bass Down Low' feels custom-made for squeezing 15 extra minutes off that 'Tik Tok' clock." Masley praised the spoken-word intro, the song's electropop groove and Dev's "Valley Girl swagger" vocals. Masley concluded his review by writing that the song sounds "a whole lot" like Far East Movement's "Like a G6". About.com critic Ron Slomowicz wrote a positive review of the song and called it a "slinky, sleazy, sexy affair". Slomowicz wrote, "Dev proves she's got the cahones...