The Night the Sun Came Up is Dev's debut studio album that was released on August 31, 2011 by Universal Republic.
Tracklisting[]
- Getaway 2:22
- In My Trunk 3:18
- Me 3:37
- Breathe 3:41
- Take Her From You 3:26
- Lightspeed 4:00
- Dancing Shoes 5:04
- Perfect Match 3:20
- Bass Down Low (featuring The Cataracs) 3:31
- Kiss My Lips 3:28
- In The Dark 3:48
- Shadows 4:24
Album Background[]
Devin "Dev" Tailes recorded a cover of an Amy Winehouse "Back to Black" cover in response to her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend, calling it a "diss track."
The song was placed on Myspace and discovered by production team The Cataracs. She was then signed by the Los Angeles-based record label and management team, Indie-Pop, who also discovered The Cataracs.
Months later, their 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, California to produce music with the Cataracs and work directly with Indie-Pop. During that time, songs like "Fireball" and "Booty Bounce" were made.
The latter track was produced in the same summer as The Cataracs produced "Like a G6", 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 the Cataracs and Dev) was released in April 2010, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October of that year, prompting Universal Republic to sign Dev on as an artist in the same month.
Recording & Development[]
The production process for "The Night the Sun Came Up"began in January 2011 in Costa Rica. The Cataracs, who helmed the entire album's production, worked with Dev on the songwriting for the album, helping her with the themes to help diversify the content.
She said that they were perfect producers for her, noting 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", which is what she felt connected her with them.
Dev hinted early on in the interview that she had an interest in working with other people for the album, noting that other producers and writers have contacted her. She later came back stating, "I think me and The Cataracs are on a really good streak right now and it's not intentional."
Dev moved in with The Cataracs to produce the album. She claimed the experience to be "beautiful" and felt like being in a movie. She also claimed that the experience gave the album "an amazing vibe."
On interview with Alex Kazemi of FashionIndie, Dev stated that their sessions are very different and complicated, further commenting "It really depends, some times the boys will come to me and say: "I’ve been wanting to do this song but this is more of a DEV track" and from there Niles will show me the beat and me and David will come up with lyrics or some times I go to them when I have written some sort of idea and they will help me elaborate on it to the point where we can have a song."
During the time they were in Costa Rica, they recorded thirteen to fourteen songs for the album.
The song, "Take Her From You", was composed while in Costa Rica recording the album. The song was originally written by one of The Cataracs for himself and while reading some of the lyrics, Dev expressed her interest in recording the song.
Composition[]
"The Night the Sun Came Up" is primary an electropop and dance album, which incorporates elements of several different genres such as dubstep, hip hop, Eurodance, urban, rock and club influenced-pop music.
Dev said that her mission with the album was to make it diversified, incorporating different elements of music to make an eclectic set. She also said that the album has two sides to it, sassy and pretty.
The sassy songs are based on the themes of sex, partying and different forms of debauchery while the pretty songs are contemplative ballads that are based more on introspection and love. Much of the album's lyrics are influenced by her life and her experiences.
The album opens with "Getaway", a hip hop track with influences of soul music. The song starts out with the use of a piano, transitions into hip-hop styled music and features a breakdown in which she raps and rhymes.
The next song "In My Trunk" runs through an electronic tinged hip hop beat and features vehicle metaphors in its lyrics.
The third track of the album, "Me", contains influences of adult contemporary music.
The fourth song "Breathe" is an electronic dance song that contains influences of Middle Eastern and club music. It is written about sex and the effects of love on Dev and features the use of an accordion throughout.
The album's fifth track, "Take Her From You", differs completely from the electronic soundscape of the album, as it is inspired by rock and roll music.
When Dev heard the song, she responded, "'Oh, I really like that. It could almost be a flip of me singing about myself.' ... [We considered] maybe we should change around the perspective, but I was like, 'No. Let's keep it like that.'"
The sixth track, "Lightspeed", is an electronic pop song that in its production draws inspiration from house and club music. It makes use of kickdrums, synth arrangements, Auto-Tune and numerous noises like a cough.
The song's synth riff and beat structure resembles those in the music made by Dutch disc jockey Afrojack.
The seventh track, "Dancing Shoes" is built upon synthesizers and drums while making use of pianos and guitars to produce an uptempo electronic rock ballad about performing onstage. The song's "pretty" sound is inspired by teen pop music.
The eighth track, "Perfect Match" is a guitar driven ballad that features a string section reminiscent of that featured in "Clocks" by British alternative rock group Coldplay.
In "Bass Down Low" (the ninth song and first single), Dev speaks of taking shots and various forms of debauchery. It is an electro song with skittering synths and a pulsating electropop groove in which Dev utilizes her sing-talk vocal style throughout the song, but also uses her singing voice near the end.
The tenth track "Kiss My Lips", the third single from the album in the United States, contains a guitar that blends synthesizers prominent in dance music with a hip hop styled drum beat.
In the song, Dev sings to a lover: "Get you hand off my hip/And kiss my lips, kiss my lips, kiss me all over/ Are you gonna take that risk, take that risk, 'cause only getting older."
"In the Dark" has a house rhythm and a prominent saxophone riff that serves as the song's instrumentation while featuring Eurodance beats and synths, mixed with influences of Latin music.
The twelfth track is "Shadows", a song that draws from influences of folk music.
Chart Performance[]
"The Night The Sun Came Up" debuted at #61 on the Billboard 200 with 6,700 copies sold.
Critical Reception[]
"The Night the Sun Came Up" received "generally favorable reviews" from contemporary music critics with an aggregated score metascore of 71 of 100 in Metacritic based on 4 reviews.
Chuck Eddy from Rolling Stone gave to the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that the album "is as stark as it is sweet, owed partly to the casually giddy lightness of her talk-singing ."
Ben Norman from About.com gave to the album three stars out of five, summarizing that: "Dev's debut album is at least little more than pandering to the mainstream. There are some interesting tracks that give us flashes of insight into the minds creating the works. Whether the credit goes to Dev or to her producers is uncertain but almost irrelevant, as long as you enjoy it. That being said, The Night The Sun Came Up is well-crafted, quality dance/pop. If Dev achieves another hit from it, I'll be shocked."
Jamie Horne of The Border Mail gave the album three and one-half stars, praised the album as "engaging", noting the ranges of music influences, including dance, rock and folk, and noted that it was not boring.
Chanun Poomsawai of Bangkok Post reviewed the album positively, praising its diversity and mixture of "fierce and mellow" and further commented that "this is a solid electro-edged pop album best played while you're getting dressed up before heading out for a night on the town."
Elysa Gardner from USA Today wrote that on the album "her fresh, lissome vocals are actually more intriguing than the textural, tonal and rhythmic shifts that pop up in the sometimes sweetly groovy but mostly unremarkable tunes."
Music rating website Musicovered gave the album three out of ten stars, stating the album comes short of expectations and that the production was sloppy, with many of the album's tracks sounding the same.
Sal Cinquemani shares the same feeling on his review of the album for Slant Magazine, rating the album two and a half stars out of five.
He adds that the album fails to distinguish her from electro-pop artist Kesha while praising her rapping style, comparing it to that of Swedish recording artist Robyn, and the song "In the Dark" for blending European dance music with flourishes of Latin and Mediterranean music.
Neil Miller, Jr. of UR Chicago rated the album two out of five stars (on the site, they use meatballs), calling it "one of the most unbalanced pop records" ever released.
Idolator however claims that to peg Dev as a Kesha clone is dangerous as she has a greater air of mystery than Kesha and the positive review ends with "for those out there who like the soundtrack to their late-night fiesta to come with a bit more subtlety."