Album Review: The Night the Sun Came Up by Dev

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.

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When it comes to her delivery and overall style, singer Dev falls somewhere between Kesha (the slickness, the street slang) and Robyn (the Euro influence, the ability to go semi-deadpan), which in 2012 is a great place to be. That right place/right time feeling radiates throughout the dance-pop singer's debut album, and while there's a kinetic excitement that makes the opening "Getaway" sound monumental and the following booty number "In My Trunk" sound so sexy, The Night the Sun Came Up bounces between the worlds of Kesha and Robyn without a care for overall flow, as if club tracks that make Kardashian-sized claims ("Lightspeed") always sit best next to soft, heartfelt teenage dreams ("Dancing Shoes"). Maybe they do if forgetting stuff in your locker is still an issue, but thanks to Dev's chameleon-like abilities (she's not the one you take home to mother, and then she is) and production team the Cataracs' keen sense of what makes electro pop, The Night the Sun Came Up is a track-by-track success, offering readily accessible bits of dance-pop sass or dance-pop bliss whenever they're desired.

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You may not have heard of Devin Star Tailes, but you’ve no doubt heard her voice. The hook for Far East Movement’s 2010 hit “Like a G6” was taken from Dev’s “Booty Bounce,” which is justification enough to hate her. But there are plenty of reasons to like her too, not least of which is her JJ Fad-grade flow and the fact that she knows all the lyrics to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” The trouble is that the 22-year-old California singer’s debut, The Night the Sun Came Up, fails to back up her claim that she’s more than just a Ke$ha clone.

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