Review - Dev - The Night The Sun Came Up

If you have been following my blog at all, you know that this review is bound to be bipolar (at best).

On one hand, the album is everything it needs to be. There are songs that show the singer’s well-known party side and others that introduce us to what there is beneath all that (yup, there is something under that). Bass-heavy singles “In The Dark”, “Bass Down Low (ft. The Cataracs)”,  and “In My Trunk” set the album up for the club (or for pregaming a wild night), and “Dancing Shoes”, “Getaway”, and “Perfect Match” are the exact opposite.

I am glad that Dev made efforts to make herself more than just a one trick pony. After “Fly Like A G6” (her breakout hit), I was worried she was just going to stick with what got her fame and fortune. More importantly, she distances herself from Ke$ha, who holds the crown of sleazy partying. Sure there is room at the club for other girls, but no one can make a shameless pop record like K-money.

On the other hand, ‘The Night’ is a bit messy in places. While I love that Dev stuck with production duo The Cataracs (who are responsible for her having any kind of a career) out of allegiance, they both might have benefitted from bringing in some more seasoned professionals. Album tracks like “Me” and “Breathe” sound amateurish at best in terms of production. The Cataracs clearly know how to blow up a subwoofer, and I can see them going places, but it never hurts to have some help along the way.

Also, the releasing of this album was a complete disaster – but that isn’t really Dev’s fault. The CD was released in the UK LAST September. Six months later, Dev is finally putting the collection out over here (for reasons she explained in our short interview the other day), but even this one has mistakes. The album is MISSING her latest single – “Naked (ft. Enrique Iglesias)". This song is being pushed to radio stations across the US, and it isn’t even on the album? Are you kidding me? Who at Universal made that decision? If you want her single, you need to buy it online, or get the newly-released “revamped” version of the UK edition.

The US physical edition is also sadly void of guest spots. If you buy the album online (which anyone who purchases this album will), you have access to the remixed version of “Kiss My Lips”, which features Fabolous, and the remixed hit single “In The Dark”, which finds Flo Rida lending a verse. The saddest omission of all of these (which is not available on any edition anywhere) is the original remix of “In The Dark”, which has an awesome guest verse by Kanye West (which I actually wrote about last July, if anyone is keeping track).

‘The Night the Sun Came Up’ is more diverse and a lot better than I might have been expecting. While I think the marketing and release plan for this album is one of the worst I have ever seen, this isn’t Dev’s fault, so let’s not hold that against her. Let her lyrics do that for her.

Listen to: "In The Dark" (the original, the Flo Rida version, and the Kanye West version), "Getaway", "Dancing Shoes", and "Bass Down Low (ft. The Cataracs)"