FVMusicBlog

Photo: Dev London

We were fortunate enough to catch up with musician Dev London following his superb release ‘Alice (Upside Down)‘. Enjoy the full interview below.

Hi Dev, tell us about yourself.

So my name is Dev London, and I just turned the big, dirty 30. I’ve been writing and singing pretty much my whole life. And writhing the past 4 years, I started dropping my own music. I just want my music to be heard by as many people as possible.

What is your songwriting process?

My song writing process if very weird. I usually start writing when I’m going through something to kind of get it out. I love fantasy inspired songs and songs with a full complete story so I try to convey a lot of that in my music.

Tell us about your superb latest release, ‘Alice (Upside Down)’?

Yes! So I wrote this with the talented London Lawhon. She’s really amazing and really helped capture what I was trying to convey: a toxic relationship with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’ve always wanted to do a song that kind of parallels Alice In Wonderland. It’s one of my favourite films, and like I said, I love fantasy-inspired songs. So, I think this was the perfect song to convey that.

‘Alice (Upside Down)’ was recorded at X studios in Sacramento, California. What was the recording process like?

The recording process of this song was really fun. You know my engineer Prodigy is really amazing at what he does. And I’m just happy to have him involved with this process.

What draws you to the alternative-pop genre?

So I just love pop music in general! Ive always loved the early Y2K pop. That’s what I’ve grown up on and I just love a good pop hook and dance break.

What message do you think your music conveys to your fans?

What I’m hoping to convey, at least, is confidence. A lot of my music is very sad and dark, but if you listen, there’s always that message of not breaking and coming into your own.

Who are your musical influences?

I grew up on Y2K pop! And that influences a lot of my music. Brandy, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake were some of the people who really got me into music. And with this song I wanted to convey that specifically. So I hope everyone hears the Britney influence all over this record.

Who are your non-musical influences?

So besides music, I’m really into film. And as you can see film inspires my music heavily. I love Zendaya as well and I think she’s a huge inspiration of mine in her fashion and how she carries herself.

What scares you most when releasing music?

Honestly I don’t have a lot of fears when it comes to releasing my music. Right now I just want to release the music that I myself would like to hear on the radio. So if you like it cool, if you don’t cool. I think if you get into your head too much about what everyone else wants to hear, it kind of takes you out of the process and becomes inauthentic. As long as I’m proud of my record is all that matters.

What do you think are the biggest obstacles for bands/artists today?

I think right now one of the biggest obstacles is how music and culture has changed. Now everything is about streams and tik tok views instead of actual talent. And if you don’t have a big following then you’re pretty much useless to the masses. And I don’t think that’s right. There’s a lot of talented people who deserve to be heard but because of their following they aren’t being heard.

What advice would you give to other bands/artists starting out?

I would say just don’t give up and believe in yourself. Be proud of all your accomplishments even if it’s just 100 streams.

What are your hopes for the next two years?

In the next 2 years I hope to be signed to a label. Have some music videos out and a tour.

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FVMusicBlog March 2025

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