Dev Is More Than a 'Bottle Popper,' Likes Her 'Bass Down Low' With a Tinie Tempah Remix -- Exclusive Q&A

You probably know Dev as the girl on the Far East Movement's club hit 'Like a G6.' It was actually a sample from the 21-year-old's song 'Booty Bounce' that helped the track go viral, reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and score over two million downloads in the US. But the laid-back Cali girl insists there is more to her than just "poppin' bottles."

AOL Music sat down with Dev and got the details of her studio time with the likes of Timbaland and Travis Barker and the lowdown on sharing a studio apartment with her producers the Cataracs. Dev is finishing up her debut studio album 'The Night the Sun Came Up' while on tour with Usher and Akon on Usher's OMG Tour, and she just dropped a remix of her latest hit 'Bass Down Low' featuring Tinie Tempah.

Tell us about the music you've been working on.

I have my song 'In the Dark,' which is my next single that we're running with. It's got a cool little sax line and a whole lot of flavor. It's really dope. I have a song that I'm on with Timbaland. We're still figuring out what we're going to call it. I did this song called 'In My Trunk,' which is really cool and it's like my ode to the Bay Area, 'cause I'm from northern California and so are the Cataracs who do all my production. I don't know if you've heard of the rapper Mistah F.A.B., but he's from the Bay Area and I say a couple lyrics from his song.

I spent January in Costa Rica recording my album with the Cataracs. We were feeling ourselves. We had a studio set up on the beach and we drank rum and colas and ran around in our bathing suits everyday.

Sounds like a party. Is this going to be a party album?

No, I don't consider it a party album. I'm more like a sippin' and swervin' girl, but there are definitely a lot of high energy tracks. I have ballads on there too. I feel like I was placed on this pedestal with 'Like a G6' that gave me enough attention without giving me too much attention, but it did place me in this certain area where everyone thinks I only know how to pop bottles. I kind of want people to know that I'm a real human being. There are some love songs, and I talk about being Portuguese and Mexican and having influences from both worlds.

There are some songs that are a little dance-y and there are some that are just me and a guitar. That was really important to me, to show that I grew up listening to Eminem and the Cranberries and Taking Back Sunday, and also degenerate bay area hip-hop and smoking excessive amounts of marijuana. It's a youthful album for sure; I'm only 21 and spent 20 years of my life in suburban gnarly-ness. It's youthful, but I do have a soul and hopefully people can see that.

What artists have you been working with?

I worked with Timbaland. I was in the studio with him for a few days in Miami, which was really cool. We've done like five songs together. Its crazy 'cause the whole time he's just free-styling; he didn't write one thing down the whole three days. I worked with Travis Barker, which was awesome for me because Blink-182 was the first concert I went to when I was a kid. I worked with David Guetta and he's so funny -- he has the gnarliest accent. He was so psyched the whole time, it was so fun.

What was Travis Barker like?

He was so awesome, really cool, super chill. He carries himself really well. He already had the track all laid out and just wanted my vocals over the hook. I tried to hold my composure, but it's funny 'cause my parents took me to that Blink concert and my mom was actually visiting me in Los Angeles that weekend so she got to come see Travis. I shook his hand and I turned around to her and was like, "Oh my god!" He was dope.

Oh, I met Drake after one of my shows and he kissed my hand. You guys, you don't understand! I don't fan out, but after he kissed my hand I was like ... [squeals]. So I called everybody in my phone -- I'm so wack. He was amazing. He told me I did a good job and it was dope. I get to meet a lot of cool people, it's insane.



What artists are you a fan of that you're hoping to meet?

I would like to meet Karen O, Nicki Minaj, Elton John. There are a lot of good artists out there.

You posted a video of yourself singing an Amy Winehouse song on your MySpace page and that's how you were discovered by the Cataracs. Did you do that as a way to try to get famous? Was a career in music always in your plans?

No, I never, ever planned for my life to go this way. I mean I studied music, I played the flute for 10 years, I can read all types of sheet music and I was always in choirs, but I was a swimmer. That is what I did for 14 years. I competitively swam on US teams and that was the safe thing. I had done it for so long, I thought I was going to go to school and swim and maybe become a teacher or something and do my thing, swag it out. And I'm from a really small town where everyone stays and marries their high school sweetheart. All my friends have kids, which is cool, that's what my parents did, but I was never satisfied. I still never am.

And then I just put a song on MySpace, became good friends with the Cataracs and I left everything. I dropped out of school and quit my jobs and told my parents I was moving to Los Angeles and they probably thought I was f---ing insane! But they supported me, which is cool. My parents are super young and they did their thing and it surprised me to see how supportive they were.

That's a rockstar story.

Yeah and when I moved to L.A., I moved in with the Cataracs in a loft. I lived with the Cataracs and one of their brothers, who is also my manager. I lived there for a year-and-a-half with those three boys and it was nuts and I wanted to kill myself. I put in some time, that's for sure. Now that we're on a tour bus together I'm like, "Oh, this is nothing!"

What's your secret to staying sane now that you're on the road all the time?

I Skype my family a lot and I buy a lot of -- this is so corny -- I buy a lot of women's health magazines and the girliest magazines that you could possibly find, ever. I tweet a lot and I read a lot of books.

What do your old friends back at home -- or your new friends -- think about your success?

New friends [laughs]! That's funny, actually that's so real! I don't think they were too surprised. I've always kind of been out of pocket and done weird shit. I think it's weird for them when they see the videos on TV, or when they hear about the Usher tour or the Travis Barker track. The last time I went home, I went to a bar and there were issues. So I know now how to avoid things like that and only deal with people who are really going to bring some positivity into my life.

How was your first TV performance?

I did George Lopez ('Lopez Tonight') ... and Leno ('The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'). Dang, I hecka forgot about that! That was tight! I was super nervous for all of those shows, but performing is like my one thing that is my thing and that I pride myself in. I get to play up who I am personally, and my imperfections and everything, when I perform. It's the best part of what I do, but I was scared s---less for sure for the television shows. I was poppin' bottles back stage and my parents were with me. My dad thinks he's in the Mexican mafia in his mind, so he was cracking hella Carona's back stage and I was like, "Oh my god, I have to go on TV, what are you doing?" [laughs].

And George Lopez gave me some funny advice. He was shooting the s--- with me and he said, "I wish you all the misery and success I ever had!" But it was cool, and you know filming TV, I felt so awkward doing it at like 10AM. [It was] fun though.

Watch Dev's 'Bass Down Low' feat. the Cataracs video.