Review Fix Exclusive: Devan Talks ‘Almost’ w/Corey Harper And More

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Devan, who discusses her creative process, origin in music, new single, “Almost,” and more.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?


Devan: I’ve wanted to be a singer/musician my entire life. In college, I used to play coffee houses and open mic’s but I was looking for people to collaborate with. I met Khalid, the co-lead singer of my band Wild Rivers, through a mutual friend. We started playing together and eventually wound up becoming Wild Rivers as it’s known today. 

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Devan: It varies from song to song – sometimes I’ll write a full song on piano or guitar, and then produce it out from there, sometimes I’ll have a production idea and write to it, and sometimes I write full poems in my notes app that will eventually become a song. I also love co-writing because you get to create something from scratch in a room with people. 

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Devan: Life, other music, movies, people. Mostly other artists that I look up to – Adele, Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean. I’m most inspired when I first hear a song I love and I’m like “I wanna do something like that”. 

Review Fix: What does music mean to you?

Devan: It’s such an important part of my life. As a listener, it provides context for situations through other people’s lyrics, it can act as a soundtrack to certain periods or moments in my life, and it controls my mood. Most of my favourite memories are at concerts or festivals. As an artist and writer, it’s an outlet for me to process my feelings. It’s always challenging so it helps me feel like I’m evolving in the process of creating it.   

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

Devan: I honestly still think I’m trying to figure it out. My goal would be for someone to describe me as sounding somewhere between Adele, Amy Winehouse and Frank Ocean… but I don’t think I actually do. Hopefully they describe my music as honest and good. 

Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?

Devan: I haven’t played a show as a solo artist yet, but I’ve been brainstorming lots of things for my live set. I’m excited to be able to do it once this is all over! 

Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?

Devan: Feeling lost in your 20s and trying to balance a relationship with a career. As a musician it can be tough to commit to things because you never know where your career will take you. Kyle Reynolds (who co-wrote Almost with me) and I were talking about this and the song was born in a few hours. 

Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2020?

Devan: To create as much music as possible. Although the circumstances aren’t ideal, I feel like I’ve been given the gift of time. There’s never enough time to write and mess around in the studio, so it’s been really fun so far. Hopefully I’ll have lots of new music ready to go for 2021.
 
Review Fix: What’s next?

Devan: More music! Keep an eye out for my next few singles coming out later this year.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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