DEV LEMONS: WELCOME TO THE “FREAK SHOW”

Photo Credit: Luca Venter @lucaventer on IG

Few artists embody creativity and versatility quite like 25-year-old, Dev Lemons. With the ability to effortlessly blend R&B, pop, and emo rock, each new song is like unwrapping a gift – it’s a surprise and you never know what you’re going to get. Not only is she making an impact in the music industry, but her musical talent and undeniable humor have earned her a growing presence on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. 

After spending another day aimlessly scrolling through TikTok, I came across a video of Dev Lemons describing the worst first date she had ever been on. When I saw comments like, “girl you couldn’t have tortured this out of me” and “dude batman couldn’t get me to admit this,” I knew I needed to reach out to Dev to hear the inside scoop of her newest single, “Freak Show.” 

Hi Dev! How has your morning been so far? 

Hey! It’s been good. I just finished listening to my audiobook. My tour manager and I are in a book club with just us and right now we are reading Jada Pinkett Smith’s memoir.

Oh wow, that sounds interesting, let me know how that goes. I am excited for this, you’re the first girl I have ever interviewed!

No way! That’s awesome, I’m honored. 

So, who is Dev Lemons? What was the journey like transitioning from TikTok to YouTube? 

I’m a musician from Pennsylvania. The rise of my career started as a result of me doing educational music theory content on TikTok. At the time, nobody else was really doing it. The demand for educational content on TikTok was much higher in 2020 than it is right now, but that's how I rose and grew my career in music in general. I was also releasing music at the same time. I never owned the IP, so I had to stop doing the music theory thing. Now, I have my own YouTube channel instead where I just do funny stuff and I’m still making music.

Yes, I love your YouTube videos, they are hilarious. I saw a clip of a hammer being thrown at you on stage, that wasn’t real, right?

Hahaha, no. I am doing this new series on my YouTube channel called ‘Song of the Now,’ and it's like Nathan for You, except it’s me with my own music, and I’m trying to figure out how to get to the top while doing anything it takes to be the next big artist, but all of my ideas are supposed to be horrible. But they kind of work. The hammer was the first idea. Every time there’s a video of someone getting something thrown at them, it goes viral and gets famous. But obviously, those other people are already famous. 

I will definitely keep up with the new series. How do you choose which artists and songs you want to incorporate into your YouTube videos?

I get a lot of inspiration from the comments and look at what people are saying I should do. I also like to keep an eye on who is planning on releasing new music in the future and drop it whenever that happens. 

So, who were some of your favorite artists growing up?

My brain immediately goes to my emo phase, but it wasn’t a phase. When I got into that genre of music, it really awakened my love for music in a way that I had never felt before. Bring Me The Horizon, Three Days Grace, and My Chemical Romance were really big ones. In college, I was huge into Death Grips, 100 gecs, Brockhampton, and I also love Amy Winehouse.

Do any of those artists inspire your sound?

I have this band with my boyfriend, Nick Green, called, Queef Jerky. System Of A Down comes out a lot when I do Queef Jerky stuff. As for my music, with Death Grips, there are certain sounds I gravitate towards. When Bring Me The Horizon came out with Sempiternal, they did a good job of blending electronic with heavy rock, which I can definitely see too. And Lana Del Rey influences me sometimes in terms of the way she sings and her vocal delivery.

Lana is my favorite artist of all time. How do you feel about the country album coming this year?

Stop it! I love her. She is definitely in my top ten. I think it's the perfect time for her to do something like that, because everyone is kind of going country right now.

Yeah, I can’t wait to hear it.  Diving into “Freak Show,” what is the story behind the song and what does it mean to you?

The story behind “Freak Show” is pretty crazy. I went on the weirdest date with this guy one time. Going into it at first, I didn't know if it was a date or not. I was just like, oh, maybe we are just hanging out or maybe we are just going to make music together. So, I get to his house and he is just crazy. He kept telling me wild stuff that I should not know… stuff way too personal, and then he was gossiping about people he works with. I was like, dude, you should not be telling me this because you are so publicly associated with them. He kept asking me the entire time if I had Googled him. We had met once before at an event and exchanged banter. He brought up where he was from, which I had remembered from that conversation, and then he immediately accused me of Googling him. He was so convinced I was a fan and Googled him before this date. 

Anyway, we got to dinner and he was texting this other girl the whole time, and I was like, "Go call her, is everything okay?" He was just like, "Yeah, she is so drunk." In the Uber back, he literally lifted his leg and put it on me, and I have no idea if that was his way of flirting or not. And then he asked to give me a massage, and I was like, no. We are in an Uber… why now? Of all places.

That’s awful. Do you think he knows the song is about him?

I think if he heard it, then he would definitely know that it’s about him, but I also don’t want people to figure out who it's about either. I posted about it on TikTok and people were like “you couldn’t have tortured this out of me” and “oh, this is so embarrassing for you.” But, I kind of just think it’s funny. I barely knew him and it was the first date, so it’s not like it crushed me. 

Well at the end of the day, at least you got a song out of it. When people comment stuff like that on your posts, how do you deal with it? Does it ever get in your head?

Sometimes when people say stuff, I naturally don’t get embarrassed. My threshold for becoming embarrassed about something is really high. So when people tell me that something is embarrassing, I'm like, oh I didn't know. Should I be embarrassed? Am I oversharing?

No, you’re owning it! I look up to you for that because you get on social media and tell your story and you don't care. I think it's awesome. Speaking of feeling embarrassed, let’s talk about the music video for “Freak Show.” When you’re out in public around all of these people while filming a music video, how does it make you feel when people are watching you?

It doesn’t faze me, and I definitely think it adds to the humor of it. 

Agreed. Do you have anything in the works right now that fans can be expecting soon?

I am really excited for the stuff coming out. I am doing another merch drop soon, sometime in April. The guy I'm working with does a lot of cool drops and I’m really looking forward to it. Quadeca and I have a song coming out in May. The direction for my project this year is going to be more experimental than it has been in the past couple of years. I really want to get silly. So, I am thinking of doing a double drop. A serious EP and then maybe the day after, drop a crazy silly EP. 

I feel like that would be really on brand for you to do.

I just think it would be fun. When I started making Queef Jerky music, I genuinely think it unlocked a part of my brain that I hadn't truly tapped into yet and it gave me a new perspective on how to make music and made me realize that I write insane melodies when I'm not caught up on what I'm saying at all.

Lady Gaga meat dress.

Yeah, exactly! Music is such a nice outlet to be able to write about serious stuff that is going on in my life, but it's also so fun to just be silly. I want to do both on this project and not stick to one thing.

Are you excited for the Queef Jerky Countrywide World tour? What should fans expect?

I am so excited. I went on tour with Jordana last fall. Every night, we would do an encore and play “Pineapple Upside Down,”  and the energy in the room was crazy. It was my favorite part of the night. Thinking about an entire tour of just people going insane is a dream come true to me. The new Queef Jerky album is genuinely such a huge step up from anything we have ever done. It’s weird how good it is. Fans should expect a lot of unhinged behavior… like bubbles, tricks, and jokes.

I immediately looked at the tour dates when it was released and I didn’t see Florida.

I am really bummed we aren’t coming to Florida, but it’s so hard in the van. If we did a bus tour, it would be a different story because there are many more possibilities. A lot of people were commenting asking, “Why aren’t you going to Florida?” Could you imagine a Miami Queef show? That would be messed up. 

That would be actually insane and I don’t think anything could ever live up to that. 

I agree with you. I really want to. So, I’m gonna figure out how to make it happen.

What has been your most memorable show?

When I played in Denver with Jordana, that show was amazing. The crowd was crazy. So was Utah and New York. It’s so hard to pick. I felt so lucky to have such incredible crowds show up on that tour every night. It was so inspiring because before that tour, I was going to quit. I didn’t know if I should do this anymore. I didn’t know if people saw me as a musician. When I was the opener on my first tour, I think I had certain expectations that were not met because I felt like my music wasn’t being received that well. I felt crushed coming out of it. 

What motivates you now to consistently put out music? Was it that last tour you went on and having that heartfelt experience of people loving it?

100%. If I never went on that tour, I don’t know what I would be doing right now. That tour changed my entire perspective on touring and music in general. I loved connecting with the audience. It was so surreal and made me so grateful for the people that support me and made me really value what I do. It made me feel like I really am doing something.

Thank you so much for your time. It was great chatting with you and I’m excited for what’s coming next!

You’re welcome and thank you! It was great chatting with you too.

Exciting updates are on the horizon in the world of Dev Lemons. Dev graciously shared her current favorite songs with me in a playlist titled, "Current Rotation with Dev Lemons." Additionally, she just released two new YouTube videos this week from her account, Dev Limes, so make sure to check them out! Queef Jerky is gearing up to release their third single, "Absolute Madness," this Friday, April 5th, from their upcoming album, Absolute Madness, slated to drop on May 3rd. And don't forget to stream, "Freak Show," available now!