Female Rapper’s New EP Includes Smash Single, “Lioness”
DEVMO draws inspiration from being chewed up and spit out by female-playas in “Call It A Night”, her brand new EP. “I’ve been hurt in love by so many people,” she laments, adding how it eventually led to her paying forward the pain. “I would purposefully play with girls’ hearts just to see what it was like. I put myself in the shoes of those that had done damage to me, to see if it made me happier and more powerful.” The result became “Call It A Night”, DEVMO’s five-track EP, available now on iTunes.
It’s very different from “Real Talk”, the album that introduced the young, white, female rapper to the Hip Hop scene last year. That first EP was DEVMO’s exploration of Hip Hop’s many different genres. In “Call it a Night”, she inches closer to finding herself as a person and musician. She gets even realer, exploring love, lust, friendships, conflict, human nature, social issues and societal taboos. She wrote all the songs on the EP and produced many of them, giving her more control over the emotion of the lyrics, vocals and overall sound of the EP. DEVMO also sings a lot more on “Call it a Night”.
“I’ve learned that I can do this,” she continues. “The most challenging part about being an artist is sharing my most intimate feelings with the world, including my close friends and family members.”
DEVMO is distinguishing herself from other female rappers by sharing her own unique story with listeners: how growing up in a family of Irish dancers and architects aroused her rhythm and artistic abilities. Nothing is held back in her music, including her sexual preferences.
“I am bi-sexual,” she confirms. “I have been in love with both men and women.”
DEVMO says it was in college where she first fell in love with a girl. Unfortunately, the girl didn’t love her back. “I needed my mother,” she remembers. “I actually sent her a text telling her about my situation. I couldn’t hide that I got my heart broken by a girl. I wasn’t ashamed. How can you be ashamed of love?”
She knows gay women in music who won’t use ‘she’ or ‘her’ because they’re hoping to be more relatable to the masses. It really pisses her off. DEVMO believes artists should be demanding acceptance and pushing for change. “I have to be honest in my music. It’s the only way to inspire improvement. Our world needs it.”
That said, she acknowledges that many of the tracks on “Call It A Night” are not exactly affirmative, however, she feels that admitting past wrongs is constructive. “Listen, I never imagined I’d be so flippant with girls’ hearts. I usually treat people I like well, but after being dumped on so much, I started not taking relationships seriously. I would bring girls home to fuck with their heads in the same way mine had been fucked with. I never thought I could be so evil but the damage these girls had done to me turned me into a monster.”
Another song on the EP, “Lioness”, is directed toward a business relationship that didn’t pan out. “This woman was promising opportunities she couldn’t provide and I was super let down, fed up and frustrated.” The silver lining came with DEVMO realizing her strength and how she doesn’t need anyone to get to where she wants to be. “It helped me find my inner Lioness,” she says.
And that really sums up what this past year and her new EP, “Call It A Night”, is all about. Her lyrics and melodies encourage listeners – especially women – to take charge of their lives. DEVMO’s leading by example.