On an absolute frigid February Monday night in New York, ayoung singer / songwriter began her international music career in theneighborhood that gave birth to the singer / songwriter genre. Inside a packedRed Lion in the West Village, Northern Ireland's
Janet Devlin
made her NewYork City debut and her first concert ever in the United States. If you are readingthis from the U.K., you know who she is, but here she is an unknown, yet, thatis about to change.
Devlin began her music career on the British version of X-Factor. While she didn't win when she was on, she becameone of the breakout stars of the series and even went to perform at WembleyStadium. Yet, for her Big Apple debut, she played the tiny Red Lion to apacked house listening songs off her just released album, Runningwith Scissors, and with her covers ofLorde's "Royals," Elton John's "Your Song," and her show-stopping rendition ofThe Cure's "Friday, I'm in Love," it was enough to make Robert Smith himselfcrack a smile. She had the eyes and ears of everyone around her hanging onevery word and this was just the beginning.
After Devlin performed, her and I went to a restaurant tochat and it was there that I found out there is more to this young soul thanmeets the eye. "There have been a couple places in my life where I have alwayswanted to go and have never been, but no where has ever been such excitement asmuch as New York," she said, "I got here and was like, 'I hope it has good as Ihope it is.' I got here and did all of the touristy stuff and I actually don'tthink I have ever been so happy in my entire life. I can't explain the absolutejoy that was going through me." On her maiden voyage to the city that neversleeps, Devlin didn't show any nerves but strict joy and wonderment, which iswhat she took with her on stage.
Devlin, who turned 20 in November, is planting the seeds toa career that could have her become one of the best songwriters and brighteststars in the music world. Running with Scissors is proof of that. The record is an album of heartbreak andself-motivation, and with just two decades under her belt, she writes and singsas if she has gone and lived several lifetimes. In an era when most songwritersand pop stars want more sound, Devlin has stripped all of that away and whenhearing her album and seeing her in concert, it is as if she is whisperingright in your ear and that these songs are just for you. The level of intimacyand rawness while still being pop is what makes her so unique. "I write mysongs the good old fashioned way, if it sounds good on one instrument, then youknow you have got a good song because then you can build whatever you wantaround it. It is the songs that you can't take the production away that aren'tas good of songs," she said.
"Money isn't a goal of mine, it is just a consequence ofwhat I do," in many ways, Devlin is the anti X-Factor contestant. "It seems like something you wouldn't doin my positions. I wasn't like, 'Oh, I am going to go on X-Factor,'" she admitted. Before she auditioned, a friend gother a camera as a Christmas gift to encourage Devlin to record her songs andcovers and put them on YouTube, it was then she was encouraged to do the showthat started it all for her. "I never thought I would get further in it than Idid," she admitted, "The further I got, I had to reevaluate my goals because ifI didn't reevaluate my goals, I would be open to be what people wanted me tobe." Her goals were to make a record, learn the industry and get her feelersout, which she did and continues to do. "I found out what I wanted and startedbelieving in it," she declared. She picked up fans like X-Factor judge Kelly Rowland, Newton Faulkner, who worked on Running withScissors, and even Courtney Love, whoalleges that Devlin might be related to Kurt Cobain. Devlin, who is a massivefan of 90's grunge and rock and even had a Nirvana poster hanging in her roomon the show. She confesses that she hasn't researched too much into Love'sclaims, "Because I am too scared of it not being true. Kurt Cobain is my idol."
With all of these experiences, it gave birth to her "musicalbaby," Running with Scissors. "There arecertain songs that people have come up to me and burst into tears," she said.The songs are her introduction and touches people through her words and theirconnections with them. Songs like "Lifeboat," "Delicate," "Whisky Lullabies,"are all themes everyone on this planet has faced, but she sums it up in a waythat makes it inimitable. "There are a couple lessons you can learn from thesongs," she said. When making this record, Devlin also learned about herself,"I am more emotionally vulnerable than I ever thought I was."
While her whirlwind, dream trip to New York came to a close,Devlin already wrote music about her experience, and hopes to return to theU.S. and explore more of what we have to offer and show America what she has tooffer. "I don't like staying still, so, I think that is why I like New York,"she said. While she is excited to make more music, she has her heart set onbeing here to do it, "I really hope to build a fan base in the U.S. I wouldlove to move here. I would love to live her. I would love work here." When Iasked her if she believed in the American Dream, she replied, "I just believein dreams. If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough. There is nobigger place to crack than the States. It is a scary dream, but if I didn'thave it then I got no bigger goals. So I have to make them that big."
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