The Problem With... Dev's "In The Dark"

By Shahryar Rizvi Thu., Sep. 15 2011 at 12:01 PM

As a musician, one surefire way to get yourself on the charts is to plug a cliché sex idiom into your lyrics. It's a common ploy, one that happens so often you sometimes just wanna gag.

(That's what she said.)

Seems newcomer Dev is going that way with her single, "In The Dark."

Working alongside producer duo The Cataracts, Dev's resume includes singing the hooks on accessible pop tracks like Far East Movement's single "Like a G6" and Shwayze's "Love Letter." Last year's single "Bass Down Low" offered a good hook with little effort. I expect her upcoming album will deliver a similar effort with varying results.

But "In the Dark" in particular is a just off. It features a house rhythm with a popcorn and cheesy saxophone sound that serves well to show just how mediocre this song is. Really, "In the Dark" just sounds like a collage of influences pasted on a brown paper towel.

The lyrics employ common sex idioms like start buttons, surfing seas and, well, "dancing in the dark." As if there wasn't enough glued on to the track, one line -- "I wanna taste it/and see those pocket aces" -- cribs Gaga's "Poker Face." A few of the lines then glitch and repeat to fill up time. But, clocking in at less than four minutes, it just doesn't satisfy.

Kanye drops a few lines in another mix of this track. His lines sound a less phoned in than those in Katy Perry's "E.T." but even they're not enough to make this song all that worthwhile.

Seems like, with Dev, we get Gaga's artsy androgyny and costume play, that sing-talking Ke$ha does to hide her lack of talent and some bare-bones production. "In the Dark" just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.