Dev Hynes of Blood Orange

17th September 2019

Dev Hynes, the recording artist behind Blood Orange, joins Bullseye to talk about his music career. Being born in a place called Essex, approximately 30 miles outside London, was kind of the ideal place for a future critically acclaimed songwriter. Close enough to the big city to make it out to the cool shows and record stores. Far enough away that you can have like… a band. Hynes talks to us about his early love of soccer, how his creative process differs when collaborating with other artists and creating his own work and why he sees the similarities between his hometown and a certain Jersey Shore cast. Plus, he’ll tell us what it’s like to wake up to 4 missed calls from Diddy!

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Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Dev Hynes of ‘Blood Orange’ on his career in music and collaborating with other artists

Dev Hynes is easily one of the most interesting musicians around today. He’s worked with Mariah Carey, Carly Rae Jepsen, A$AP Rocky, Kylie Minogue and many others as a producer and/or writer. He’s also the man behind Solange’s breakout hit Losing You.

Dev’s been making music of his own for over ten years now, as well. First under the name Lightspeed Champion and then, starting in 2011 as Blood Orange. His sound is unique. Ethereal. Gritty. Melancholy. Every track seems to reinvent the wheel. Prince, Brian Eno, and Sade provide sonic inspiration. His breakthrough album, 2016’s Freetown Sound, made a bunch of year end lists. So did his followup – last year’s Negro Swan.

His latest release is a mixtape called Angel’s Pulse.

Dev joins Bullseye to talk about his childhood in Essex and finding an escape from school bullying by playing soccer.

He discusses his creative process and how he creates from his imagery and moods. Dev talks to us about learning to shred on guitar to get as good as those talented Heart sisters. Plus, what’s it like to wake up to 4 missed calls from Diddy.

Check out Blood Orange on tour this year.

This interview originally aired in October of 2018.

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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  • Dev Hynes

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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