New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Devi Rosado is the living embodiment of the phrase "Good things come to those who wait." Believe, the new album from Philadelphia singer-songwriter and guitarist, is the culmination of a lifetime's passion for music followed by a realization that she was born to make her own. Devi wrote, sings and plays guitar on each of the album's 10 songs, many of which reflect her own life experiences and convictions.
But what's most remarkable about Devi's story, perhaps, is that, after raising a family and working for years in the business world, she didn't so much seek out a career in music as embrace the one that ultimately found her—since then, the greater her commitment, the larger and more dedicated her fan base has become. Performing multi-hour concerts, obliterating stylistic boxes and simply playing the music her own way soon paid off for Devi. Teaching herself to play guitar, writing songs prolifically, she became an in-demand live performer. The next step was to record: Devi released a debut album that mostly consisted of cover songs—"an experiment," she calls it—but Believe is the recording Devi Rosado has been leading up to for years.
"This record is really me; it's very visceral," she says, adding that her life-changing immersion in music "was destiny. I'm driven by something I'm not even going to take full credit for," she adds. "I've had people tell me, 'It's your creativity' or 'You've spent years toiling.' But I almost feel guilty about how much I've enjoyed it. To be coming to such a successful place with my music is a revelation. But at the same time, how rewarding to have something that you love so much makes people happy."
Believe was produced by Ali Theodore, president of DeeTown Entertainment.
She is accompanied on the tracks by Jordan Yaeger (guitar, keyboards and drum programming) and Bryan Spitzer (bass guitar and keyboards). The music takes multiple directions—with elements of pop, Latin, world music, rock and R&B all finding their way into the mix—often within the same song. Believe avoids easy classification. "I really didn't even think about genre as I was making it," she says. "People have asked me what kind of music it is, what kind of style, and I wasn't prepared for that question because I really don't know. It's a fusion of all the music I love and in there, somehow, I found my own voice."
Going into the making of Believe, Devi chose not to build the songs around a unified theme, or to go after a specific sound. "There was no plan," she says. "Songs just come to me; it's kind of amazing." To illustrate that, she recalls the inspiration behind "Drift Away," one of Believe's highlights. I wrote it in 15 minutes and it became one of my favorite songs on the album," she says, "but I can't take all the credit. I don't know where it came from. I literally went upstairs to get wrapping paper for a gift. My husband was downstairs and I said, 'I'll be right back.' I passed my music studio and my computer to get the wrapping paper and something came over me and I sat down and started typing and it just flowed. Then I sat down with the guitar the next day to bang out the chords. All of the songs come to me in different ways."
"Believe," the title track, "is a message to myself; it's my own coming out," Devi says. "I was dealing with a lot of adversity and writing sets you free." And "Movin' On," the first single from the album, was inspired by the film The Other Woman. "Lyrics just come to me and I can't explain it," Devi says, "but when something hits me emotionally I'm able to put it to song."
As Devi composed new songs, she presented them to Theodore and he turned down only one composition. With enough for an album, the musicians got to work, taking a full year to craft Believe. Now that it's complete, Devi is excited to get it out there, to reach both her established fans and new ones. "It hasn't always been easy," she says about her path to this place she occupies today. "If they ever want to do my life story, it would have to be very long. But music has been my love - my whole life salvation-in many ways a salvation that I didn't even realize until now. It's been a very interesting journey."
