FEATURE: Spotlight: Devon Again — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Devon Again

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I am late in…

spotlighting one of the most promising and extraordinary artists coming through. Devon Again might see herself as more than a ‘rising’ artist. What I mean is that Los Angeles-based Devon Johanningmeier is not on the same rung as major artists. She will be soon enough. I want to come to some interviews from this year. There is a lot of fresh interests in Devon Again because of her major-label debut. An amazing double A-side/twin release, snake the drain, and this time it’s different. One of her most extraordinary tracks, Udiscovermusic give us some insight and reveal about this extraordinary single:

“Devon Again has released “snake the drain,” her major label debut single, via Interscope Records and Amusement Records. The track arrived June 2 as part of a two-pack that also includes the intro song “this time it’s different.” The release marks Devon Again’s first new music for the label and comes ahead of her support dates on Olivia Rodrigo’s sold-out North American arena tour.

Devon Again said “snake the drain” grew out of a reset in her creative process after making In Order. “Making In Order had been really heavy and emotionally difficult,” she said, adding that she wanted to make music that felt “fun and silly again.” She also said a trip to Nashville helped shape the track’s country-leaning direction, calling the song “permission to explore a more headstrong, confident and playful side of myself.”

Produced by frequent collaborator Jon Buscema, “snake the drain” follows the singer’s 2025 EP In Order. The new release also arrives with a public-facing boost from Apple Music Radio 1, where Devon called into New Music Daily on June 2. The song launched at the top of the New Music Daily playlist, with Devon featured on the cover.

Devon Again will join Olivia Rodrigo’s The Unraveled Tour for 40 North American dates beginning November 7 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. The run includes two nights at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, two nights at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, and 10-night residencies at both Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Devon Again first released the self-issued PEE EP in 2022 before following with In Order in 2025, which featured “Never Goes Away” and “cherry cola”.

I get the impression that Devon Again would make this exceptional actress. It may seem random, but there is this thing in her videos. A power and pull. No doubt a phenomenal and captivating live performer, I do feel she has a future on the big screen (or T.V.). That is a slight detour. I want to come to this interview from Unravelled Edit and their conversation from June:

“If you’re chronically online, Devon isn’t new to your algorithms, and as a long-time follower, Devon recently received life-changing news that she'll be joining Olivia Rodrigo on the North American leg of the Unraveled tour! When mentioning this to Devon, it’s clear that the reality of it still hasn't fully sunk in. "Overall, the feeling of having this information and still processing it, feels so special," she says. "Having music as a career is something super tangible for me, so having this opportunity has been overwhelming because I don't know what to expect, and I'm so unbelievably honoured that I get to do it. And to top it all off, Devon shared a recent full-circle moment, where she stumbled across an old TikTok of herself singing Olivia Rodrigo songs in her bedroom. "Knowing that I'm going on tour with her is surreal."

The opportunity marks another major milestone in a career that has steadily grown since her debut EP Pee in 2022 and the release of In Order in 2025. But while In Order was built around a carefully refined narrative, Devon says her current creative process is much more experimental. "I think by the time I was making In Order, I felt the need for a refined story," she says. "But now, with what John and I are making, the goal is to try and find that story and what we're craving, overall just seeing how big it can be and what we can touch on."

I tried to ask if a larger project is on the horizon and while we didn’t get an exact answer Devon expressed that she wants to push herself as far as possible creatively. "It's horrifically daunting, and who knows how it will feel down the track, but right now in the throes of it, it's so consuming and overwhelming to decide on what I want to say and share about my life."

Fans hoping ‘snake the drain’ signals a full country pivot may need to temper their expectations. Devon laughs off the idea, quickly confirming the single is probably "the farthest to country we'll get." However, she promises a sonically broader era ahead, featuring more instruments and newer sounds, including mandolin!

Of course, part of Devon's appeal has always been the emotional connection she builds with audiences during her live shows. Watching fans fully immerse themselves in her music remains one of her favourite parts of performing. When asked which song she's most excited to bring to the stage, she admits she prefers to leave expectations at the door.

"I don't know until I do it," she says. "There's a part of me that has a slight hint of that feeling when making particular tracks, but I delete it from my mind and get surprised when performing and people feel a certain way which makes it more special."

But don’t worry, ‘snake the drain’ is a track she's particularly eager to test out in front of crowds.

"At least later on tour, I'm excited for this [snake the drain] because it's so high-energy and challenging for me. I'm excited to see if/how I can improve when performing it."

Any future bodies of work from Devon represent another significant first: it's her first release under a major label through Interscope and Amusement. Reflecting on the achievement brought a moment to not burst into happy tears, I asked Devon to think back to the little girl who idolised Hayley Williams and Hannah Montana, "I would probably just let her know that she's doing the right thing. To trust yourself and every decision that got me here. Moving to LA and continuing to live in LA despite how hard it was, and not quitting. This is one of the things, one of the whys you keep going."

It's a sentiment that feels especially fitting for an artist whose career has been built on persistence and commitment to growth. Speaking of growth, Devon also made her way to Australia earlier this year, where local audiences fell in love with her. When reflecting on her time spend down under, she didn’t wait to share "The coffee there is awesome, you guys don't know how good you have it," she laughs. But beyond the caffeine, the trip was so much more meaningful to Devon, "It was so special to be there, not because I wanted to visit as a tourist, but for my career and for music, to get to know everyone there." And yes, she also loved the Bin Chickens”.

She did play London last month, so I am not sure if Devon Again will be back next year. I hope so, as I would love to see her live. There will be questions around an E.P. or album. What comes next for this staggeringly talented and original artist. There are one or two older interviews with Devon Again. She has been putting out music for a long while now, so I am very late to this party! However, I do feel that she is still coming through, and there are some people, especially here in the U.K., who may not know who she is. Certain stations she could be featured on but perhaps has not been as much as you’d like – BBC Radio 6 Music is one. I will get to another 2026 interview, as I could only find two. I would urge anyone who has not discovered Devon Again to check her out. I am surprised that the likes of The Guardian, NME, Rolling Stone UK, and The Forty-Five have not published interviews this year with her. That may be something coming up, but you feel like they would jump at the chance. Not only because Devon Again is a superb artist. She has a look and aesthetic that is so intriguing and stands out. Speaking of films, not only could Devon Again appear in films (I see her as a potential Lady Gaga in terms of cinematic talent); her music could also soundtrack a variety of films. As FADER note in their header, Devon Again’s “big-feeling pop music can soundtrack any coming-of-age flick”:

“Her true breakout moment came a full three years after with In Order, her 2025 EP released on Pizzaslime Records and produced with Jon Buscema. Written about her experience touring PEE, the EP is peppered with details about cars, nature, and life on the road, which imbues the project with the fleeting sensorial sensation of travel. That said, making the EP was slow going. Grieving a heartbreak and outpatient therapy dragged the recording process on for years. She’d work with Buscema three to four times a week and “a lot of [the time] nothing came out of [the sessions],” she says. “The songs that ended up being special happened once in a blue moon when we were really locked in.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Lo Harley

The fact that these tracks felt like miracles is reflected in their sonic and lyrical enormity. Each song on In Order sounds like either a finale or intro of a longer album. Its most viral hit, “cherry cola,” soars to a credits-rolling level of euphoria as what sounds like thousands of Devon Agains sing, “Lovin' you is just like sipping on straight syrup, sugar, sticky soda / Cover me in candy, I'm so lucky that I get to know ya,” over rising guitar.

The entire project is covered in these sensorial lyrics that blend emotional feelings with cinematic images, like on the sleepier but still searing, “Never Goes Away” (“I miss you like hot rain / Like red dirt / Like a river”). Its allusions to nature, epic yet relatable, remind me of how my adolescent feelings used to feel, before the doldrums of adulthood sapped some sense of wonder from my heart.

Johanningmeier chalks her songs’ widescreen emotionality up to the main character syndrome endemic to growing up as an only child. “I thought my life was really important and I was the only one experiencing it,” she says with a laugh. She’s matured, but somehow retained that sense of self-narrative, which is probably why her music feels like an antidote to numbness.

On TikTok, the chorus of “Cherry Cola” has become a digital anthem for pure feeling. In October 2024, after she put out “Never Goes Away” and Dan Nigro shared it on his Instagram, her Interscope deal began to take shape. She never thought she could sign to a major but, “if Dan believes in me enough to sign me, that means something,” she says.

Roan, who she opened for in 2022, has also been in her corner, pushing her on.

“When I’m like, Should I quit? [Chappell] is like, ‘No, don’t.’ That’s the only advice that’s valuable,” Johanningmeier says. In November, she’ll play her first show with Rodrigo at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia: capacity 21,000”.

I did actually want to finish with this review of two incredible new songs from an artist who has been tirelessly working since her debut. Never returning or back – a horrible habit of the music media feeling artists are ‘back’ if they don’t release new material in a few months! -, here is an artist always growing and evolving. Anticipation around a potential debut album:

“The videos arrive after “snake the drain” launched at the top of Apple Music’s New Music Daily playlist on Tuesday, with Devon as the cover. She’s also been named to the hotly tipped GEN F artist series from The FADER, who called her “on the precipice of forever fame,” adding that, “The Los Angeles singer’s big-feeling pop music can soundtrack any coming-of-age flick.”

Directed by Kaylinn Duffy (Don Toliver, Aiden Bissett), the new music videos tell their own cinematic story. For “this time it’s different,” we start with a raw, in-the-room vocal from Devon, but the handheld camera soon zooms out with a series of reveals: producer Jon Buscema is sitting at the piano, and Devon is flanked by two friends, then over a dozen, who turn her yearning, detail-rich lyrics into a living room sing-along during an unusual crafting party.

Meanwhile, “snake the drain” opens on a large neon star – spinning from the ceiling before diving into the footage. Among the highlights: Devon wins big on a convenience store scratcher; countless dollar bills get defaced in the name of art (and dumb jokes); an actual plumber snakes a drain; and Devon and her friends end up in an inflatable mud pit.

As Devon noted when the track was released, “‘Snake the Drain’ is the song that helped me play in the mud again. Making [2025 EP] In Order had been really heavy and emotionally difficult, and I found myself in a place where I felt like if I wanted to keep making music, I would have to shift my process to make it feel fun and silly again. I have been really fascinated with country music for years. How it often feels like a math equation or something. Clever and clear with a perfect payoff. I took a trip to Nashville and when I came back it just felt right to try leaning into something that felt almost comically country, especially compared to what I had been making for the past couple of years. This song felt like giving myself permission to explore a more headstrong, confident and playful side of myself. ‘Snake’ is the first of a few that chase this feeling, and I hope to inspire that permission in whoever the song finds.”

Building on Devon’s proven gifts as a songwriter and performer, “snake the drain” is a powerful opening statement. Produced by her frequent collaborator Buscema (Conan Gray, Slothrust), the cut opens on a huge guitar line that breaks into a full-band sound as Devon fires off (“Love don’t snake the drain!”). Speaking to her storytelling prowess, “this time it’s different” is both a complement and contrast. Pairing spare piano with her distinctly poignant vocals, the song finds Devon at love’s beginning: “Come on, admit it, what could go wrong if we’re both all in it?” she sings, “My God, I swear this time it’s different.”

Devon’s fans have been heavily anticipating the release of “snake the drain” ever since she began teasing the song’s infectious riffs and sharp lyrics both on her socials and at headlining shows earlier this year in Los Angeles and New York. It’s since been announced that Devon will be supporting 40 dates on Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming sold-out The Unraveled Tour, including 10-day residencies at both Los Angeles’ Intuit Dome arena and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

“snake the drain” arrived in the wake of Devon’s buzzing indie EP, In Order, which features quietly devastating cuts like “Never Goes Away” next to viral fizz-bombs like “cherry cola.” The latter had the #4 Best Music Video of 2025 according to SPIN, who called it “a deliriously entertaining montage of sight gags, relatable problems, and sudden moments of beauty and profundity.” Her latest visuals continue a rich tradition of wit, whimsy, poignancy, and pop.

After her first-ever song went viral, Devon self-released her cheekily titled PEE EP (2022), a set of catchy songs prone to outbursts of glitchy noise and messy feelings. Her music since has only expanded on that foundation of distinctive bedroom pop, becoming more emotionally and sonically complex, and also more urgent. Currently based in L.A. after growing up in Colorado, Devon Again is now working on her freest music yet. “snake the drain” is the sound (and sight) of a brand new star breaking down the doors of pop and making herself right at home”.

Go and follow the sublime Devon Again. I am new to her work. I can tell that she is going to be a massive artist who will do global tours and court the same sort of attention as artists like Olivia Rodrigo. She is going to be a supernova soon enough. Right now, Devon Again is settling into a new chapter and phase of her career. Though make no mistake about it: this awe-inspiring Los Angeles artist is going to be in the industry…