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Devon Miles. From Benin City to Rimini via Helsinki. The interview.

Di Elisa
Data di pubblicazione 18/10/2013


Hi Devon. That’s a curious one, your story. You were born in Benin City, Nigeria, in 1986, and now you’re here in Emilia-Romagna. Want to tell us about it?

My journey is the one of a boy looking for his destiny. A journey which brought me to all different kinds of places, Finland, Poland, Sweden, France, and finally, Italy! To tell this story we’d need the whole evening by the fireplace with a glass of good wine in hand. I’ve travelled a lot, and it was an extraordinary adventure. On the course of these travels I learned a lot of things and met a lot of people, gained a lot of experience...everything that made me become who I am today. And I have to say - even if there’s always room for growth - that I’m quite happy with the final product.

Tell me about the differences you’ve noticed between Italy and other places!

Each country has its own particularities and it depends on your priorities if you find it good or bad. That being said, Italy, as any other country in the world, has its problems (today that’s all people see), but to me it’s a holy country! Full of diverse people, new things, spectacular food. The sea makes me go crazy, especially in the south. Sometimes it becomes heavy regarding the show industry and I’ve been through some unpleasant encounters with people of success (it’s irritating how they always try to put shades to every opinion). The Italian show sphere is complicated in general, but I’ll say to everyone anyway: sooner or later you’ll realize how marvelous this country is!

This Loving Heart is a love song. Who were you thinking about while writing it?

Yes, This Loving Heart is a love song. But, I haven’t been thinking about anyone in particular when I was writing it. I’ve had my stories....good and bad...but, while writing This Loving Heart, instead of thinking of one of these, I was thinking about all the people who’ve had unpleasant stories, but still keep on believing in love… and also about people being in though relationships, who try hard to face the problems that come with them and keep going on. That’s how I came up with This Loving Heart.

This Lovinh Heart talks about love which seems to be vanishing.. In your opinion, does love have to be protected?

Look at the great stories of life, the moments which changed the course of humanity: on the inside of them you’ll find love. A thing so grand, with the power to show what’s best in any person or thing; in my opinion it should be defended with all we’ve got. What’s the most important in love is to fully understand the meaning of this word, and to put yourself 100% in, to be what you have to be. I meet people who say they’re in love and then, for any reason step back… it’s not “love”!! To me, one of love’s characteristics is the capacity of giving EVERYTHING, even if it could hurt.

How do you find Italian women?

Hahaha, a great question…so, where do I start??? First of all, it’s impossible to say exactly how Italian women are… They’re all totally different! The most different of all. There are many types. And anyway, you can’t understand women well, hahah. Well, from my experience, the Italian women I’ve met were proud, independent, set on liberty. The majority is not focused on the family (I mean the idea of having their own family, not the parents)… On the other hand, I find Italian women very passionate, mysterious, and capable of beating anyone they encounter for their rights. Ah! One last thing: I find Italian women very short, ahahahaha!

What’s you ideal woman like?

First of all, religious. God plays a main role in my life, so we should have it in common with her. Then (as seen also in This Loving Heart), given the fact that I’m a hopeless romantic, my ideal woman should also be romantic, knowing how to treat her man well and make him feel much desired. And she has to be a good cook (music is not my only passion), gentle, generous, starving for life, adventurous… the list is too long!!

What, in your opinion, is wrong with the today’s world, in this society?

It’s a really difficult question to answer. But among all things that are wrong with our society, like injustice, corruption, wars, illnesses, poverty, an so on, I’d say that what hurts me the most is the fact that we’ve become more egoistic, thinking only about ourselves. We’ve slowly lost the capacity of taking care of each other and every day the situation becomes worse. If, once again, we can start thinking about our neighbors and about all people who are unlucky in life, with our heart, thinking of how to make their lives better, then you’ll see this world becoming a paradise.

What was your greatest inspiration in music? The classic question “what CD would you bring with you to a desert island?”

Lets’s start from the basics: the main inspiration which threw me on that path was my church’s choir. I remember, when as a child I was looking at the choir singing…and the musicians playing…I remember how inside my heart I wanted to be one of them: actually, I became the choir member as soon as I could. I also grew up with my father’s CDs, he was listening to Elvis, Everly Brothers, James Brown, Simon and Garfunkel. When I grew up I started with some fresher stuff: John Legend, Lenny Kravitz, the great Seal! To respond directly to your question: I’d bring George Benson’s CD to a desert island.

What’s the story behind your collaboration with Miraloop?

It was a long and interesting journey, I’d say that it was destiny that put us together. I’m a professional and I’m always trying to do my best with everything, both in music and in private life. The first thing that got me after getting to know the guys from Miraloop was the great family of splendid people they’re together. After having tried some things around, I realized that they’re the only ones capable of making my albums sound as I like it, and as my family and fans in general like it, so, I chose Hearts to be my home. Making this album I had the pleasure and the honor to work with Gerolamo Sacco, a genius in his field, capable of making something special out of nothing. This Loving Heart has Seal and soul from me, and Chase&Status and a bit of Alex Clare from him. And we came up with something new in music. He’s really crazy. In a good sense, obviously, and the album is what it is thanks to his input. I’d recommend him to any artist who wants to create a maximally authentic and professional product. Because the two never happen together! You’d never regret this. Personally, I hope that this is a start of a much longer collaboration.

Do you want to become famous?

It depends what you mean by “famous”. If you told me that my music has changed the life of one person, I’d already feel famous… That’s what I want to share with people I’m working with. That’s my goal: to touch people’s lives with the positiveness of my music. If later the whole world starts to feel touched like that, I’ll be happy!

We’ll see you on the 1st November with the release of the single: we’re attaching the cover!

That’ll be it for now. Eli

It depends what you mean by “famous”. If you told me that my music has changed the life of one person, I’d already feel famous… That’s what I want to share with people I’m working with. That’s my goal: to touch people’s lives with the positiveness of my music. If later the whole world starts to feel touched like that, I’ll be happy!

We’ll see you on the 1st November with the release of the single: we’re attaching the cover!

That’ll be it for now. Eli



(Ed. 2017) You’re seeing “DVON” instead of “DEVON” because the artist changed his name in 2016. You’ll find more information about him typing Dvon Miles in our search engine.








           

 




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