Young Devyn at Nine: The First Julianspromos Artist Interview

On February 27, 2011, Julianspromos sat down with nine-year-old Young Devyn in New York during the earliest stage of her music career.

Hosted by Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson, the conversation became the first artist interview in Julianspromos history — capturing a young Brooklyn performer with Trinidadian roots just as she was beginning to introduce herself to Soca audiences.

Years before Young Devyn would reach a wider Hip-Hop audience, she was a child artist finding her voice through Caribbean music.

Young Devyn’s Early Start in Soca

Born Devyn Tyson and raised in Brooklyn by Trinidadian parents, Young Devyn began performing while still in elementary school.

Her Caribbean upbringing introduced her to Soca early, and by 2011 she was already recording original music and performing publicly.

One of the songs associated with that period was “De Islands,” featuring Lyrikal.

Co-written by Devyn and Lyrikal and produced with Shawn “Mastamind” Noel of Mastamind Productions, the track celebrated Caribbean culture while helping introduce the young performer to Soca audiences.

Vivaa’s First Julianspromos Artist Interview

The conversation also marked the beginning of Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson’s interview history with Julianspromos.

Vivaa would go on to interview and cover numerous Caribbean artists across New York, Miami, Toronto and other markets, becoming one of the most recognizable on-camera personalities associated with Julianspromos’ multimedia years.

In February 2011, however, that journey was just beginning.

The interview with Young Devyn was the first.

Reaching Caribbean Audiences Through Islandmix

The interview arrived during a very different era of online Caribbean media.

Before Instagram, TikTok and today’s social-media ecosystem became central to music discovery, Caribbean websites, forums, blogs and YouTube channels played an important role in connecting Soca audiences, artists, DJs, promoters and media personalities around the world.

The Young Devyn interview was shared through Islandmix, placing it directly within the online Caribbean community that helped music and entertainment content circulate during that period.

The Interview That Caught Chandy’s Attention

The interview also had an unexpected impact behind the scenes.

Chandelle “Chandy” De Riggs later recalled seeing Vivaa’s Young Devyn interview on Islandmix.

Already involved in Caribbean media through writing and photography, Chandy became interested in working with Julianspromos after seeing the interview. She would eventually become involved in interviews, photography, co-hosting and other media work with the platform.

A conversation with a nine-year-old emerging artist therefore became part of another beginning in the Julianspromos story.

From Soca to Hip-Hop

Young Devyn’s career continued to evolve as she grew older.

After beginning in Soca, she gradually expanded into Hip-Hop and R&B, carrying both her Brooklyn upbringing and Trinidadian heritage into the next stage of her music.

In 2019, she appeared in a BET Hip Hop Awards Digital Cypher, introducing her to a much wider Hip-Hop audience.

By 2021, the artist once interviewed by Julianspromos as a nine-year-old Soca performer was developing her “Baby Goat” identity and continuing to build her profile within Hip-Hop.

That later success gives the 2011 interview a different perspective today. It captures Young Devyn years before wider recognition, while her career was still closely connected to the Caribbean music community.

From the Julianspromos Archives

More than fifteen years later, the Young Devyn 2011 interview preserves several beginnings in one moment.

It captures Young Devyn at nine years old, near the start of a career that would eventually take her from Soca into Hip-Hop.

It also captures Vivaa conducting her first Julianspromos artist interview, beginning an on-camera journey that would become an important part of the platform’s media history.

And through its circulation on Islandmix, the interview helped introduce Chandy to the work Julianspromos was beginning to build.

What was simply an interview with a promising young Caribbean artist in 2011 can now be viewed as a snapshot of several careers before anyone knew where they would lead.