Meat Cute With Dev Lemons & Abby Kenna
- Josh Kitchen
- 32 minutes ago
- 9 min read
By: Josh Kitchen with camera assistance from: Giselle Libby / February 10, 2025
I’m sitting across from absurdist singer-songwriter Dev Lemons in one of the newest smash burger restaurants in Los Angeles — the futuristic, alien UFO–styled Burger 3000. Lemons is wearing a meat suit and meat beret — literally a full-body costume resembling a human muscular system, her eyes and mouth only visible through cut holes in the face. Sitting next to her is Abby Kenna, a fellow singer-songwriter who is opening for Lemons on her West Coast SURFACE TENSION tour in support of her latest album of the same name. Kenna is wearing a butcher’s apron that reads, “This guy rubs his own meat.”
The suit and apron are for “Meat Night,” one of five different themes that each show on the tour will feature (the others being Wedding Night, Divorce Night, Basketball Night, and Swag Night). None of this is normal. In fact, it’s downright off-putting. But don’t let their exteriors fool you. Dev Lemons is making bizarro hyper-pop music laced with humor and clever one-liners, jokes that reflect her online persona — Gen Z deep-fried meme content, SpongeBob references, with a taste of Courage the Cowardly Dog–style unsettling horror vibes.
And yet, underneath it all, Lemons is singing about things that are vulnerable, honest, and soul-baring, her bizarro style and presentation acting as a savvy smokescreen — an excuse to get real. This makes Kenna a perfect and willing participant in Lemons’ madness, her lyrics often similarly confessional and self-deprecating, the kind of refreshing authenticity that makes her music so interesting and addictive. All of this makes SURFACE TENSION an apt name for Lemons’ album and tour, providing her fans with an outlet to come together in communion over all the ways living in this world is weird, fucked up, and confusing. Sharing burgers and fries in this hallowed martian burger emporium, Lemons, Kenna, and I tried to dig deep into those ideas, ultimately learning that the online persona isn’t much different from who Lemons actually is — a meat sack in search of truth in a world on fire.
Josh: Talk to me about why you're excited to tour SURFACE TENSION, and if you can, explain the meat suit.
Dev: I’m excited to tour this album because the songs are really fun to play live, and it’s fun to sing these songs and for people to sing them back, and then we can all share that love in the room. Why the meat suit? I don’t know. I don’t know. I was sitting down and I was trying to think of dress codes for the shows, and I was like, oh, meat night. That would be nice. I worked backwards because I needed to pick a show theme for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t want it to be pink and love, but I also thought that it being like goth and death would be too contrarian. So I wanted to pick something that would maybe go against the grain in a different way. So I picked meat night. And then I thought, oh, that’s just so good. Let me do three of them on the tour. But then I announced the themes before I picked the outfits, and then I was trying to look for an outfit online, like a meat outfit, and there was just nothing but this. This is all they have.
Josh: It’s funny you said you wanted to go against the grain, because that’s famously how you cut meat.
Abby: Yeah, it’s still pink and red.
Josh: Are you expecting people to dress as meat on meat nights?
Dev: I hope to God that at least one person ordered this exact outfit and is gonna come in it, because I did post on my story the link to it and said, you have to come in this suit. You have to. Maybe I should do a contest. If you come in the meat suit, you get something for free.
Josh: If somebody dresses as the meat suit you have to invite them on stage. You have to have a meat-off.
Dev: Yeah, oh my God, anyone who comes in the meat suit, I’m gonna bring you on stage and we’re gonna fight.
Abby: And then the referee is the butcher. Yeah, I’ll come out on stage with my knife.
Josh: I just want to point out at this point in the interview that the food has come.
Abby: This is a crazy looking burger, dude.
Josh: Dev, why did you choose Abby to open for you on these dates?
Dev: I picked Abby because Abby is like the coolest person in the world. I’ve known Abby for a while, and Abby has such good music. I’m so excited to see "Be Cool" every night. I’m going to be jumping and screaming like every night, like it’s going to be annoying. I just love Abby so much, and I think she’s so cool and so talented and also a good vibe. Like imagine if you were cool and talented but you just sucked. That would not work.
Abby: I’m not playing "Be Cool" on this tour. Are you gonna fire me?
Josh: Abby, what about Dev attracted you to her? When did you first hear her music or see her online being insane?
Abby: I actually met Dev at a birthday party at the Thirsty Crow like three years ago. I don’t think I had known her music at that point, but you were the best fucking vibe at that party. And I remember I left that night and was like, whoever that girl was, I want her around. And then I listened to her music and then she was also insane and awesome in that way. So again full circle. When I heard my booking agent was putting me up for this, I was like that is the best pairing. I feel like my stage vibe is very vulgar and Dev’s stage vibe is very insane. And so we’re just gonna get both ends of the spectrum.
Josh: Dev, you approach songwriting and art through absurdity, but theres's a sincerity that comes through.. There’s a line in “DON'T PINCH ME” where you say, “I think I have some demons I cannot defeat.” It’s a really intense line that I think people can relate to.
Dev: Honestly, I didn’t even write that line! Jonathan and I were sitting there and I was like, we’ve got to figure out something to say. Like, "sometimes I think too much, I cannot sleep. Sometimes I drink too much, I cannot eat." And then he was just like, maybe, — "sometimes I have these demons I cannot defeat." I was like, what’s going on with you? But then I was like, you know what? Yeah. Me too, actually. And I totally relate to it. I totally have some demons I cannot defeat. But like, I fight every day.
Abby: Like with burgers?
Dev: YES, like burgers. Seriously — I feel like I’m going to somehow enter the 27 Club, but like, through a burger. This is the year, because I’m going to turn 27 soon, and this is like the peak of my burger fixation. I need to knock on wood, because I’m really not ready to die.
Josh: Hit me with your favorite burgers in L.A.
Abby: You really can’t beat In-N-Out, but I’m gonna say something controversial. I will always choose a fried chicken sandwich over a burger any day.
Dev: Okay. In no particular order until the top three: Trophy’s in West Hollywood, Never Say Die, Window Burger, Palace Burger, Castle Burger—no, no, no, scratch that—Burger She Wrote. Burger Castle. Burger House. Burger Emporium. Land Burger. Burger 3000. In-N-Out is my favorite. Plain double-double. Bun, meat, cheese, lettuce. It’s like a summer salad and it’s my favorite meal on this earth. I’ve eaten it probably three times this week.
Josh: What SURFACE TENSION songs are you most excited to play live?
Dev: I’m really excited for "BROKE YOUR COVER" because it’s so good live. It’s just very different from how it sounds on the album, way more instruments. It’s just such a vibe.
Josh: Abby, what Dev songs are you excited to hear play live?
Abby: "NICE TRY." I've been listening to the full set, so I know the order of the songs too. There’s a great little down vibe right towards the end and then you end with "NICE TRY." And it just like, oh, it’s such a good vibe to end on. It’s like an encore in itself. And I think people are going to be going so fucking hard. And also Dev just screams sometimes and it’s going to be really sick.
Josh: Dev, do you think you use humor as a defense mechanism?
Dev: Absolutely. I have a deafening fear of being vulnerable, I think, and I mask that with humor or literal meat masks.
Josh: Who would play you in a movie?
Dev: Will Smith—no I changed my mind—Margot Robbie or Angelina Jolie.
Abby: I’m trying to think of someone with a really uncomfortable disposition but still fun. Michael Cera in drag.
Josh: Do you remember where you were on 9/11, and also, who did it?
Dev: Yeah, I remember exactly who did 9/11 because I was watching it on the TV, on the ground, at my grandparents’ house. I was two. I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the ground watching the TV at my grandparents’ house and they were like, oh the towers fell.
Abby: I was two months old. Actually my dad saw the whole thing happen. Because he worked on the other side of the sound—Long Island Sound. We have this Polaroid in my house that he took of the towers falling.
Josh : That’s a wild thing to have in your house.
Abby: It’s literally on my mom’s photo wall. You know how moms do that? It’s baby cousins, first grade yearbook photos, Christmas cards, and then just the towers falling. I’ve always dragged my mom for this. Recently she sent my brother and me a picture of that Polaroid and said, do you guys know what this is? And we were like, 9/11. She just wasn’t sure we recognized it.
Josh: Dev, are you still banned on Facebook Marketplace?
Dev: I’m unbanned. I’m unbanned on Facebook Marketplace. I’m unbanned on Hinge.
Josh: How did you get banned on Hinge?
Dev: This was eight years ago. I was asking people sensitive questions. Like, you’re so cute, what’s your mother’s maiden name? What’s the name of your first pet? What’s the make and model of your first car? I was just trying to get to know them!!. I got banned. Then I got unbanned. Then I got re-banned because I was trying to guess people’s social security numbers and I must have gotten one right.
Josh: How did you get banned from Facebook Marketplace?
Dev: I was selling my bath water. And wet socks. People sell cheeseburgers on there. Why can’t I sell my bath water? Why can’t I sell a wet sock? I got banned for a month and it wrecked me.
Josh Kitchen: You’re more careful now?
Dev: I am more careful now. I haven’t listed anything nefarious in a while.
Josh: I did see you trying to sell dehydrated hot dogs.
Dev: Yeah, and I listed a PS5 for fifty dollars one time and got a lot of interesting messages from interesting men. They were like, it’s worth less now that she touched it.
Josh: Dev, how did you get this way?
Dev: I don’t know. I think something bad must have happened to me at a really young age. Like, I don’t remember, but it’s like in my brain. I think I fell down the stairs when I was like two, or a newborn. Or maybe my mom fell down the stairs when she was pregnant with me or something. I don’t know. Something must have happened. Obviously when I have a child I’m going to be the perfect parent. Obviously. Their life is going to be so easy, and I’m going to be so rich. Like, so rich that I have a child and they’ll never have to struggle in their life. But then they’re going to be boring when they grow up. Like, they’re going to be boring and lame. And I can’t have that. They have to have something bad happen to them to be funny.
Josh Kitchen: Are you going to plan something?
Dev: Yeah. When they’re between like zero and one, maybe one and a half, every once in a while, maybe once a month, I’ll just like be doing something and then I’ll go—
Josh Kitchen: What do you hope people take away from this tour?
Dev: I hope they feel happy :)
Abby: I feel like it’s a really fucked up situation right now in the world. And obviously justice and community gathering is the best thing we can do. I think it’s really nice to get together for a second and be with like-minded people and remember that there is good in the room.
Dev: Oh, I like that, I'm gonna go with that too.
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