Devon Again Is Keeping the Holidays Weird with Vans

Riddle me this: What happens when you take a bunch of misfits (laudatory), dress them in their holiday best, and put them under one roof? A family gathering, according to Vans.

As a former emo girl, I've always had a soft spot for outsiders. Growing up, I was convinced nobody understood me, which, in retrospect, was probably because I wasn’t making myself particularly easy to understand. It was a package familiar to many: a pair of coveted Vans, long nights and days at the skatepark, eyes buried under eyeliner. The holidays were particularly tricky. How was I expected to participate in all that togetherness while living through a sense of alienation? The obligation was almost offensive. All it did was make me more aware of how different I felt. The things that made me me were often the very things I wanted to keep to myself.

And yet, those same things had a way of connecting me to other people. Misfits, outsiders, whatever you want to call us, have always had our own ways of finding each other. There were little signals of self expression that we sent out into the world—not unlike a pair of Vans. A pair of shoes could say something about the music you listened to, the people you hung out with, or the person you wanted to be. Looking back, I wonder why I was so concerned with fitting in when the most interesting thing about anyone was what made them different.

Which brings me to Devon Again. The Colorado-raised, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter is a self-proclaimed former emo kid, though she suspects that part of her will follow her forever. A girl after my own heart. Since releasing her debut EP, Pee, in 2022, Devon has built a following with her alternative pop and released a second EP, In Order. She's also set to join Olivia Rodrigo on tour.

Now, she's starring in her first-ever brand campaign. This holiday season, Devon joins the cast of Meet the Vans, alongside Nettspend, Samara Cyn, Lisa Love, and a motley crew of skaters, musicians, and other cultural characters. Creative-directed by Thom Bettridge, the campaign brings together an unconventional family dressed in the brand's latest holiday collection, featuring weatherized classics, cozy fleece, festive plaids, and party-ready textures. The cast is as varied as the footwear, but that's rather the point: their differences are precisely what make them belong. There's something satisfying about seeing the qualities I might once have concealed from my own family celebrated in a holiday family portrait.

I caught up with Devon to talk about the campaign, the music that shaped her, and the things we carry with us long after adolescence.

How do you generally feel about the holidays?

I freaking love them. My birthday is two days after Christmas, so the holidays are such a big thing for me. I love being with my family, and sometimes I'm with my best friends for the holidays. I'm from Colorado, and I love going back when it's snowing. I freaking love the snow. I love sipping hot chocolate. I love the holidays, honestly.

I love spending the holidays in New York. I feel like the city was built for Christmas.

Well, it was! I would love to spend Christmas in New York in the next couple of years.

You have to. It's a rite of passage. If you could assemble your dream holiday dinner party, who would you invite? Dead or alive, anyone you want, but you're all sitting at one table.

I think I would invite Hayley Williams because we have the same birthday, so we could talk about our birthdays coming up in the next few days. I would also invite Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think we have some shit to talk about.

Honestly, it would probably be Hayley Williams, Jack Skellington, my family, and my best friends from high school.

Vans has always had an outsider spirit and a connection to subcultures. How does that resonate with who you are as an artist and what you're doing with your music?

I think I've always naturally been like, "Ugh, no one understands me." I was a little emo when I was a teenager, and I think that has followed me into my twenties and will follow me for the rest of my life.

I definitely resonate with and relate to a brand like Vans way more than I would with anything designer or something like that. I feel like I always gravitate toward the more counterculture-y, edgier things because it just feels more like myself.

I wish I was a skater. For a really long time, I would go to the skate park at three in the morning so no one would watch me. I didn't want people to see me, but then I stopped doing that because I had to be an adult.

Bummer how that happens. Were you wearing Vans during these late-night skateboarding adventures?

I did have a pair of Vans in my rotation. They were the older, red, more high-top ones. I got them from the thrift store, and they were about two sizes too big, so they ended up retiring. But I would wear them.

Vans has always been connected to music and subcultures. Were there any artists or scenes that shaped your taste growing up?

There were a couple of years when I was really into Bring Me the Horizon, Beartooth, and Paramore, obviously. I was also dipping a toe into the hardcore community, which is so vivid and big. It's a whole entire world that a lot of people don't get to interact with.

I think a lot of emo music has shaped how I think about my art, how I think about the world, and how I think about community. The community that live shows build is the most potent in hardcore music.

Anytime I go to a show or play a show, the kind of energy I find myself really craving is the energy that exists at a hardcore show. All of my favorite concert experiences have been that.

When you're writing music, how much comes from your actual life and how much comes from your imagination?

I think it depends. If I'm writing something from the depths of my soul, it's my actual life. It's pretty one-to-one with the experience I had. I'm not really embellishing on it very much.

But then I also have songs that are kind of joke songs, and those are mostly like, "I made this shit up." You know?

What's on your holiday wishlist this year? It can be something material, emotional, anything. There are no rules.

Well, I really want a guitar strap with flames on it. I've been looking for one of those.

Mostly, though, I'm about to be on tour and probably really tired, so my wishlist is to keep finding ways to re-energize myself and feel inspired and excited to make stuff.

And I hope I feel loved. I would love to hug my friends, and I hope they feel loved, too.

We want love. Is that so crazy?

Is that so crazy? Am I that insane for wanting that?