When rising Los Angeles singer-songwriter Devon Gabriella first picked up an acoustic guitar at 13, she locked herself in her bedroom and wouldn’t come out until she’d learned the basics of how to play. “I remember my fingers were bleeding as I searched up chords on Google, trying to match them to the diagrams,” Devon says, recalling her unwavering internal push to master this new instrument without formal lessons. “The first song I ever learned was ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton. I’ll never forget how excited I was to play and sing at the same time.”This is the level of dedication the rising 24-year-old singer-songwriter has always brought to her music, which is a heartfelt blend of Fleetwood Mac-style soft-rock, Kacey Musgraves-inspired modern country, and Taylor Swift-esque confessional lyricism. Today, Devon’s diligence and earnest love of her craft has not only caught the attention of thousands of fans, who have connected with each other and formed an online community, but in 2025 it caught the attention of sombr, who requested that Gabriella open for his Late Nights &amp; Young Romance Tour, which traveled across North America last fall.“When Shane [sombr] reached out for me to open it for him on tour, it was like the most unexpected thing in the world,” Devon says. “I felt like it was the culmination of my hard work, to know that it was by merit, and that Shane thought it'd be a cool fit and liked the music – that was very rewarding for me, as a fan of him and his music.”Now based in LA after growing up in the Bay area and studying communications and marketing at college in San Luis Obispo, Devon continues to put everything she has into her burgeoning music career. Though Devon has been playing professionally since she was 19, music has been a constant in her life from the very beginning. As a child in San Jose, Devon’s father and mother surrounded Devon and her twin sister with music, with her father playing guitar and piano to them, singing little jingles to make the girls smile, or playing ‘90s rap to entertain them in their high chairs. In third grade, Devon began performing in school musicals and talent shows and even formed a girl band with her sister. Devon was a die-hard fan of 2010s pop staples like Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana, and, being a child of the internet, she wasn’t shy about posting videos of herself singing cover songs to Instagram.As she came of age, Devon threw herself into making connections, often cold DM’ing fellow musicians to see if they wanted to collaborate, and messaging producers she tracked down by finding their credits on songs she liked. “I realized the importance of social media, exposure, and connecting with people,” Devon says. “I really had to put my foot in the door and release any ego I had with being rejected if it meant getting closer to the yes.” One of those cold DMs led to Devon connecting with Jordan Lilvee (Avery Lynch, Grace Power), the recording engineer who has worked on nearly all of her songs from the beginning.