In 2009 she made a cover of Amy Winehouse' "Blonde Trick" and, after a friend posted the song into MySpace, the production team The Cataracs noticed it and contacted Dev. To Fashion Indie Magazine she said: "I decided to put up this song on MySpace, it was basically a "diss track" and I didn't expect anything out of it. It was just to make me feel good like how music usually do but Niles [of the Cataracs] came across to my page and was really into my voice and they kind of got me into singing and opened up my eyes to business opportunities". She dropped out of college in her first year to pursue her singing career and was then signed by the Los Angeles-based record label and management team, Indie-Pop, who also discovered The Cataracs. Six months later, Dev and The Cataracs' song "2Nite" began to gain exposure on the radio, the television channel MtvU and the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay char. In 2009, Dev moved to Los Angeles to produce music with the Cataracs and work directly with Indie-Pop.
In 2010, the Cataracs produced "Like a G6" with Far East Movement and decided to use a verse from Dev's single "Booty Bounce" as the chorus. The two songs were made in the same summer, at the time where Dev and the Cataracs "were grinding it out in the studio pretty tough together," making a couple of "simplistic random tracks." "Like a G6", which features Far East Movement and Dev, was released in April 2010, and reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song went on to sell over four million downloads in the US. In August 2010, a music video was made for "Booty Bounce" directed by Ethan Lader, and uploaded it onto YouTube, where it has generated over twenty million views. In October 2010, Dev was signed to Universal Republic and her first official single, "Bass Down Low", was serviced to rhythmic radio stations in November. It was released digitally in select territories on December 6, 2010 and one day later in the United States. The song reached sixty one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Heatseekers Songs chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number thirty five in its fifth week on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. However, "Bass Down Low" saw massive success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number ten on the UK Singles Chart.
On April 25, 2011, she released the single "In the Dark". The song enjoyed commercial success in the
United States, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the summit of Hot Dance Club
Songs and peaked in the top forty in Canada, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom.
The song's music video features shots of black-painted hands that touch Dev while she is standing naked.
Dev's debut album The Night the Sun Came Up has been released in United Kingdom on September 20, 2011.
Since 2009, Dev has been working on her debut album with main producers, The Cataracs.In March 2011, Dev and
The Cataracs traveled to Costa Rica for three weeks where they recorded and produced most of the material for
the new album. She said of the album's genres, "typical pop music is not what I am only good at doing; I have
a lot of ideas and hip-hop influence records, some electro ballads."In March 2011, New Boyz's single "Backseat",
featuring Dev and The Cataracs, was released. The song peaked at number twenty-six on the Billboard Hot 100. She
was featured on Demi Lovato's album "Unbroken" on a song called "Who's That Boy". She featured on a song
by British boy band JLS, "She Makes Me Wanna", which peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom.
Dev with the DJ El Conchitas at the Lovebox Festival in 2012.
In the middle of 2014, after the release of her previously single "Kiss It", Dev left Universal Republic
and decided to release music on her own, without a label. On May 5, 2014 Dev released an EP called Not All Love
Songs Have To Be So Sad with NanosauR. The EP was released via iTunes on July 31, 2014. On August 7, 2014, Dev
has posted a snippet of a new song on her Instagram account called "Kids" and revealed that Bittersweet July will
be available for pre-order on August 11. It is set to be released September 23 by Rica Lyfe Records, her own label.
On November 5, 2014 "Honey Dip" was confirmed as the first single from the EP, the video was directed by the Californian
rapper Kreayshawn. On December 6, 2014 Dev announced the release of Bittersweet July, Pt. 2 as a follow up to Part 1 and
made it available for pre-order along with the download of "The Night is Young". The EP was released via iTunes on December 15.
The two EPs will subsequently put together in one album but it will not be considered as a real album. The third track from the
second part, "Parade", was released as the lead single.