Kehlani's singing career effectively began when she started out as a member and lead vocalist for the group called PopLyfe who auditioned for the sixth season of America's Got Talent, and eventually finished in fourth place. After the end of America's Got Talent, Kehlani left PopLyfe to pursue her solo career. In 2014 saw the release of her first mixtape, called Cloud 19. Her mixtape ranked at twenty-eighth on Complex's list of the "50 Best Albums of 2014 and was also listed among Pitchfork's Overlooked Mixtape's 2014. In 2015, Kehlani opened for American rapper G-Eazy on the second leg of his From the Bay to the Universe tour. On April 28, 2015, she released her second mixtape You Should Be Here.
Billboard called it the "year's first great R&B album" when it debuted at number 5 on the US Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The project features guest appearances from fellow American rapper Chance the Rapper, and American singer-songwriter BJ the Chicago Kid. A week after the release, she announced that she had signed a deal to Atlantic Records. In support of the Mixtape, she went on the You Should Be Here tour, which sold out every North American date and select European dates. Throughout 2015, she also received individual plaudits: Complex called her one of the "15 Artists to Watch Out for in 2015" and Rolling Stone named her one of the "10 New Artists You Need to Know."
She was also nominated for a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Kehlani collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Zayn on the track, Wrong from his debut solo studio album Mind of Mine, which was released on March 25, 2016. Her song Gangsta was featured on the soundtrack for the hit movie Suicide Squad, which gave her and her music some beneficial recognition, as it reached number 41 on the Hot 100. On November 26, 2016, she revealed the title of her debut studio album SweetSexySavage which was released on Atlantic Records on January 27, 2017. On December 5, 2017, American rapper Eminem revealed that Kehlani would be featured on the song "Nowhere Fast" for his ninth studio album Revival, which released ten days after.
Kehlani's third annual Tsunami Christmas tour concluded in Santa Ana, California on December 18, 2017. Kehlani served as an opening act on Demi Lovato's Tell Me You Love Me World Tour in North America, which started on February 26, 2018, and concluded on April 2, 2018. She then opened on Halsey's Hopeless Fountain Kingdom World Tour in Oceania, which started on April 19, 2018. She was also featured on the Cardi B album track "Ring", from her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy in April 2018, which entered at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her first top 40 entry on the chart. On February 22, 2019, her third commercial mixtape While We Wait was released by Atlantic Records and debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200. The mixtape had 34,000 album-equivalent units including 6,000 pure sales in its first week. It is supported by singles, Nights Like This featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Nunya featuring Dom Kennedy and Butterfly.
