Bebe Rexha

Rising from her early work penning tracks for Eminem, Rihanna, and Selena Gomez, Brooklyn native Bebe Rexha shifted from behind-the-scenes writing to fronting her own recordings. She notched chart successes alongside electronic acts such as Cash Cash, David Guetta, and Martin Garrix, as well as rappers including G-Eazy, Lil Wayne, and Nicki Minaj, plus the country duo Florida Georgia Line on their 2017 country-pop crossover “Meant to Be,” which topped the relevant charts. While those outside projects crossed multiple styles, her own releases favor moody pop laced with hip-hop and R&B elements, evident on the 2018 debut Expectations and its 2021 successor Better Mistakes. By 2023 she turned toward bright dance sounds on Bebe, which contained the Grammy-nominated worldwide hit “I’m Good (Blue)” alongside David Guetta.

Born Bleta Rexha in 1989, she entered performance early, appearing in musicals by age four. In her early teens she refined her craft and earned the title of Best Teen Songwriter at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ yearly Grammy Day gathering, where she encountered numerous prominent producers. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz recruited her in 2010 to create the side project Black Cards, designed to showcase his electronic and experimental leanings. She supplied vocals on several EPs until departing the group in 2012 to pursue solo work, initially posting demos and acoustic covers on YouTube before securing a Warner Bros. deal in 2013.

Rexha wrote material for Selena Gomez on “Like a Champion” and for Nikki Williams on “Glowing,” yet “The Monster,” her song for Eminem and Rihanna, marked the true industry breakthrough. That single reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and cleared the path for her own career. She followed with the May 2015 EP I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, highlighted by the singles “I’m Gonna Show You Crazy” and “I Can’t Stop Drinking Without You.” While preparing her first full-length, she scored another success via the G-Eazy collaboration “Me, Myself & I,” which entered the pop-chart Top Ten in 2016, and she appeared on the multi-platinum Martin Garrix track “In the Name of Love,” which reached the Top 30 by year’s end.

The Captain Cuts-produced “I Got You” arrived in late 2016 as the initial preview of her solo debut and registered on the pop chart soon afterward. What became her first album actually emerged as two EPs: All Your Fault, Pt. 1 surfaced in early 2017, a six-song collection featuring Ty Dolla $ign on the Stargate-produced “Bad Bitch” and G-Eazy on “F.F.F.” All Your Fault, Pt. 2 followed in August with another six tracks, among them “The Way I Are (Dance with Somebody)” featuring Lil Wayne, plus contributions from 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, Cashmere Cat, and Florida Georgia Line. Her duet with the country act, the Grammy-nominated “Meant to Be,” climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and set a record by leading the Hot Country Songs chart for 28 weeks.

That song later appeared on Expectations, Rexha’s first proper studio album, released in June 2018. The set included guest spots from Tory Lanez and Quavo, peaked at number 13 on the U.S. album chart, and yielded the single “I’m a Mess,” which entered the Top 40 and earned gold certification in both the United States and Australia. Days after the 2019 Grammy Awards, where she received a Best New Artist nomination, she issued “Last Hurrah,” her seventh Hot 100 entry. Further singles that year comprised “Harder” and “You Can’t Stop the Girl,” the latter written for the Maleficent: Mistress of Evil soundtrack.

October 2020 brought the Doja Cat collaboration “Baby, I’m Jealous,” followed in early 2021 by “Sacrifice.” Both tracks featured on Better Mistakes, released that year and produced by Jussifer, Greg Kurstin, the Six, and additional contributors; the album registered on the Billboard 200 with appearances by Travis Barker, Ty Dolla Sign, Pink Sweats, and others.

Her largest success to date arrived the next year. The sixth joint effort with David Guetta, “I’m Good (Blue),” reworked Eiffel 65’s Y2K dance classic “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” earned a Grammy nomination, and topped charts in nearly two dozen countries. The track surfaced again on her third album, Bebe, issued in 2023, which also held the Grammy-nominated Guetta collaboration “One in a Million.” Emphasizing retro disco and dance-pop, the record added pairings with Snoop Dogg on “Satellite” and Dolly Parton on “Seasons.” In 2024 Rexha released the singles “Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da)” and “I’m the Drama.”