Biography

Bleta Rexha (born August 30, 1989), known professionally as Bebe Rexha (/ˈbiːbi ˈrɛksə/ BEE-bee REK-sə), is an American singer-songwriter. After signing with Warner Bros. Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem's single "The Monster" (which later received the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance) and has also contributed songwriting to songs recorded by Shinee, Selena Gomez, and Nick Jonas. Rexha released her debut extended play in 2015, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, which saw the moderate commercial success of the singles "I Can't Stop Drinking About You" and "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy".

Rexha released two additional extended plays in 2017, All Your Fault: Pt. 1 and All Your Fault: Pt. 2, which again saw the moderate success of the singles "I Got You" and "The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)". Rexha has also seen success with several collaborations including "Me, Myself & I" with G-Eazy, "In the Name of Love" with Martin Garrix, and "Meant to Be" with Florida Georgia Line, the latter of which had large success as a country crossover single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. Rexha's debut studio album Expectations (2018) reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and saw the success of its lead single "I'm a Mess", and brought Rexha two nominations for Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards.

Early life

Rexha was born on August 30, 1989 in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., to ethnic Albanian parents. Her father, Flamur Rexha, was born in Debar, North Macedonia when it was part of Yugoslavia. He immigrated to the US at the age of 21, and her mother, Bukurije Rexha, was born in the US to an Albanian family with roots in Gostivar (which, like Debar, is now part of North Macedonia). In the Albanian language, bletë means "bee"; and she explained "My parents are Albanian, and people started calling me 'Bebe' for short." She and her family moved to nearby Staten Island when she was six.

Rexha played trumpet and taught herself to play guitar and piano. Rexha attended Tottenville High School on Staten Island, where she took part in a variety of musicals. She also joined the choir, while still in high school. After joining the choir, she discovered that her voice was a coloratura soprano. Rexha lists Coldplay, the Cranberries, Lauryn Hill, Alanis Morissette, and Kanye West as musical influences.

As a teenager, Rexha submitted a song to be performed at the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' annual "Grammy Day" event. Rexha earned the "Best Teen Songwriter" award, beating around 700 other entrants. As a result, she signed a contract with talent scout Samantha Cox, who encouraged Rexha to enroll in songwriting classes in Manhattan.

Career

2010–2012: Career beginnings with Black Cards

In 2010, Rexha met Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz with whom she began working at a recording studio in New York City. She became a member and a lead vocalist of Wentz's new experimental project of a band, called Black Cards. The band played a variety of live shows and released several singles and remixes. However, in January 2012, Wentz announced that Rexha had left the band to pursue other endeavors. Bebe Rexha was awarded the Able Olman Scholarship for her contributions as a songwriter later that year.

2013–2015: Solo debut and I Don't Wanna Grow Up

In 2013, Rexha signed with Warner Bros. Records as a solo artist. Rexha had begun writing several songs, including Selena Gomez's "Like a Champion" and Nikki Williams's "Glowing". Her most prominent songwriting effort of 2013 was Eminem's and Rihanna's "The Monster", which was released as the fourth single from Eminem's album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. The song went on to top the charts for the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. That same year, Rexha also wrote and was featured on Cash Cash's single "Take Me Home".

On March 21, 2014, Rexha released her debut single, "I Can't Stop Drinking About You". The song peaked at number 22 on the US Top Heatseekers chart. The music video was released on August 12, 2014. The video was inspired by imagery from films such as Girl, Interrupted and Melancholia. In November 2014, Rexha was featured on rapper Pitbull's song "This Is Not a Drill". and in September 2014, she was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's Today show hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, where she performed live her single "I Can't Stop Drinking About You".

In December 2014, Rexha released two more singles, "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy" and "Gone". On May 12, 2015, she released her debut EP, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, through Warner Bros. Records. She also co-wrote and was featured on David Guetta's single "Hey Mama", alongside Nicki Minaj and Afrojack. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and received 1.1 million downloads as of June 2015. The song did not originally credit Rexha, despite the fact that she sings the chorus and is featured on background vocals. Eventually, in June 2015, she was given a credit for her work.

2015–2017: Collaborations and All Your Fault series

Main articles: All Your Fault: Pt. 1 and All Your Fault: Pt. 2

In January 2015, Rexha co-wrote and was featured on G-Eazy's "Me, Myself & I". The song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number one on the US Pop Songs chart. The song was originally titled "I Don't Need Anything" and was intended as a song for Rexha herself. Instead, she brought the song idea to G-Eazy and was featured during the chorus.

Rexha met Nicki Minaj's manager, Gee Roberson, and asked if Minaj would contribute to a new song. In March 2016, Rexha released her single, called "No Broken Hearts" featuring Nicki Minaj. In April 2016, the music video was released, directed by Dave Meyer. The video has accumulated over 265 million views on YouTube.

On July 29, 2016, Rexha and Dutch DJ and record producer Martin Garrix released their single, "In the Name of Love". It peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100, at number four on US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and entered the top 10 in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, and New Zealand. The music video was released on August 23, 2016, on Martin Garrix's YouTube channel.

On November 6, 2016, Rexha hosted the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards, at Rotterdam, Netherlands and performed multiple songs throughout the night, such as her single, "I Got You".

On October 28, 2016, Rexha released "I Got You". Both "No Broken Hearts" and "I Got You" were originally intended for the All Your Fault album. The latter peaked at number 43 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 17 on the US Pop Songs chart. The music video was released on January 6, 2017 and reached over 50 million views in four weeks, and has accumulated over 264 million views on YouTube. Direction changed from a full studio album to a multi EP project and "No Broken Hearts" was scrapped, making "I Got You" the first and only single from All Your Fault: Pt. 1, released on February 17, 2017. The EP peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200. In March 2017 in Dallas, Rexha began her first solo headlining tour, promoting the EP across North America and Europe, named the All Your Fault Tour, with a total of 29 dates.

In May 2017, Bebe Rexha: The Ride, a documentary which explores the moments which changed Rexha's life and journey to stardom, aired on MTV.

On July 21, 2017, One Direction member Louis Tomlinson released the single "Back to You", with Rexha and Digital Farm Animals as featured artists. The song peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"The Way I Are (Dance with Somebody)" featuring Lil Wayne was released as the first single from All Your Fault: Pt. 2 on May 19, 2017. On June 12, Rexha performed the song at the Ubisoft E3 press conference, before announcing Just Dance 2018, on which the song appears. The second EP as part of the project was released on August 11, 2017. In support of the EP and American singer and songwriter Marc E. Bassy's debut album, Rexha planned to go on a co-headlining tour across the United States: the Bebe & Bassy Tour, in October 2017. The tour was short-lived due to an infection putting Rexha on strict vocal rest, with Marc E. Bassy eventually going on a solo US tour in March 2018.

On October 24, 2017, "Meant to Be" was released as the second single from All Your Fault: Pt. 2, with the music video premiering a day earlier. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and as of November 17, 2018, has spent 50 weeks at number one on the US Hot Country Songs chart, breaking the record for most weeks atop the chart previously held by "Body Like a Back Road" by Sam Hunt.

2017–2018: Expectations

Main article: Expectations (Bebe Rexha album)

In September 2017, Rexha began teasing new songs for a third installment in the All Your Fault series, with her manager going on record about its release. However, it appeared plans had changed, as Bebe revealed through a tweet in November 2017 that her next project would be called Expectations. Rexha revealed the cover art for this debut studio album on April 8, 2018, and the album was released on June 22, 2018. Previous singles from All Your Fault, "I Got You" and "Meant to Be" appear on Expectations as well.

On April 13, 2018, "Ferrari" and "2 Souls on Fire", the latter of which features Quavo of Migos, were released as promotional singles along with the pre-order.

On June 15, 2018, "I'm a Mess" was released as the first single from the album.

On November 20, 2018, "Say My Name" was released which featured David Guetta and J Balvin.

In December 2018, Rexha was nominated for Best New Artist at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards but lost to Dua Lipa.

2019: The Voice and second studio album

On February 15, 2019, Rexha released her single "Last Hurrah".

On February 25, 2019, it was announced that Rexha will be the fifth coach for The Voice's Comeback Stage for season 16. Rexha tweeted in April 2019 that she has twelve songs ready for her second studio album, and that her new music is inspired by Britney Spears.

On May 1, 2019, it was announced that Rexha will be one of the opening acts of the Jonas Brothers' Happiness Begins Tour.

On May 31, 2019, Rexha and the Chainsmokers released "Call You Mine". The song is the Chainsmokers' third project using Rexha's voice, following their remixes of "Take Me Home" by production trio Cash Cash, and her debut solo single, "I Can't Stop Drinking About You".

Rexha gave further information on her forthcoming second studio album in June 2019, confirming to Bang Showbiz, "I am heading off to the studio now and I am just creating, creating and creating." She further revealed a feminist theme to the new music, stating that "everything I have been writing now is very empowering and in-your-face and I am really excited about it." In July 2019, Rexha tweeted that she had a song called "Mama"; it was later registered with the music recognition app Shazam.

Artistry

Rexha is known for a variety of genres, primarily pop. Her first song credit was a K-pop song for Shinee, the title song from the album Lucifer, and since then she has released music in the hip hop, alternative rock, EDM, R&B and country music genres.

She was mainly influenced by Lauryn Hill whom she calls the "Queen of R&B". She was also influenced by other artists such as Bob Marley, Madonna, Blondie, Alanis Morissette and Coldplay.

Personal life

Rexha is a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, and has described her own sexuality as "fluid". On April 15, 2019, Rexha revealed she has bipolar on Twitter in a personal note to her fans.