Bebe Rexha
Bebe Rexha is entering her new musical era, inspired by ’70s hairstyles, retro outfits, big fluffy hair and a long-awaited album.
The pop star held an album listening party in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (Feb. 8), where she was told her Grammy-nominated David Guetta collaboration, “I’m Good (Blue),” was certified platinum by the RIAA.
Later on in the night, Rexha spoke to the crowd about her upcoming album, which is led by the pulsing single “Heart Wants What It Wants.” “We did this deep dive into the ’70s, but we also went into disco and all our favorite things,” said the singer, dressed in a satin pink shirt and bell bottoms paired with Farrah Fawcett-inspired hair.
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She also teased upcoming collaborations with Dolly Parton and Snoop Dogg. “He sent me a video today of him smoking a blunt at 7:25 in the morning and he was like, ‘Yo, B, you got something in your inbox.’”
At the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday night (Feb. 5), Rexha and Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue)” was up for best dance/electronic recording, though the award ultimately went to Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.” Rexha was previously nominated in 2019 for best new artist and country duo/group performance for her Florida Georgia Line collaboration, “Meant to Be.”
“In the same category as Beyoncé, that’s incredible,” the 33-year-old singer recently gushed to Billboard. “I was thinking the other day, I was like, ‘I wonder if she read through the nominees and she saw my name.’ Maybe Beyoncé knows my name.”
See Billboard‘s full recap of Bebe Rexha’s album listening party above.
Bebe Rexha recently sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to celebrate her third Grammy nomination. This year, the superstar is up for best dance/electronic recording for her David Guetta collaboration, “I’m Good (Blue).”
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“In the same category as Beyoncé, that’s incredible,” Rexha gushed, noting that Queen Bey is also nominated for her Renaissance hit, “Break My Soul.” “I was thinking the other day, I was like, ‘I wonder if she read through the nominees and she saw my name.’ Maybe Beyoncé knows my name.”
Rexha’s nomination is particularly special, as her Guetta collaboration was made back in 2017, but wasn’t released until 2022, when a clip of the track began blowing up on TikTok. “I was in London,” the singer shared of making the song nearly six years ago. “I think I saw that David was in London through Instagram or I was texting him. He was like, ‘I’m in the studio, come through.’ We went to the studio and he played me this remix track of [Eiffel 65’s ‘Blue’]. We didn’t think anything of it. We weren’t trying to be serious, like we had to write this insane song. We were just having a good time.”
She continued, “Finally, it started going viral on TikTok and I texted him and I was like, ‘We have to put this out.’ There was no thought process into it. Sometimes you don’t always need to overthink things. You just go with the flow.”
Rexha was previously nominated in 2019 for best new artist and country duo/group performance for her Florida Georgia Line collaboration, “Meant to Be.” On her ability to seamlessly genre blend, the star noted that she likes “to try different things” over the course of her 13-year career. “Imagine if you ate pizza — I mean, pizza is amazing. But if you had it every day for the rest of your life, you get really bored of it,” she explained. “If you had it every day for the rest of your life, you get bored of it. You want to try pasta or tacos. So, for me, I don’t want to be stuck in one category.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Bebe Rexha above.
In a sea of out-of-left-field hit songs this year (Kate Bush, anyone?), David Guetta and Bebe Rexha‘s “I’m Good (Blue)” stands out as one of the most unpredictable.
Guetta and Rexha’s throwback dance-floor filler interpolates Eiffel 65’s 1999 novelty hit “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” (itself an unexpected success story), and as Rexha tells Katie & Keith on the Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to the new episode below), the collab was actually made years ago and then unearthed by savvy fans.
“[David] had played it at a festival after we had cut it, and somebody took a YouTube video of it and posted it,” Rexha recalls. “Then somebody found that and made a remix and posted it to TikTok. Then this big gamer posted it from TikTok, and then it blew up from her page.
“It’s crazy, because you just never know what people want,” she adds. “Everybody was going crazy and being like, ‘We want this song! Why can’t we find it?’ And I was hitting up David [saying], ‘David, people really want this record! We should just put it out!’ At this point, it’s viral on TikTok, and people are asking for it. Let’s just give the people what they want. Let’s not judge it for what it is, and just put it out. It’s just a great, fun record.”
Now that great, fun record is on quite the ride up our charts, climbing 18-16 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, holding at No. 2 on both the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts, and spending a fourth week atop Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. Rexha is marveling at the song’s global success and trying to piece together the secret to its popularity.
“Never did I think in a million years that it would be so big,” she says. “I guess people want to feel that 2000s nostalgia, especially after the three years of a pandemic and being cooped in their houses. It brings back that feeling of nostalgia, and it makes you feel kind of warm. I will put my hands up on this one and say I get it, but I’m also confused and shocked, but also very grateful.”
Although Rexha just released her sophomore album Better Mistakes last year, she hinted to fans on Twitter last week that her next project might be out sooner than they think – but she wants to give her hit with Guetta a little space before putting out the “very focused” new project.
“I’m not gonna lie: ‘I’m Good’ has thrown a little bit of a wrench into the whole plan,” she tells the Pop Shop Podcast. “I’m trying to let ‘I’m Good’ have its moment. But the one thing that’s really good about my project is that it does have dance elements to it. It has rock as well as dance elements to it. It’s inspired by one of my favorite female artists of all time. ”
Let the guessing games begin!
Here are a few more hints about the album: “I really spent a lot of time studying this time period and what this artist was saying and how she said it. And then how she said it when she was with her band and by herself, and I really want to make sure that it’s a real artist project. I think it was a natural evolution. I love rock music, and I love dance music. I was like: ‘How can I evolve naturally?,’ because I’m not a child anymore. I’m a grown woman, so this felt like a really great natural growth for me.”
Next up: Rexha will hit the Jingle Ball Los Angeles stage on Dec. 2 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.
Also on the show, we’ve got chart news on how Doja Cat gets her sixth top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Vegas” while Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” holds atop the list for a third straight week. Meanwhile, Glass Animals’ former No. 1 “Heat Waves” marks another milestone in its storied chart career, becoming the song with the most week ever on the Hot 100 — collecting its 91st week on the chart. And, on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Stray Kids notch their second No. 1 album (and second of this year!), while new albums from Quavo & Takeoff, G. Herbo and Charlie Puth all debut in the top 10.
Katie & Keith also take time to chat about all the Grammy controversies that bubbled up after preliminary ballots were sent to voters last week. From Nicki Minaj and Silk Sonic to The Weeknd and Drake, these were the biggest headlines from the ballots.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s senior director of charts Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)
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