Bebe Rexha reveals the VERY forward way she landed her Snoop Dogg collab 😮
Good on you Bebe!
'I'm Good (Blue)' singer Bebe Rexha joined Sam Thompson on Hits UK to talk about her new album which features country legend Dolly Parton, and how some of her biggest collabs have come about, including one with Snoop Dogg.
Bebe, who has had a string of collabs, including most recently 'One In A Million' with David Guetta, revealed that many of her collabs have come about from DMs. The singer said: "If you don't take chances in life, then what are you going to get?"
Explaining to Sam how her song 'Satellite' came about with the rapper, Bebe said: “I did that to Snoop Dogg. I sent him a DM. Why not? If you don't take chances in life, then what are you going to get?"
She continued: "(When) I first started out in the music industry, I would message anybody that I could, so I hit up Snoop Dogg, and I was like, hey, Snoop, I have a song called ‘Satellite’. I would love to for you to jump on it and he was like, ‘send it over’. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’ and then he called me at 7am the next morning and he was like, check your email and I checked it and it was there!
"Obviously it's going to be harder, like you know when you're first starting out, but you never know who's going to open up your Instagram message or your email, or you just never know."
The singer, whose third album 'Bebe' is out now, also told Sam what it was like working with country legend Dolly Parton. She explained it was a "insane" because: "My grandmother used to play all the time, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene'."
She went on to say, that she was: "So sweet, so kind, so funny, and she said she would adopt me."
When asked if she was a mother figure, Bebe revealed that she WAS, but she also felt like she could: "Go out and party" with her.
You can hear songs by Bebe Rexha on Hits Radio.
Take a look at songs Bebe Rexha has written for other artists:
Selena Gomez - 'Like A Champion' (2013)
Having already been working in the music industry for a couple of years, Bebe's songwriting talents were starting to get noticed. Although she wrote songs for a handful of other artists prior, Bebe then penned 'Like a Champion' which was chosen for Selena Gomez to record for her 2013 album, 'Stars Dance'.
Listen on YouTube,
Eminem featuring Rihanna - 'The Monster' (2013)
Bebe got her big break in 2013 when she wrote 'The Monster', which was later recorded by Eminem featuring Rihanna on their fourth collaboration together, and appeared on Eminem's album 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2'. 'The Monster' went to Number 1 around the world in many countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and plenty of others. It's even been certified 3x Platinum by the BPI, translating to over 1.8 million sales in the UK! Bebe has said in interviews that she wished she'd been able to keep her vocals on this song, telling a US radio station: "It really resonated with what I was going through in my life, I had just gotten dropped from my first record deal so I was like in a super dark place."
Watch 'The Monster' music video on YouTube - WARNING EXPLICIT CONTENT!
Bella Thorne - 'Jersey' and 'One More Night' (2014)
Bebe wrote two songs for Disney star Bella Thorne's debut EP 'Jersey' - one was entitled 'Jersey' and the other was called 'One More Night'.
Listen on YouTube to 'Jersey' and 'One More Night'.
Iggy Azalea - 'Team' (2016)
In 2016, Bebe co-wrote 'Team' with Iggy Azalea, which didn't appear on an album but went to Number 12 in the UK Hip Hop charts. Iggy spoke about working with Bebe on the song to a US radio show in 2022, explaining that her dresser Alejandra was good friend's with Bebe's manager and that's how they came together to write together with Bebe's writing partner Lauren Christy.
She said: "We all got together after I'd had like five attempts at it. Bebe wrote the melody but then had to leave to promote her song with G-Eazy ('Me, Myself and I'), so it was two weeks with no Bebe to finish this song, and I was like, 'I just can't wait!' I had to finish the song! So I'm just gonna write to the melody, and then she came back, and I was like, 'I'm sorry, I'm keeping it!' So it worked out very organically."
She added that she'd had "such a good time" writing with them and that they wrote a couple of other songs: "I just really like Bebe, I think that's someone I would be friends with even if neither of us were musical, just personality-wise I really get along with her and we had a really good vibe in the studio," adding that she felt really relaxed in the studio.
Watch the 'Dance' version of the music video on YouTube - WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE!
Nick Jonas - 'Under You' (2016)
Bebe wrote 'Under You' for Nick Jonas' third album 'Last Year Was Complicated', released in 2016. Speaking to the Official Charts, Bebe explained that the song was originally written for Rihanna five years before it was released by Nick! She said: "I remember pitching this song called 'Under You' for Rihanna, but they decided it was too low in the key, so I passed it on to Usher to cut it. A year later Usher hadn't cut the track because he'd decided he didn't want to put new music out, so I sent it to Nick Jonas, who ended up putting it out on his album."
She added about why there was such a gap: "There's this etiquette in the industry, where you need to be respectful to the artist and only send the song to one person at a time otherwise it might hurt the artist's feelings. You also want to make sure the song feels right for the artist. It's more so than just how the voice feels on it or whether you personally connect to the artist as a writer." She later supported Nick and his brothers Joe and Kevin on their Jonas Brothers reunion tour.
Watch the 'Under You' music video on YouTube.
Selena Gomez with 6lack - 'Crowded Room' (2020)
Selena was clearly so happy with her previous song written by Bebe that she returned for another in 2020! When making her third album 'Rare', which was released in January 2020, Selena turned back to Bebe for the song 'Crowded Room'. Bebe is credited on the lyrics for the song alongside poet Simon Wilcox and 6lack, who is featured on the song, with Selena co-writing the music alongside Nolan Lambroza and Simon Rosen.
Listen to the song on YouTube.
Galantis featuring Rosa Linn - 'One Cry' (2024)
Swedish DJ Galantis released 'One Cry' in 2024 with Armenian vocalist Rosa Linn on the vocals. It was originally written by Bebe and meant to be released by Swedish DJ duo CAZZETTE, but ended up being put on the backburner as they decided to go in a different genre direction. CAZZETTE both appeared in an interview on MusicRadar Tech's 2014 In The Studio interview, explaining how they'd been sent an a capella demo of Bebe singing 'One Cry' which was a "rather unique" way for them to make a track as they created the track around her demo which they thought had a "rocky vibe" but also a "funky feeling". The Galantis release appeared on the album 'Rx', released in May 2024.
Listen to Galantis and Rosa Linn's 'One Cry' on YouTube.
Now read:
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Bebe Rexha: Get to know the 'I'm Good (Blue)' hitmaker
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