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After years of flirting with stardom, Bebe Rexha made her move in 2017. In the span of 12 months, the singer, songwriter, and self-styled “renegade” released two excellent, musically adventurous EPs—All Your Fault Pt. 1 and Pt. 2—and promoted them with her first-ever headlining tours. In July, midway through this momentous year, Rexha fittingly sang the national anthem at the 2017 MLB All-Star Game.
Rexha’s big-league success hardly came out of nowhere. Prior to stepping into the spotlight, the Brooklyn native made her name as a songwriter, penning tunes like Selena Gomez’s “Like a Champion” and Eminem’s 2013 chart-topper “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna.
“I don’t want to be just a pretty pop star that dances onstage, although there’s nothing wrong with that in the entertainment industry,” Rexha told Billboard. “I want to be respected with my songwriting and production skills, and not many female artists can do this.”
Rexha’s natural star power began to shine through in 2015, when she sang on—and also co-wrote—a pair of Top 40 hits: rapper G-Eazy’s “Me, Myself & I” and French EDM star David Guetta’s “Hey Mama,” co-starring Nicki Minaj and Afrojack. And yet it wasn’t until 2016 that Rexha scored her first solo entry on the I Hot 100. The song was “I Got You,” the lead single off All Your Fault Pt. 1, and its success left her elated, if slightly apprehensive.
“It’s scary,” Rexha told Billboard, “because if you fail, you fail with it. If you win, you win with it.”
Luckily, the winning streak continued into 2017. I featured winning team-ups with Ty Dolla $ign and Rexha’s old buddy G-Eazy. The sequel boasted a super-diverse roster of guests—Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, dancehall star Kranium—and gave her another Hot 100 hit, “Meant to Be,” featuring the EP’s least likely collaboration: country duo Florida Georgia Line. It was Rexha’s first time trying country music, and it reinforced the notion that no genre is off limits.
Just because Rexha spent 2017 focusing on her own music, it doesn’t mean she stopped working with other artists. Just ask former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, who tapped Rexha to sing on “Back to You,” which reached #40 on the Hot 100 and cracked the Top 10 in the U.K. Looking ahead to 2018, Rexha told Billboard her next project, Expectations, would sound like nothing she’s given us yet.
“I’m definitely changing up the sound,” Rexha said. “Everyone’s going into more of a rhythmic vibe and urban sound, especially female artists, but I’m going the complete opposite way. It’s very guitar-based and inspired by my favorite bands I grew up listening to, like No Doubt, and I’m not holding anything back.”