- 1 day ago
Bebe Rexha joins us inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York to take us inside her new song, "I Like You Better Than Me," and her upcoming album, 'Dirty Blonde.'
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00:00there's like a song that i have that starts like really acoustic yeah and then it goes into like
00:04a massive big pop rock record cool cool so that's like a really and you wouldn't expect it to go
00:09where it goes yeah because in the beginning it's just me and the guitar and it just gets bigger and
00:13bigger and bigger and bigger and then it goes to like a rhythmic verse it's cool on some of the
00:17songs you'll be like really feeling yourself bigging yourself up and then on the next song
00:21it's like yeah you're beating yourself up kind of hard so do you feel like it's like i say like
00:26crying in the bedroom to crying on the dance floor yeah i mean there's some songs like that
00:30and then there's some songs that are like i'm the shit like
00:37we're at the hard rock hotel new york in the rockstar suite this is your check-in
00:41with bb rexa it's so good to see you again mike how are you i'm good we got a lot
00:47to talk about um
00:48the the independent thing i think is really cool i want you to kind of explain to me uh why
00:54now it
00:55was a good point for you to do this because i imagine 2026 independent bb rexa is way different
01:01than if you were an independent artist when you were first getting started right yeah in the
01:07beginning you it's good to have that support but i think when you get to a certain point in your
01:11life
01:12where you want a little bit more creative freedom and to be able to do what you want i feel
01:16like
01:16independent is the way to go and especially with empire they kind of i i wouldn't say crazy like my
01:22ideas could be a little crazy sometimes and they're always like kind of rooting me on like
01:25let's try it let's go like let's see you know and i think it's so much more fun to have
01:29that flexibility
01:30yeah and do you feel like you you're able to touch everything now like more creative freedom and all
01:36that not only that but also like the way that we release music and the way that music comes out
01:43you
01:43don't have to take such a traditional approach right right right you know so like especially how we're
01:48putting out this album dirty blonde is so much more different than i've ever done it before
01:53and that's something that's exciting to me because fans and people in general consume music so much
02:00differently than they did 10 plus years ago totally you know i'm listening is one of our big initiatives
02:05we put the spotlight on mental health awareness and you've been very open about some of the the
02:11terrible things you've endured uh throughout your career um i'm just curious like how have you learned
02:18to protect yourself now and protect your mental health um as a seasoned artist not even as a seasoned
02:26artist i think as a human being it's really important to be able to actually check in with yourself daily
02:31throughout the day we were on set um two weeks ago and we had to shoot 13 music videos in
02:38three days
02:38days and i think by the end of the second day i was kind of hitting a wall and i
02:43felt like i was
02:44getting anxious because i wanted to get everything done but i wanted everything to look good so what
02:49did i do for that moment i shut all the lights off in my dressing room and i invited whoever
02:53wanted to
02:53come it was like maybe 10 of us and we were just all laying on the floor and we put
02:57some meditation
02:58music on just to calm ourselves and i think it's really important to be in tune with yourself and if
03:03you're feeling anxious or you're feeling a little sad the best technique for me is to not judge
03:09yourself and not trying to try to run away from those feelings it's like how can i soothe myself
03:14and that's different for everybody it might be a walk it might be going to get a cup of coffee
03:18even
03:19though it sounds like it might be counterintuitive but for me i like a nice cup of coffee you know
03:23it's
03:23like feel soothing something warm maybe a bath maybe listening to your favorite song or even just sitting
03:29there and breathing it's the simple things that really really want work and i feel like you got
03:34that confidence now where you're like you know i i know this might not be the most convenient thing
03:39for the day and our our timeline but if you want the best bb rexa this is what i need
03:44to do for a
03:44second even if like for me sometimes like i'll just go to the bathroom yeah you know yeah just sit
03:51you know you can sit on the toilet a little extra longer you know obviously you have the you know
03:55the
03:55toilet seat covering or you know you just go to the bathroom close the door you know just take a
03:58deep
03:59breath whatever put some water on your neck like you have to be able to know yourself because i feel
04:03like a lot of times especially women and i'm sure men as well uh you let me know but i
04:08feel like we
04:08push push push push and then like we kind of hit a wall and i think it's important to be
04:12like i need
04:13a second right you know absolutely i need and then if you can't say that because you feel like you're
04:18around like you know work people whatever go to the bathroom yeah yeah so you have to run out real
04:22quick yeah that's your that's you know my little secret so the the new album from what i've heard
04:29with dirty blonde yeah it sounds like you know a bunch of the songs sound like nothing you've ever
04:34done before do you feel like you kind of um took some risks and went outside the box with this
04:41one
04:42yeah so i did take you know a little bit of the old bb new bb but for example we
04:48have a song called
04:49drink and a little love yeah and it's i wouldn't consider it a country song it's a pop song with
04:54country influence but then it goes into like a full-on dance song like a jersey bounce song yeah
05:00yeah um and that to me was exciting because it's like how i've had you know the success with meant
05:04to be in florida georgia line and then a lot of stuff with david getta and it was like how
05:08could i
05:08combine the two yeah and it's like moments like that that were really exciting to me or if um you
05:14know
05:14the best way for me to explain it is to kind of bring back but like for example i had
05:18i'm a mess
05:19and um what i loved about that song was how open and honest and vulnerable i was and i love
05:25you know
05:25i love like live guitars you know so i was like how can i take that and then make it
05:30work in this
05:30album let me add a a big kick dance kick drum to it so that that's been really fun to
05:36me like kind
05:36of genre bending a little bit do you feel like um that's gonna be the song the the song that
05:41goes from
05:42like you know dance to uh country do you think that's gonna be the one that surprises fans the
05:47most yeah there's a there's a there's a a handful of them that are really cool they start there's like
05:52a song that i have that starts like really acoustic yeah and then it goes into like a massive big
05:58pop
05:58rock record cool cool so that's like a really and you wouldn't expect it to go where it goes yeah
06:02because in the beginning it's just me and the guitar and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger and
06:06bigger and then it goes to like a rhythmic verse it's cool it's really so from from debut album to
06:11now how do you feel like uh technique wise your your writing has changed even like what you select
06:18to write about oh wow you know for the longest time i feel like on my sophomore album and my
06:24third album
06:26i almost felt like i was not in the best headspace i think even like internally the team that i
06:32had
06:32around me um and that can really affect you know how you put music out not because you know i
06:38was always
06:38writing um so that can it can really it changes a lot you know and i think now i think
06:47it's more so
06:48just being more unapologetic and um putting out things that i just really love because i have such
06:56a strong team behind me and i just feel like i have a whole bunch of cheerleaders and they're not
07:00just
07:00yes people also they'll guide me you know if i'm going in the wrong direction and it's nice to have
07:04that
07:04backbone you need that backbone as an artist totally um yeah of course you need to be strong in your
07:09own
07:10boots but it's really nice to have that team you know and i feel like from what i've heard
07:15you know on on some of the songs you'll be like really feeling yourself bigging yourself up and then
07:20on the next song it's like yeah you're beating yourself up kind of hard so do you feel like when
07:25you say like crying in the bedroom to crying on the dance floor yeah there's some songs like that and
07:30then there's some songs that are like i'm the shit like was that just where you were at in your
07:35life
07:36when you were working on it highest of highs lowest of lows it's funny like when i started the project
07:40i started like it being more of a dance album and then i kind of hit a wall because i
07:46was like i don't
07:47know if i could do 13 songs i have so much i have so much i want to say and
07:50like what i wanted to add
07:51with the last like couple albums is like when i look at expectations i was able to reach a part
07:55of
07:56myself that didn't feel like so much pressure yeah um so i was able to really connect to myself
08:00and like for like my second and third album which i still really love i felt like a little numb
08:05you know i wasn't able to like tap into like that part of me which i've been able to tap
08:10and it
08:11happened in the last year really because the album started out as a dance album and then it was like
08:15at a certain point i was like i feel like i'm just like dying to get this part of me
08:19out that feels
08:20like there's like it's hidden by a wall and then we were able to write songs like i like you
08:24better
08:25than me or time which is really meaningful to me or the way i want you um that talk about
08:30so
08:31many different things that are like really vulnerable for me whether it's like unrequited
08:35love or um my insecurities or feeling like i wasted the best years of my life in the wrong
08:42relationships it's so many different topics that speak to me but then there's also the songs that
08:47are like towards the end i think that's when i was starting to feel myself because i had kind
08:51of work through all that yeah yeah you're like i'm good i'm good now let's go yeah i wrote nobody's
08:56there i was like writing all these songs that are kind of like right right you know it's funny because
09:00that's how life is right we go through our ups and downs so that's like what this project is for
09:04me
09:04right and then you remember who you are and you're like hold up wait i got a few more songs
09:08in that
09:08bitch yeah yeah yeah before we wrap um two quickies uh tell me your favorite song you've written for
09:17another artist like the artist took it on but it never came to fruition like it just never came out
09:21oh wow i don't know because i also don't want to say like you know you don't want to like
09:28make
09:29anybody offend anybody or not offend anybody but just what about what about the ones that came out
09:35do you have a favorite there was one that i did a song um called nothing compares to you
09:40um by mickey i don't want to mess up her last name guyton guyton i don't know how to say
09:44yeah
09:44i'm so sorry um she's an incredible country artist and i wrote that with tyler um from florida georgia
09:51line and that song i felt like could i feel like people need to listen to it just because her
09:55voice
09:55is so phenomenal gotcha um that song is really gorgeous yeah yeah and you feel like it went under
10:01the radar a little yeah it deserves more that song's a beautiful beautiful song and last question
10:06outside of bb rex uh uh next year halftime show who would you like to see
10:12well i'm waiting for i feel like i'm waiting for taylor to have her moment i know like it just
10:17feels
10:17like it makes sense her and jay-z i'm like what do you guys like they're taking so long he
10:22need
10:22because he books it right yeah he books it and he said like he didn't i think she wanted to
10:26wait
10:26like i think she's a very smart woman yeah and i think she's probably gonna do it when the time
10:30the timing is right and makes sense and i think you know it's that's i think i'm like excited to
10:36see what she does yeah yeah yeah there's so many people that i think need to like do it you
10:41know
10:41yeah yeah i know and we haven't had a rock one in a long time i'm like can we do
10:45like a rock what
10:46do you think what are you thinking uh you know i do love foo fighters but like i i feel
10:51like tame
10:51impala would be cool i don't know like we haven't had a rock one that would be cool that'd be
10:56cool
10:56even like a bunch of people like like the arrows yeah they're like prince they're like yeah yeah
10:59michael jackson though one of the best of all time i went back and watched that recently and he just
11:04stands there it's crazy i get chills thinking about it yeah beyonce rihanna even like yeah cool well
11:10thank you so much we're so excited for everything you're awesome i'm glad you and i could catch up yeah
11:15it was so good to see you
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