Rexha was born on August 30, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York, to Albanian parents. Her father, Flamur Rexha, is an Albanian born in Debar, when it was part of Yugoslavia. He immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 21, and her mother, Bukurije Rexha, was born in the U.S. to an Albanian family with roots in Gostivar (which, like Debar, is now part of the Republic of Macedonia). In the Albanian language, bletë means “bee”; derived from it, Rexha gave herself the nickname “Bebe” as part of her stage name. 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 Billboard Pop Songs. 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 accumulated over 240 million views on YouTube. On October 24, 2017, “Meant to Be” was released along with Florida Georgia Line. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and as of July 31, 2018 has spent 42 weeks at number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, breaking the record for most weeks atop the chart previously held by “Body Like a Back Road” by Sam Hunt. On June 15, 2018, she released her current single “I’m a Mess”.
