The 33-year-old New York City-born pop star Bebe Rexha rose to prominence thanks to her collaboration with rapper Eminem on the hit song “The Monster.” Since then, she has earned songwriting credits on a myriad of tracks, including for Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. She’s a talent in the pop realm with something to say about imperfection and inner demons. In that way, she’s a breath of fresh air. As you can see below.
Videos by American Songwriter
These are the 20 best quotes from Bebe Rexha.
1. “I just want to be a little more real. Maybe I’m a little bit darker than others.”
2. “I was very obsessed with my music, and I think that, as a young girl, I really wanted to get into this business, and I don’t think my parents really knew how to protect me.
3. “It’s a very hard industry, and it’s very cold. It’s loving for when you have a hit record, but when you don’t have anything going on, there’s really not much support.”
4. “I grew up in the era of Britney Spears, where artists had songs written for them, and you got up and sang them. That’s how I always thought it was.”
5. “We don’t wake up happy and looking absolutely perfect and feeling amazing every day, you know? We’re only human. So I think, with me, I’m not really scared to let people see that—because it’s real.”
6. “It all started when I was 4. I was watching a lot of ‘The Little Mermaid,’ and I loved that movie. I was going around the house singing—I wanted to be on Disney and everything; I wanted to be a princess.”
7. “I want to show every part of me and every color of me. And I think, growing up Albanian, I wanted to bring that to light.”
8. “I don’t really want to make this sound depressing, but I will say that I didn’t really have my first kiss until really, really late.”
9. “It must be so hard trying to figure yourself out in this industry. Justin Bieber has hit rock-bottom with everyone watching him; that is just so tough.”
10. “The world can be very small. That’s why you have to be very careful, whoever you meet.”
11. “I played the trumpet for nine years, and then I joined the choir after that, and then I was in musicals in high school.”
12. “You get to the point where you’re like, ‘I’m just doing me, and if people don’t like it, then it is what it is.'”
13. “I was the girl that didn’t go to prom or my graduation because I was too busy working with producers and making music.”
14. “I think what ‘The Monster’ means to me is I find it really hard – like a lot of other people in the world—to really be OK in my own skin. It was a message to myself saying, ‘It’s OK that you’re not perfect.’ I’m gonna learn to love myself and accept myself, even though I’m a little crazy.”
15. “Nothing really scares me anymore.”
16. “I try to photobomb as much as possible.”
17. “I had a moment where I was like, ‘I’m so tired of waiting for other people to accept me.'”
18. “If you’re in a dark place, you’re there for a reason. And the only way to get through to those kids or to other people going through the same thing is really to meet them in that dark place and then slowly bring them to the light.”
19. “I’m very obsessed with not being perfect.”
20. “We’re fighting to be ourselves in a world that’s trying to make us like everyone else.”
Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images
