Bebe Rexha rolled into Billboard Women in Music looking like someone who finally decided to stop waiting for permission. Spoiler: the results are loud, fun, and very Bebe.
Confidence mode: on
"My confidence comes from being tired of asking for permission and not giving a f***... I actually belong here."
She said it, and she meant it. Rexha admitted she used to dread red carpets, spiraling as she compared herself to everyone else who looked impossibly tiny and put together. These days, she walks in like she owns her lane — because she does.
New era: 'Dirty Blonde'
Earlier this year, Rexha dropped two singles from her upcoming album, 'Dirty Blonde': 'Hysteria' and 'New Religion.' The latter is a team-up with Faithless — the English electronic group formed in 1995 — and it pulls from their 90s classic 'Insomnia.' The track is basically about finding salvation under strobe lights; as she puts it in the song, "I found my purpose in the churches filled with neon lights." Translation: the club is her church.
Who she is watching (and working with)
Rexha lit up talking about the current pop wave, shouting out Sabrina Carpenter, Zara Larsson, and Charli XCX — artists she says have been grinding for years and are now fully stamping their place. As for collabs, she already has a wild range on the resume (G-Eazy, Doja Cat, David Guetta, even Dolly Parton), and she teased that the next one could come from anywhere. She ends up in random studios and just rolls with it.
The road to here
- 2015: Breakout with debut EP 'I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.'
- December 2021: Posted a candid TikTok saying she was the heaviest she had ever been and felt too uncomfortable to share the number. She pulled back from social media because she did not feel good in her skin and didn’t know how to fix it or love herself through it.
- May 2023: Revealed on 'The Jennifer Hudson Show' that she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal condition that often causes weight fluctuations. She said she gained about 30 pounds very quickly.
- April 29, 2026 ( Wednesday ): At 36, she hit Billboard Women in Music at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles radiating the kind of I’m-here-on-purpose energy everyone talks about but few actually pull off.
Bottom line
Rexha is in that sweet spot where the music is hitting, the collaborators keep surprising, and the self-belief finally matches the talent. No apologies, no permission slips — just Bebe doing Bebe.