Bebe Rexha is an unapologetic, confident queen — and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“My confidence comes from being tired of asking for permission and not giving a f***,” Rexha, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly at Billboard Women in Music on Wednesday, April 29. “I used to be so nervous doing red carpets and being like, ‘Oh, my gosh, those girls look so skinny, they look so good, they have their stuff together,’ that I [would] have so much anxiety. And then, now I come and I’m just like, ‘I actually belong here.’”
Rexha rose to fame in 2015 with the release of her debut EP, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up, soon finding inspiration from other pop stars.
“[I am inspired by] Sabrina [Carpenter], Zara [Larsson], Charli [XCX], all the girls who have been slaying for such a long time, but now they f***ing made their mark,” she told Us. “They have their thing, and it’s like, it’s f***ing inspiring.”
Bebe Rexha’s Ups and Downs Over the Years
Earlier this year, Rexha recently dropped the singles “Hysteria” and “New Religion” from her upcoming album, Dirty Blonde.
“‘New Religion’ I did with Faithless, which samples Insomnia, which was a massive record in the ‘90s. It’s just about finding, you know, salvation on the dance floor,” she said on Wednesday. “I say, ‘I found my purpose in the churches filled with neon lights,’ because the club is my church.”
Faithless, an English girl band formed in 1995, marks just one of Rexha’s many collaborations. The Grammy nominee has also worked with G-Eazy, Doja Cat, David Guetta and Dolly Parton through the years.
“I don’t know who my next collaboration is going to be,” she teased to Us. “I end up in the most random studios, and I just go with it.”
Rexha has also admittedly come a long way in her journey to feeling confident.
Bebe Rexha Hits Back at Comments on Her Weight by Revealing Pregnancy Loss
“I know we’re all supposed to be merry and, like, ‘Yay, it’s the holidays!’ — which I am, ish,” she previously revealed in a December 2021 video shared via TikTok. “I think I am the heaviest I’ve ever been. I weighed myself just now, and I don’t feel comfortable sharing the weight because I feel embarrassed.”
At the time, Rexha cut back on sharing social media posts over her insecurities.
“I don’t feel good in my skin, and when I don’t feel good, I don’t want to post,” she explained. “And that’s really, honestly, the reason why I haven’t been posting in the last year or so, as much as I used to. I don’t know how to help myself anymore or how to love myself.”
Rexha was later diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal condition that affects an individual’s ovaries and often causes weight fluctuation.
“I went to the doctor, like, last year and I — a lot of women actually have this and they don’t know — [was] diagnosed with PCOS,” Rexha said on The Jennifer Hudson Show in May 2023. “It’s one of the leading causes of why women gain weight and are obese. I literally jumped, like, 30 pounds so quickly, maybe a little bit more.”
Rexha brought her confident to the 2026 Billboard Women in Music event at the iconic Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, to celebrate the most influential artists and cultural leaders shaping today’s music landscape.
