Bebe Rexha Teases Songs With Snoop Dogg, Dolly Parton At Album Preview

Last night, pop star Bebe Rexha got all dolled up in a 70s-inspired look and Farrah Faucett hair for a preview of her new music. Fresh off the heels of the success of her David Guetta collaboration “I’m Good (Blue)”, Rexha treated an audience of friends, fans, industry professionals, and journalists at The Sun Rose off Sunset Boulevard to a tease of her upcoming album. Rita Ora and Taika Waititi were in attendance, and Bebe thanked the “Your Song” singer on stage for showing up to support another woman in the industry. The two friends then hugged on stage.

Rexha sticks to what she knows best: dance music. The first single off the album, “Heart Wants What It Wants” premiering next Friday, February 17, perfectly captures the essence of the album, channeling '70s disco and modern pop to create something that feels nostalgic but fresh, an instant earworm that commands you to get up, groove, and sing along. "The gays are going to eat this up," I tell Rexha’s mom in attendance. “They better,” she replies ominously.

Though Rexha has had a massively successful career, having been featured on hit songs with G. Easy, Martin Garrix, Florida Georgia Line, and many more over the last decade and boasting over 16 billion streams, she has yet to truly breakthrough as a solo act into the public consciousness, instead feeling like a niche pop artist or a feature. Though I’ve been a listener since her debut single “I Can’t Stop Drinking About You”, I only recently realized that I don’t really have any idea who Bebe Rexha actually is.

Something has changed with this upcoming era. Rexha feels self-assured, knows what she wants to say, and exactly how she wants to say it.

When she pressed play on “Call On Me”, I almost thought Miley Cyrus was featured on the track. It’s a self-love anthem over a '90s house beat, and I quickly found myself singing Katy Perry’s “Walking On Air” over the chorus. “If I need a lover, I’ll call on me,” Rexha belts.

Next up, “Satellite”, “a song about getting high,” she told the audience. Rexha says she DMd the track to Snoop Dogg on Instagram on the off chance he’d hop on and to her surprise, Snoop sent a verse back to her earlier that day. Snoop opens the song with the same energy as Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”, and Rexha lit a joint as fans bopped their heads long. “What you thought you was gonna get fucking with me,” Snoop teases in the outro.

Then there’s “Seasons”, a mid-tempo ballad featuring the one and only Dolly Parton, an evident influence for this Rexha era. The song is hauntingly beautiful, similar in energy to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. It’s the first song she wrote on the project, she says, a reflection on feeling stuck in a season of your life but wanting to change. Rexha shows off her stunning vocals as she tenderly harmonizes over the living legend. “I lie awake inside a dream, then I run run run away from me,” the duo sings.

As the closer, Rexha performed "I Am", a song she wrote about the overturning of Roe v. Wade and battle over abortion rights. You can clearly feel the Dolly spirit in her as she croons, “I am a woman, I am a rebel, I am a god, I danced with the devil, I am a lover, I am a legend. If I am everything, why am I not everything to you?”

Get ready, Rexhars! Bebe's coming for you, and there’s no doubt Rexha knows exactly who her audience is. “The girls and the gays, that’s all I need,” she laughs.

Taste!