Introduction
Few artists in the modern pop landscape have the dual distinction of being both a celebrated performer and an elite hit-maker behind the scenes. Bebe Rexha is one of those rare figures – a powerhouse vocalist whose voice can move effortlessly from intimate confessional to stadium-filling anthems, and a songwriter whose pen has shaped some of the defining chart moments of the past decade.
Born to Albanian immigrant parents, Rexha grew up in New York and built her career from the ground up with relentless creativity and instinct for melody. Her story of an anonymous teen winning songwriting competitions, ghostwriting Grammy-winning records, and releasing her own albums on her own terms is a tale of artistic tenacity that resonates far beyond the music industry.
Early life and education
Bebe Rexha was born Bleta Rexha on August 30, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York, to Albanian parents who had immigrated from the Yugoslav Socialist Republic of Macedonia in the 1980s. Her father Flamur Rexha came to the US at the age of 21, and her mother Bukurije was born in the US to an Albanian family. Bleta, meaning “bumble bee” in Albanian, was sweetly shortened to “Bebe” as a child, a shortened name that would one day become her stage name.
Rexha grew up in Staten Island, where she had an early and natural connection to music. She taught herself piano and went on to learn trumpet and guitar, showing a natural versatility from a very young age. She joined the choir at Tottenville High School, where music became not just a hobby, but a part of her — she was writing songs with friends long before she had any professional aspirations. Her musical influences were eclectic and ambitious: Lauryn Hill, Alanis Morissette, Coldplay, The Cranberries and Kanye West were among her inspirations, a range that would later show itself in her ability to move between genres with ease.
Her teenage years were defined by a song she entered in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ annual Grammy Career Day. She was awarded Best Teen Songwriter, a recognition that would be genuinely life-changing, competing against around 700 other young entrants. The accolade caught the eye of talent scout Samantha Cox of BMI, who signed her and encouraged her to take formal songwriting classes in New York City.
Occupation
Rexha’s career really took off in 2010 when she met Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and became the lead singer of his experimental side project, Black Cards. The band released a few singles and played live, giving Rexha her first taste of mainstream performance. But in January 2012 she left the group to pursue a solo career and focus on her growing craft as a songwriter.
It was one of the smartest decisions of her career to decide to concentrate first on songwriting. Before putting out a song under her own name, Rexha was quietly molding the discographies of other artists. She co-wrote Selena Gomez’s “Like a Champion” and has worked on songs for Nick Jonas and Tinashe. But it was “The Monster” that really announced her as a force in the industry — a song she originally wrote for herself before selling it to Eminem, who invited Rihanna to join the recording. The song became an international hit and won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance and the RIAA certified it six times platinum.
In 2013, Rexha signed with Warner Bros. Her debut EP I Don’t Wanna Grow Up was released in 2015 and introduced the world to her unique vocal range – a dramatic instrument capable of spanning from a rich contralto to a piercing soprano. The next few years saw a string of high-profile collaborations: she featured on David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” with Nicki Minaj and Afrojack, G-Eazy’s “Me, Myself & I,” and Pitbull’s “This Is Not a Drill.” The G-Eazy collaboration alone was five-times platinum and cracked the Top 10.
In 2017, Rexha released two EPs, All Your Fault: Pt. 1 and All Your Fault: Pt. 2, the latter of which featured a collaboration with country duo Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be.” The song shocked the world, staying at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 50 straight weeks, the longest run for a song featuring a female lead artist in the chart’s history. It went platinum and turned Rexha into a pop star with a cross-genre audience including country and electronic music fans.
The album, Expectations, was released in June 2018 and was certified Gold with hits “I’m a Mess” and “Meant to Be”. In 2021 the album was followed by Better Mistakes and in 2023 by her self-titled record Bebe, cementing her reputation further as an artist who refuses to be boxed into one sound. Meanwhile she kept working at the highest level, including “I’m Good (Blue)” with David Guetta in 2022, which became a global smash and earned her a Grammy nomination. Industry data shows Rexha has amassed over six billion total global streams and a radio audience of more than ten billion, figures that underscore the vast reach of her back catalogue.
Personal Life
Rexha has never been afraid to open up about her personal struggles on her public platform. In 2019, she revealed publicly that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, in part to help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in the entertainment industry. The announcement resonated with her fan base, and made her a visible, honest advocate for mental health awareness at a time when such discussions were just beginning to break into the mainstream.
She has also opened up about body image and the impossible physical standards women are held to in the music industry. After her relationship with cinematographer and filmmaker Keyan Safyari ended in 2023, with whom she was together from 2020, messages shaming Rexha’s body for her weight started appearing, prompting the star to publicly address the issue and igniting a fan-led movement that increased conversations about self-acceptance. She has spoken a lot about her sexuality being fluid, and has been a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights during her career.
Her Albanian roots are an important part of her identity and her family is still a source of strength. She talks a lot about how her parents always supported her artistic things when she was little and how she credits their immigrant work ethic to helping shape her own. By 2025, she’s dating Greek architect Simos Liakos, and in her personal life, she seems to be in a down-to-earth and happy chapter with him.
Bebe Rexha Net Worth
As of 2025, Bebe Rexha’s net worth is estimated to be between $8-10 million, derived from various income streams that highlight the diverse aspects of her professional life. Her income comes from album sales, streaming royalties, touring and the enormous songwriting royalties that accrue from decades of high-profile co-writes. The ongoing commercial success of her catalog — including “The Monster,” which remains one of the most streamed collaborations in hip-hop history, and the diamond-certified “Meant to Be” — adds a steady and significant infusion of publishing income.
In addition to music, Rexha has diversified her income stream with brand endorsements and partnerships, and she has a YouTube channel with more than eight million subscribers that provides meaningful digital revenue. She is said to earn about $1.2 million a year. Her success is also evident in her lifestyle. She owns properties in both Los Angeles and New York — a split that mirrors the bicoastal nature of the American entertainment industry in which she operates.
Connections
Rexha has kept her personal life relatively private, but over the years a few relationships have attracted some public attention. Between 2016 and 2017, she was rumoured to have dated DJ Martin Garrix and has, at various times, been linked to figures in the music and entertainment world. Her most public relationship was with cinematographer and filmmaker Keyan Safyari, whom she dated from 2020 to 2023. Their split was made public when Rexha posted text messages in which she revealed she had been body-shamed – a revelation that prompted her fans and supporters to respond with a flood of support using the hashtag #BebeBodyPositive.
Since that chapter, Rexha has been spotted with Greek architect Simos Liakos, a relationship that appears to have brought her stability and happiness. She’s spoken in interviews about the importance of self-love as a basis for any healthy romantic relationship, and her public development on the topic has come across as authentic as opposed to performative. As of 2025, she is still single and still defining her romantic life on her own terms.
Awards And Achievements
Over a career now spanning more than a decade as a public artist, Rexha has built up an impressive catalogue of formal recognition — the product of consistent artistic output and a gift for connecting with audiences across genres.
Among her most notable individual honors: the Grammy Career Day’s Best Teen Songwriter award that first launched her; multiple ASCAP Pop Music and BMI awards; a Billboard Music Award for Top Dance/Electronic Song; an iHeartRadio Music Award; and the Academy of Country Music’s Music Event of the Decade for “Meant to Be.” She earned Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance nominations at the 2019 Grammy ceremony. She reappeared on the Grammy nominations list in 2023 for Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “I’m Good (Blue)” and in 2024 for Best Pop Dance Recording for “One in a Million.” Her recognition crosses almost every genre of pop music, which is a rare feat and is a testament to her true versatility as an artist.
Summary
Bebe Rexha’s tale at its core is one of distinctions earned. Bebe didn’t achieve fame by launching to a single, especially with how heavily reliant on the music industry she was. Instead she slowly plied her trade, layer by layer, starting from the backlines of the scene. Her patience is evident in how long she milked her own talent for others before emerging as her own star.
However, ultimately, what makes Rexha so fascinating is the way her creative and personal worlds have intersected in larger service. Her openness about her battle with mental illness, her stand for body acceptance, her refusal to be confined to a type of genre-these are not minutiae to her career; they are the substance of it. She has used her platform to bring up issues that she knows a lot of her fans would be much less brave about facing themselves.
Her mark is still in the making — new music, new collaborations, new chapters of a life spent in front of and intentional. What she has already achieved is more than enough to cement her reputation as one of the most significant voices in the American pop music landscape.
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