Bebe Rexha "cried all night" after missing out on 2019 Grammy for Meant To Be (2024)

BEBE Rexha has admitted she was "crying all night" after missing out on a Grammy in 2019 for her megahit Meant To Be - and questioned whether the ceremony was "fixed".

The US star was nominated in the Best Country Duo/Group Performance category thanks to her collaboration with Florida Georgia Line and was "shook" when it lost, because its success meant she was convinced she was onto a winner.

It is one of just 45 songs in history to be diamond-certified in the US — meaning it has sold more than 10million copies — and it spent 50 weeks at No1 in the country charts in the States. So when Dan + Shay won the Grammy for their single Tequila, it hit her hard.

Reflecting on the situation in an exclusive interview, Bebe recalled: “I remember going home that night and I was crying the whole night, I was so heartbroken. I thought, ‘If I could ever win a Grammy it was going to be with Meant To Be’. I was so excited and I had written a speech. I got home and was drinking and crying all night.

“I was shook. I grew up all my life wanting to win a Grammy so when I didn’t win a Grammy for Meant To Be, I was hurt and disappointed. When we didn’t win, I was like, ‘What more could I have done? Is it fixed?’ I do want to win a Grammy one day but I do question how real these things are, or how much does someone have to schmooze somebody?

“I’m going to try and write really good songs and I still want to be recognised, I want to win awards. “But I am learning now that awards aren’t everything. Those awards and the money does not follow you to your grave.”

She has high hopes for her second album Better Mistakes though, following its release on Friday.

It features tracks with Doja Cat, Travis Barker and Ty Dolla $ign, although there was one collaboration she wasn't able to make happen, with Dua Lipa and Rita Ora.

Bebe was desperate to make a track featuring the stars as well as Ava Max, all of whom have Albanian heritage. But she now believes it will never happen because of the feud between Dua and Rita.

In a carefully worded response when she was asked about the pair’s relationship, Bebe said: “I have really tried. I don’t know what’s really going on there or what the drama is. I’ve tried to always be the peace-keeper and bring the girls together.

“For me, I would really love to do something together but I’m not sure that will ever happen. And I won’t say any more about that.”

Dua and Rita, whose parents are all from Kosovo, have never discussed their rivalry, although there is believed to be bad blood because of comparisons between the pair.

Bebe suggested they have become “competitive” with each other due to the pressures of being women in the music industry.

She said: “It’s weird because I know how it is to be a girl and sometimes we can get really competitive. I’m not even talking about me, Dua, Rita and Ava, I’m just talking about females in general. What happens is there’s not enough women at the table.

“I don’t know about the UK charts but here in the US, a couple of years ago 80 per cent of the radio was male and only 20 per cent of the songs that were played were by women. That’s messed up. When we see that there’s only 20 per cent of us, we feel like we have to compete, we’re a minority in the music industry.

“It’s sad that there’s an unspoken competitiveness because I see it as, ‘How awesome is it that we all have our own levels of success?’ I would love for it to happen because I know all of these girls individually and they’re all awesome chicks."

I’m just really f***ing proud that we’re four girls with similar blood from the same place.

Bebe Rexha

It has not been an easy road for Bebe, who admits she has had “definitely way more failures than I have had wins”. More than a decade ago, before she made it big, she was working with Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz on his side project Black Cards. Then when she finally got signed as a solo artist in 2013, everything changed.

As well as writing for Selena Gomez, a song she had penned called The Monster was handed to Eminem and Rihanna, who released it in 2013 — and it went on to top charts around the world. But Bebe still had to fight for years for her own music to be heard.

Her debut album, Expectations, was not released until 2018. It was a success, and now Bebe’s new follow-up dives even deeper into her mental health struggles and insecurities, and she reckons singing about them has done her the world of good.

She said: “This album is more of like, ‘This is who I am, take it or leave it’. It’s more of an empowering, unapologetic statement for myself. It comes to a point where it’s like, if you don’t love yourself, who the f*** will?"

'I accept myself and love myself'

“Even if you’ve got cellulite, even if you’ve got stretch marks — and I have both — even if I’ve got a bit of a belly from a couple of bad weeks of eating, or a pimple on your face, whatever it is, you have to learn how to feel good in your own skin, imperfections and all. Everybody in the world could love you, but if you don’t believe it, it means nothing.

“It’s about leading a balanced life and doing what makes you happy, whether that is getting lipo, not getting lipo, getting fillers, not getting fillers, getting your lips done, losing ten pounds, gaining ten pounds, being fit, skinny, thick — it’s whatever you want.

“Right now this is how I am and I accept myself and love myself."

There are moments where I wake up and don’t love myself but it’s OK, it’s a wave.

Bebe Rexha

And after plenty of ups and downs in her career, Bebe is more than equipped to ride that wave. Speaking about the new album’s release, she added: “I’m nervous, but my career has never followed the perfect path of what a normal pop star would be.

“Life is about riding waves — and I hope that this is a high one.”

COLDPLAY ALBUM GRIEF

CHRIS Martin says Coldplay's new album Music Of The Spheres was a nightmare to make in the pandemic.

He revealed: “We had to find countries where we were able to get in with permission and then be in a recording bubble.

"We tried to stay within the rules but also get together when possible in a way so we wouldn’t be thrown in prison.”

The band, whose new single Higher Power is out, will play live-stream concert Live At Worthy Farm on May 22 – a stand-in for Glastonbury.

Chris, told Radio 2: “We’re going to have the cows and grass and just play to them.

“Every member of the audience is special – human or bovine.”

SACHA GENIUS AWARD

SACHA Baron Cohen will be given the Comedic Genius gong at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.

The Borat actor is the fourth person to get the prize, after Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart and Melissa McCarthy.

MTV said it wanted to honour “an actor who has made incomparable contributions to the world of comedy”.

Sacha, up for three other gongs, will receive the Genius award during the May 16 ceremony, held at the Palladium in LA.

PARENTS FLOORED BY COVID

BEBE has told how her album hit the skids when Covid took hold in March last year – and her parents were struck down with the virus.

She believed she had completed Better Mistakes at the end of 2019 but it evolved after the pandemic hit.

The Sacrifice singer, who was photographed with her boyfriend Keyan Safyari at her album’s launch party in LA on Thursday, said: “Sitting on it for a year and a half, it was very painful and very frustrating.

“It all had a similar sound and then while I was holding on to it during coronavirus, it was like, ‘This needs a dance song, I’m going to lose my mind.

"I can’t listen to these sad songs any more, because the world is in such a different place’.

“Then I was like, ‘I have to stop or the album is going to be completely different to the original’.”

Speaking about her folks, mum Bukurije and dad Flamur, she added: “In the very beginning of lockdown my parents got very sick and that was very scary to me.

“My mum, even still, has heart issues and lung issues from Covid, because she was really sick.

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