Could Bebe Rexha still be a big pop star, or has she peaked?

[Nasarati]

In an earlier thread on the topic of industry plants who failed to launch, I lambasted Bebe Rexha as a failed pop star whose ambitions did not match her commercial viability, and implied that her career in the limelight was functionally over.

Shortly afterwards, "I'm Good (Blue)" with Bebe Rexha and David Guetta started climbing up the charts, definitively proving that I don't know jack shit about anything.

To be fair, I feel I was perfectly justified in believing her vanquished. Bebe's 2021 album Better Mistakes infamously bombed, debuting at truly painful number #140 on the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single Baby I'm Jealous only managed to limp up to a meager #58 on the Hot 100 despite the presence of a white-hot Doja Cat, while the second single, Sacrifice, missed the Hot 100 entirely. (I'm aware that both these tracks had better performances on airplay charts -- but I don't really care about those. Being #30 or whatever on Adult Contemporary airplay makes a song a qualifiable hit!)

Anyhow, the point is: that album hit the dirt, didn't sell jack, and seemed to prove to me that Bebe Rexha was a blip, an artefact of 2018, and that she would no longer be a concern to popular music.

But now! She has! Another hit! What!

What is the state of Bebe Rexha in 2022? Will she continue to sporadically crank out hits over the next few years? Is this (albeit still minor) hit a freak accident? Can she recover from Better Mistakes and regain momentum as an artist? Can she cross over to the A-list? Why do I see this woman in my dreams? Do I love her or do I hate her?

[irice22]

She's been up and coming for the past decade. She peaked with "Meant to Be."

[rainie]

tbh i feel like most of her songs become hits in *spite* of her

[🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾]

I think Bebe still has the potential. It's hard to say when or if she will continue to be successful and whatnot, but never count her out.

She will always have her songwriting to make money from. I think she will find more success within the realm of Dance/Electronic music.

[Kelly's 10th Fan]

'Big' as in Dua Lipa or Olivia Rodrigo level successful? Very unlikely. But she's not likely going to fall off into eternal oblivion after I'm Good either. Bebe is kind of a female Jason Derulo; she's not someone you'll ever look to for a solid album era but she will periodically have a nice hit on her hands every two or three years and probably has at least a few more hits in her before that pattern ends.

Given that the hits she does have tend to be one-offs and collabs, I think her best shot at joining the a-list (assuming she cared about that anymore) would be to focus on being a singles artist and not even bother with albums. I also agree with 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 that she could be a steady success in dance/electronic if she chose to focus on it. I doubt she'd ever do either of those things though.

[mkarns]

I think she can still be successful with features, such as the current David Guetta collab (also his first substantial US hit as the lead artist in quite a while), as well as songwriting and possibly production/mixing. Sort of an all around utility player.

As far as being a big pop star on her own, that ship has probably sailed if it was ever really in port. Dance/electronic and possibly Alternative are probably her core formats, which can still produce CHR/pop crossover hits for her.

An analogous artist might be Charli XCX, at least with American audiences. Charli has been very successful for a decade with collaborations and songwriting, but at least in the US only has one big solo pop hit (the soundtrack song "Boom Clap"), which feels like something of an anomaly now.

[velaxti]

I feel like she already has been a big pop star? She's had like 10 hit songs by now, and there are sooooooo many artists out there that I listen to who have been around 10+ years and never even hit the bubbling under chart or ever charted in a single country. Bebe Rexha appears on TV, and collaborates with A-list pop stars.

I know what you mean though. You think she should be "big" like have 3 #1s in a year like Katy Perry, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc, managed to do? Well, she's come nowhere near accomplishing that and maybe never will. Frankly you probably need to be deep into the illuminati for that level of success. Ariana Grande had to get into Kaballah for her to become that level of big for example. And you may think she's crazy to do that but I'm into occultism as well and these kinds of things really do work. But I'm not sure if Bebe Rexha is into this kind of thing. If she does go down that path she's still young enough she can have a massive era.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Oct 14, 2022 0:32:38 GMT -5 rainie said:

tbh i feel like most of her songs become hits in *spite* of her

I think this is where I sit too. Her songs that become hits do so because of the songs themselves or some other aspect that isn’t necessarily direct to Bebe herself. No one is checking for her so she can release something and have it go unnoticed, but no one has anything against her either so she can release something that smashes and it’s not really much of a surprise. I don’t know if it’s a good position to be in. She has a surprising number of hits, both bigger and minor chart hits, for someone who basically may as well not exist as an artist that few seem to know anything about. There’s no investment in who she is and maybe that comes with there being no direction in her music.

[Nasarati]

Oct 14, 2022 4:14:41 GMT -5 velaxti said:

I feel like she already has been a big pop star? She's had like 10 hit songs by now, and there are sooooooo many artists out there that I listen to who have been around 10+ years and never even hit the bubbling under chart or ever charted in a single country. Bebe Rexha appears on TV, and collaborates with A-list pop stars.

I know what you mean though. You think she should be "big" like have 3 #1s in a year like Katy Perry, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc, managed to do? Well, she's come nowhere near accomplishing that and maybe never will. Frankly you probably need to be deep into the illuminati for that level of success. Ariana Grande had to get into Kaballah for her to become that level of big for example. And you may think she's crazy to do that but I'm into occultism as well and these kinds of things really do work. But I'm not sure if Bebe Rexha is into this kind of thing. If she does go down that path she's still young enough she can have a massive era.

See, this post started off normal and sensible, but then took a hard turn in the second paragraph. Girl, what?

[Kelly's 10th Fan]

Oct 14, 2022 11:20:09 GMT -5 Nasarati said:

Oct 14, 2022 4:14:41 GMT -5 velaxti said:

I feel like she already has been a big pop star? She's had like 10 hit songs by now, and there are sooooooo many artists out there that I listen to who have been around 10+ years and never even hit the bubbling under chart or ever charted in a single country. Bebe Rexha appears on TV, and collaborates with A-list pop stars.

I know what you mean though. You think she should be "big" like have 3 #1s in a year like Katy Perry, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc, managed to do? Well, she's come nowhere near accomplishing that and maybe never will. Frankly you probably need to be deep into the illuminati for that level of success. Ariana Grande had to get into Kaballah for her to become that level of big for example. And you may think she's crazy to do that but I'm into occultism as well and these kinds of things really do work. But I'm not sure if Bebe Rexha is into this kind of thing. If she does go down that path she's still young enough she can have a massive era.

See, this post started off normal and sensible, but then took a hard turn in the second paragraph. Girl, what?

Speak for yourself. Grandma over here has bills to pay and wants to know if I'm still young enough for joining the illuminati to work...I have no idea what Kabbalah has to do with the illuminati but I got some red string around here somewhere, I'm sure I can figure it out

[getouttamyway]

Oct 14, 2022 4:14:41 GMT -5 velaxti said:

I know what you mean though. You think she should be "big" like have 3 #1s in a year like Katy Perry, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc, managed to do? Well, she's come nowhere near accomplishing that and maybe never will. Frankly you probably need to be deep into the illuminati for that level of success. Ariana Grande had to get into Kaballah for her to become that level of big for example. And you may think she's crazy to do that but I'm into occultism as well and these kinds of things really do work. But I'm not sure if Bebe Rexha is into this kind of thing. If she does go down that path she's still young enough she can have a massive era.

I agree with this.

[Private Dancer]

Peaked. and washed

[M5AGTS]

Oct 14, 2022 4:14:41 GMT -5 velaxti said:

I know what you mean though. You think she should be "big" like have 3 #1s in a year like Katy Perry, Fergie, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, etc, managed to do? Well, she's come nowhere near accomplishing that and maybe never will. Frankly you probably need to be deep into the illuminati for that level of success. Ariana Grande had to get into Kaballah for her to become that level of big for example. And you may think she's crazy to do that but I'm into occultism as well and these kinds of things really do work. But I'm not sure if Bebe Rexha is into this kind of thing. If she does go down that path she's still young enough she can have a massive era.

Wtf did I just read here?