COSMOPOLITAN · 75We’reina privateroomthemorning
afterRexhalandedfromLAand,
asidefromtheuniversaluniformof
thejet-lagged(blackhoodie,joggers,
sliders,zeromake-up),you’dhaveno
ideathatshe’sbattlingthrougha fog
ofexhaustion.It’s8amandshehas
a day-longphotoshootaheadofher,
butshebouncesbetweentopicswith
thesortofenergyyoudon’tnormally
getfrommusiciansatthis
timeinthemorning.With
herfirstcupofcoffee
gulpeddown,sheponders
ourold-fashioned
surroundings.“Ireallyhate
thelightinginhere.If my
roomwasn’tsomessy,I’d
saylet’sgoupthere
instead,”shestartsout.
“That’sgrowinginto
a woman for you – you
know what you like.”
That’s who Bebe Rexha is now: a
30-year-old woman who knows exactly
what she likes and, crucially, what
she doesn’t. But it wasn’t always that
way. Like many women in the public
eye, and particularly those in the
murky, cut-throat world of the music
industry, she has had to learn the hard
waywhatshewillandwon’ttolerate
onthepathtosuccessandstardom.
RaisedinNewYorkbyAlbanian
parents,shesignedherfirstrecorddeal
withWarnerBrosat 23 andflewout
toLAalone.“I rememberwhenI saw
Britney[Spears]makeit bigforthe
firsttime,shewas17.SowhenI turned
18 I waslike,‘That’sit,I didn’tmake
it.’I feltthesamewhenI hit21,and
hroughoutmytwenties.
t 27I hada breakdown.”
Butalthoughshehadyet
o findfame,hertalentwas
quietlygarneringattention.
Rexhabecamea behind-
the-sceneswriterforartists
likeSelenaGomez,Nick
onasandIggyAzalea,and
adco-writtenEminem
ndRihanna’sTheMonster
y 24. The Grammy-
winningNo1 hit was a major boost to
her CV, and she started being featured
as a singer on the tracks she had
co-written (including David Guetta’s
Hey Mama and Louis Tomlinson’s
Back To You) before finally scoring
her solo breakthrough last year with
the single Meant To Be, landing two
Grammy nominations of her own. ›CELEBRITYOh god, I think we need coffee.”
Bebe Rexha’s Staten Island drawl
carries over the early-morning
hush of one of London’s oldest
hotels. A waiter in a starched
white waistcoat arrives with
a silver pot, pouring us both a
steaming cup. He turns to leave
but she stops him. “Do you know
what?” she says, beaming politely.
“Can you just leave the entire pot?”
like, ‘That’s
it,I didn’t