Video Emerges of Bebe Rexha’s Pre-Grammy ‘F’-Bomb Tirade
Pop star turned country music carpetbagger Bebe Rexha made headlines last Thursday evening (2-7) during a Spotify party held in Los Angeles to honor all of the women up for the Grammy’s New Artist of the Year award. Bebe Rexha decided to perform her crossover hit “Meant To Be” for the assembled crowd, and when attendees were unimpressed by Bebe Rexha and “Meant To Be,” she stopped down the song and went on an expletive-fueled tirade according to numerous reports from the AP, Rolling Stone, and others.
Since the Spotify party was exclusive and untelevised, you had to rely on the first hand accounts from the reporters in the room to determine what exactly happened. “This song was No. 1 for 50 fucking weeks! I work too fucking hard for this fucking bullshit, okay?” Rexha was quoted as saying. “I worked too hard for this moment. I’m from Staten Island, New York, and I’m standing on this stage right here. You’re going to sing the fucking words if you know the fucking song … Call me whatever the fuck you want to call me. I’m being a bitch right now, yes.”
Well after some deep digging, Saving Country Music was able to find some partial video of the incident from a Portuguese YouTube user. The video corroborates both the quotes coming out of the event, and the surly attitude Bebe Rexha displayed from the stage.
Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be” collaboration with Florida Georgia Line spent a historic and likely insurmountable 50 weeks atop Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2017-2018. It also broke records for the best-charting debut single by a woman in country along with other important benchmarks. Many fairly question why “Meant To Be” was considered a country song, when it was not recorded to be one, and was not originally considered on country music’s charts until it was sent to country radio. Bebe Rexha has no ties to country music. She didn’t even know who Florida Georgia Line was before the collaboration. There are also fair concerns about the playlist manipulations that put “Meant To Be” at #1.
“Meant To Be” was up for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 2019 Grammy Awards, but lost to Dan + Shay’s “Tequila.” Bebe Rexha was also up for New Artist of the Year. She lost to Dua Lipa.
The Spotify crowd, and the Grammy Awards deserve an apology.
February 11, 2019 @ 11:43 am
Classy. I have to say, as a woman, I hate when other women act like this.
February 12, 2019 @ 10:37 am
Shes a classless piece of trash just like most ‘artists’ involved in pop music. She cannot sing live either. Shes horrible. She ruined country music with that song, it’s a good pop song but it should’ve never been on country radio.
February 11, 2019 @ 11:43 am
….you WILL dance or I will blow your feet off . now EVERYONE …when I say so ….START FEELING HAPPY or else …..
like something from a Melissa McCarty comedy ……
February 11, 2019 @ 11:46 am
kinda sad when a ‘ country ‘ singer is ignored ….isn’t it Bebe ?
karma …?
February 11, 2019 @ 11:52 am
This is what a real lady does.Her name must be LADY Rexha not Bebe.
February 11, 2019 @ 11:57 am
I like her sleeves. They’re real big.
February 11, 2019 @ 11:59 am
Bye bye, Bebe.
February 11, 2019 @ 12:13 pm
Fuck her and fuck anyone who supports her.
February 13, 2019 @ 7:04 am
I’m with Tyrone.
February 11, 2019 @ 12:26 pm
Lol you have to be messing with me, Trig. This is too good. My first ever comment on this site was on your usage of the word carpetbagger in an article about Bebe. I’ll just post my original message again, cuz I like it.
MARCH 11, 2018 @ 8:03 AM
“Hey Trig first off, let me say your website and metamodern are the reason I now only listen to country music. I discovered both about 6 months ago after having abandoned the genre when Pat green moved to Nashvillle. This past October I started at the beginning of your website and skimmed every page from the FreeHank3 MySpace days all the way to this article. I wanted to get caught up on all I had been missing out on since 2006 (Straight to hell sent me in the opposite direction compared to most folks). Thanks to you the past six months were incredibly enjoyable. I was laughing my ass off and banging my head in agreement with you when what’s his name from the hustlas gave you shit for no fucking reason and then when xxx was a thing and that entitled Jennings guy thru his paranoid temper tantrum on down to the silly sexism bullshit that is currently being lobbed at you. And the only thing that I questioned bout you was (at this point you should tape down your pupils so they don’t go too far in the back of your head but please hear me out) your use of the term “carpetbagger”. Speaking as a sufficiently white 🍞 Dixie mothafucka I have to say, knowing how much you hate politics, I find it perplexing that you would use such a politically loaded term. I have no other issue with you, but every time you use this word it feels like a kick to the crotch of my Lily white klan robe. If for nothing else, shouldnt we avoid making it any easier to label us racist? Having said that, keep sticking it to those progressive, pinko, faggy (the modern definition of one who obnoxiously rides a loud motorcycle) scalawags!”
February 11, 2019 @ 3:23 pm
wow, way to shred him Seth
February 12, 2019 @ 11:07 am
Thanks!
February 11, 2019 @ 12:27 pm
Don’t know what’s worse, her rant or the fact that females are cheering her ranting.
February 11, 2019 @ 12:51 pm
What do you have against “females”? How about just “fans”?
February 11, 2019 @ 1:04 pm
LOL
Looking for an excuse to go woke, huh?
February 11, 2019 @ 1:43 pm
I’m sorry, but you’re the one who made this controversial. If a bro country singer ranted on stage about something and if his fans cheered, I don’t think my reaction would be “why are males cheering?”
February 11, 2019 @ 2:10 pm
Do I really have to break it down to this low of a level for you?
I hear zero male voices screaming/yelling/etc. on that video. Do you?
February 12, 2019 @ 2:28 am
WE GOT WHITE KNIGHTS ON SCM 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
February 11, 2019 @ 12:28 pm
Who are the idiots cheering her?
February 11, 2019 @ 2:54 pm
I do not, and did not, deny that the cheering in that video is primarily female. I contend, however, that reflects the artist’s fan-base, as opposed to whatever you are trying to make this into. My example of the hypothetical bro country artist was supposed to illustrate just that point. It’s the fans, not male fans, and certainly not “males”.
Talk about a low level of understanding.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:55 pm
I apologize — this is not a reply direct at you, Eduardo; I clicked the wrong button.
February 11, 2019 @ 6:40 pm
I’ll bet money Bebe fans are overwhelmingly grrl-power types, and just as misguided, herd-instinctual, and delusional as she is. I’d also bet that male fans tend on average to be more individualistic, except for those who live in places where political herding is rewarded with money, sex, or absence of harassment.
February 12, 2019 @ 10:49 am
“absence of harassment”….. Cry me a river. Imagined victimization (from the left and the right) is ruining this country.
February 13, 2019 @ 7:07 am
Probably about the only 10-15 people singing along.
February 11, 2019 @ 12:50 pm
Was she lip-synching at the end? Lip- synching and auto- tuned That’s the kind of talent Florida Georgia Line demands!.
February 11, 2019 @ 12:56 pm
I cant sing the worlds. I’ve never heard the song…. she seems like a spoilt Bitch having a tantrum. Maybe they didn’t sing because it sucks?
February 11, 2019 @ 12:59 pm
Trash.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:16 pm
I was expecting something completely different. She’s no different than the women who stop shows to tell audiences to be quiet or different than artists hyping up an audience. Is the problem that she says fuck because a lot of women in country say fuck and so do people on this site.
And no I’m not defending her, I don’t like her music. This hit in her just seems weird.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:44 pm
First of all, it was an industry party, not a regular show. And there’s a way to ask people to be quiet, and that was the opposite of what any artist should do to quiet a room. She’s also mad because people aren’t singing, which is a dumb reason to be mad. She comes across as ungrateful and crass. If she wants to have a career, this is not the way to go about it.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:52 pm
I don’t see how it’s any different than people yelling at the audienc to sing, get on their feet, get their hands up.
She’s no more crass than men or other women IMO.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:59 pm
Ok, we were raised differently I guess.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:03 pm
Yes you apply different standards to people and sexes where I don’t.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:06 pm
When a performer says “get on your feet” or “get your hands up” its usually in an encouraging, we-are-all-here-to-have-fun-together tone. They aren’t angry at the crowd, they are just trying to loosen the crowd up. bebe sounded more intimidating and clearly angry, it sounded like she only wanted the crowd to sing along to soothe her own ego, she doesn’t seem to care if the crowd is actually having fun. She was there to entertain them, the crowd was not there to entertain her. Most of the time when other performers egg the crowd on its meant for the crowds benefit, kinda like a DJ at a wedding trying to get everybody on the dance floor. the intention is different.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:09 pm
That’s the thing though the crowd was cheering her not booing. Are people all o we calling her out or just on a country blog?
February 11, 2019 @ 2:17 pm
Yeah, saying this is the equivalent of telling fans to sing along or get on their feet is ludicrous. She completely stopped her song down in the middle of it. Saying “I work too fucking hard for this fucking bullshit, okay?” is a bit different than saying “Put your hands in the air, and swing them like you just don’t care!”
She lost it. It happens. It shouldn’t be the end of the world for her, but it does speak to the concerns of her character, and she should probably apologize.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:30 pm
Why is she being singled out for something so many others have done? That’s why I don’t get and who should she apologize too? The audience was cheering her on.
February 13, 2019 @ 10:43 am
There’s a huge difference between asking a crowd to sing along and stopping a song to berate them for not doing so. Even without the profanity, it comes off as entitled and petulant.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:48 pm
Idk, this does seem different to me. It’s a bad look when any artist scolds their own fans for doing the normal things that fans do at concerts (recording, screaming, etc) but Bebe seemed to take it a step further. Scolding people for not singing along because “I deserve it”? Not to mention, it sounds like this wasn’t even her concert but a private event, probably a lot of industry types who weren’t going to act like super fans for anybody that performed. One possibility is that the crowd was being talkative and not respecting her performance, and she didn’t articulate her frustration very well. Maybe she wanted their respectful attention but “sing along” is all that came out. Either way, it’s a terrible song that she was merely featured on, the song didn’t deserve the crowds attention.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:55 pm
It seems like Bebe is the new boogeyman. Artists scold people all the time. Fans enjoy it that’s why they were cheering her on.
I agree it’s a terrible song but I just don’t see her actions being that outlandish compared to other artists.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:21 pm
Maybe this happens all of the time in hip-hop and pop all the time. But I’ve never seen a country artist act this ungrateful. A week or so ago Aaron Lewis walked off the stage when people wouldn’t be quiet. But he simply walked off. He didn’t hard cuss the crowd and tell them how badass he was. To me, this is an extension of the braggadocios hip-hop influence infecting popular music with superiority complexes and down-looking attitude.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:41 pm
How about showing up drunk at shows or not showing up at all wasting fans time and money? Or ranting at people telling them they’re shit fans and should just suck up their dissapointment? That to me is ungrateful.
What’s hard cuss, people throw fuck around like it’s nothing why is Bebe singled out?
February 11, 2019 @ 3:16 pm
When Evan Felker showed up to numerous performances drunk in 2016, Saving Country Music posted an article about it with video evidence:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/fans-speak-up-after-numerous-drunken-performances-by-turnpike-troubadours-evan-felker/
When Justin Townes Earle was belligerent on stage, tore up a dressing room, and was arrested in Indianapolis, Saving Country Music wrote a story about it:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/belligerent-justin-townes-earle-arrested-in-indianapolis/
These are just two examples, but there are many more. These moral equivalents never hold water.
Also, I personally transcribed and highlighted what BJ Barham said about the Turnpike Troubadours said at Mile 0 Fest, so I didn’t try to sweep that under the rug. I was there, and like many others who were there will attest, it didn’t come across as jarring as the transcription. However you’re completely in your right to be offended by it. I don’t in any way see this as an equivalent with this Bebe Rexha episode though.
February 11, 2019 @ 3:38 pm
Speaking of hip hop influence, seems like Miranda Lambert pulled a Cardi B last night and had the police called on her after she threw a plate of food at somebody at another table.
Wonder what happened there.
February 11, 2019 @ 4:11 pm
It’s not the equivalent because Bebe fans aren’t posting all over social media that they feel disrespected by her and they’re not going to buy tickets to her next shows because she’s untrustworthy.
February 13, 2019 @ 7:10 am
What shows have you attended where an artist (and let’s be clear, Bebe ain’t one) stopped a song to admonish the crowd for not singing with them because they had worked so fucking hard (sorry, bebe, shaking your ass and singing is not work)? Name three. Or two. Or one. Maybe there is a reason she had to do this – she and her song suck. This is not that hard. She needs to take her no-talent ass back to momma and Staten Island and leave us alone. Better yet, the mini-van driving, wish I could still be cool, morons who listen to this shit should stop listening to it.
February 13, 2019 @ 7:14 am
Name one show you’ve been to where the artist (and let’s be clear, she ain’t one of those) stopped a song to admonish the crowd for not singing along because they had worked (and let’s be clear, shaking your ass and singing is not work) too hard to be up on the stage. One show. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Here’s a thought – if you want people to sing your song with you don’t suck.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:28 pm
I don’t hear any distinct booing but it sounds like the majority of the crowd was not reacting at all while a group around the camera was cheering her on. The people in the balcony seem to have no reaction. I don’t mean turn her into the boogeyman, other than this video and her part in that song I know nothing about her, I just think there is a clear difference between “I’ve worked too hard for this so your gonna sing along” (emphasis on the I) and “everybody clap your hands!”
February 13, 2019 @ 11:19 am
Not all of them was booing,,, some of them was cheering!
They were cheering the booing.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:55 pm
It shows she’s a manufactured star. About every single artist has played to an empty room. It doesn’t mean every single one of them didn’t work hard then and work hard now. People on here will post stories of when they saw Cody jinks with 12 fans at a bar or Sturgill Simpson etc. I know of one artist in country music signed to a label deal on his voice alone without ever playing in front of a crowd, Craig Morgan. I’m sure there’s more though but not very many.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:01 pm
We have established artists who get annoyed by the crowd or don’t show up when they don’t sell enough tickets. We’ve just gone through weeks of Turnpike and their distasteful behavior are we calling them manufactured too?
February 11, 2019 @ 5:36 pm
We just don’t like her.
February 11, 2019 @ 6:23 pm
i appreciate your honest answer because that’s what it all comes down to. We have women in country behaving like thugs and their behavior gets a pass while Bebe is treated like dirt.
February 11, 2019 @ 6:50 pm
“women in country behaving like thugs”
Miranda is all you got. Do you see Carrie, Ashley, Elizabeth, Kacey, Lee Ann, or anyone besides Miranda behaving like this? Lindi Ortega? Jamie Lin Wilson? Courtney Andrews? Even someone as carefully constructed as Nikki Lane isn’t so abusively vulgar. Bebe isn’t fit to step inside the Ryman or the CHOF. She’s a fake, her chart success is fake, and she should go strut around the pop music world, where she belongs.
February 11, 2019 @ 7:08 pm
Maren Morris isn’t exactly the epitome of class and grace. That may have been part of what SameOld is referring to. Though Maren is only slightly more country than Bebe Rexha.
February 11, 2019 @ 8:16 pm
Bebe isn’t country. She found an easy way in with that terrible song made herself some money and she’s back in her lane.
She’s not the first to do it and definitely won’t be the last.
February 11, 2019 @ 10:03 pm
No one is behaving like thugs – not Miranda and not Maren. Bebe is just coarse and crass. She’s “country” because of a change in charting methodology. Get her off the damn country charts and put her in the genre that deserves her.
February 12, 2019 @ 6:54 am
I would say that getting into fights in restaurants and throwing food and drinks at people makes you a thug.
Bebe isn’t country just because she had one song on the country charts. She featured on one song. The overreaction to her is astounding.
February 12, 2019 @ 9:30 am
I’m am tired of the bashing of female country artist also. True female country artist have been shit on by everyone there own record company’s , promoters just to name a few. Some people believe the me to movement was over kill..My question is why hasn’t it tricked down to the treatment of female country entertainers..As a fan I would hate to say I hated a female country artist, but I can also say Bebe is no more a country singer then I am.
I’m really tired of hearing about Miranda Lambert shit, she don’t call me about mine. The days of these women just being nice, showing up doing there jobs and going home are over. Country female artists are tough just to survive in a male based business.
February 12, 2019 @ 9:03 pm
Totally agree. Anytime there is s discussion about any women in country, somehow it cues the Miranda haters to creep in. Gets so old.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:11 pm
I agree with you but just wanted to say that I have actually seen Craig Morgan live at a festival a few years ago…it didn’t go great. He forgot the words to one of his radio hits and then snapped at his band when they didn’t stop playing immediately. I guess it proves the point that people remember when you act like a jerk on stage.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:26 pm
Yeah, very happy that she went empty-handed last night!
February 11, 2019 @ 1:43 pm
Guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
February 11, 2019 @ 1:45 pm
Ha!
February 11, 2019 @ 1:58 pm
I can’t believe I’m actually happy that Dan+Shay won a Grammy.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:00 pm
One of those rare moments that awkwardly exemplifies some self-realization of the all too frequent gap between popularity / success, and quality / integrity. Too bad it had to happen on stage like that though…I feel for her. Probably not the popular opinion.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:01 pm
My guess is that the reason people didn’t sing along to her nursery rhyme was that they were probably all over 12 years old .
February 11, 2019 @ 7:20 pm
Or that without Dumb and Dumber (aka Florida Georgia Line) there to sing it with her, nobody gave a shit.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:29 pm
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
February 11, 2019 @ 2:40 pm
I’ve been berated by better entertainers than you!
February 11, 2019 @ 2:49 pm
Settle down, Jeb.
February 11, 2019 @ 3:06 pm
Congratulations, Bebe Rexha, you have a moderately pleasant voice and a pair of implants–I wasn’t aware that meant I had to worship you.
Signed,
Every music fan in existence.
February 11, 2019 @ 3:17 pm
Really enjoyed your review of Blaze. SCM is just soooo vital. Congrats! You’re really setting the bar high.
February 11, 2019 @ 4:26 pm
Kiss my ass. I posted over 100 full-length album reviews last year, not to mention songs reviews and other features, all offered for free.
February 11, 2019 @ 6:54 pm
Fail.
February 11, 2019 @ 3:38 pm
She’s a human, she had a bad night, and we all have our moments. If nothing else, maybe it’ll be a situation that helped her realize she cares too much about industry respect — or that the people on her team puff up her ego or something — and she’ll grow from it. I don’t think she has any place in country, but I don’t wanna look at her as a bad human, either.
February 12, 2019 @ 3:46 pm
Bebe Rexha is human? No shit. Nice observation Captain Obvious.
February 11, 2019 @ 4:07 pm
Yup…classy. A graduate of the Cardi B Charm and Etiquette School.
One of the things I do love about Nashville is how down to earth the big artists are around town. I’ve sat in restaurants, passed the salt, stood in line at the airport, picked up dry cleaning, ordered at a burger king, etc. next to major stars and every single experience has been positive and chill. As long as you aren’t gherming them, they are just regular folks.
Having spent 8 years living in So Cal I know that’s not the same case over there…maybe she should move down here and remember what manners are.
On the positive side, the video ended before we actually had to listen to the song!
February 11, 2019 @ 7:02 pm
You just haven’t been here long enough.
February 11, 2019 @ 4:29 pm
I’ve seen Bruce Dickinson from stop a show to verbally bury a fan who threw stuff on stage. I’ve seen Steven Tyler verbally lambaste a fan for throwing pennies at him. Paul Stanley verbally ruin a fan for flashing their pen light at him. When an artist has their show interupted by someone looking to be nothing else but a disruptive element, I’m all for a public lashing. She better get used to the fact that some crowds are harder to please than others and you need to put more effort into your act to get the results you want. For BeBe to have to put her work ethic out there and go on some F bomb parade in an attempt get the crowd involved is plain juvenile. Nobody wants to see a live performance by someone who has some sense of entitlement.
February 11, 2019 @ 7:24 pm
I wonder what her reaction was to losing the Grammy (even if it was to a duo who are only marginally more country than she is). Probably wasn’t pretty.
February 12, 2019 @ 10:52 am
Bruce Dickinson has forgotten more about being in front of an audience than Bebe Rexha will ever know. He’s one of the best I’ve seen.
February 12, 2019 @ 5:46 pm
Dobe Daddy, I couldn’t agree with you more. I mentioned him, Paul Stanley and Steven Tyler because those are the only three I’ve seen live chastise someone in the audience for being complete idiots. I’ve yet to see a country artist live do that, aside from fan videos. Thanks for the post!!
February 11, 2019 @ 7:50 pm
She doesn’t seem to understand that she did nothing but ride the coattails of Florida Georgia Line with this single. Whether “Meant to Be” was #1 for five, 50 or 500 weeks, she’s no more relevant than any generic female vocalist on a pop or EDM track. Even in the pop world she remains a B-lister (if that) and a tiny speck next to more capable vocalists like Ariana Grande.
February 12, 2019 @ 3:01 am
What a sad commentary on the state of modern popular music. Most modern “artists” ( and I am not calling them musicians, because they sure as hell don’t play music ) of the internet era display this kind of sense of entitlement. They have not had to pay their dues in the dark juke joints or honky tonks. They think because they have 2,500 “likes” on youtube that they deserve to be where they are. Fuck them and and the synthesized aural bullshit they rode in on too!
February 12, 2019 @ 4:57 am
‘Pop Star Acts Like a Bitch. Film at 11:00’
-yawn-
February 12, 2019 @ 6:04 am
And Bebe turned to Axel and said “checkmate”
February 12, 2019 @ 6:16 am
Here’s the fun part (for me anyway)… at an “industry event” she called the “industry” attendees fuckers. In return, I bet they call her gone.
February 12, 2019 @ 12:04 pm
My point exactly. It’s basically like going to a job interview and telling everyone to go screw themselves. Just sayin’
February 13, 2019 @ 11:27 am
Right on,,, I think it’s great. This stupid bitch just put another nail in her own coffin.
February 12, 2019 @ 7:02 am
She could team w Representatives Omar and Tlaib for a diss track..they are just misunderstood….
February 12, 2019 @ 2:25 pm
DANCEEEE!!!!! ONE-LEGGED M—- F——-!!!! DAAAAAAANCE!!!! DAAAAANCE!!!!!
February 12, 2019 @ 3:40 pm
We get it Bebe. You DEMAND the audience to sing the words to your song or else they are nothing but a bunch of intolerant, non-inclusive misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic, trans-phobic, climate change denying, Trump supporting Nazi’s..
February 12, 2019 @ 11:53 pm
Bebe Rexha makes music for girls who shit with the door open.
February 14, 2019 @ 6:12 pm
White bitch from Brooklyn trying desperatly to be thug. Sad.
February 15, 2019 @ 1:45 pm
Wow. Without knowing entirely what preceded her rant, I’m hesitant to pass judgement. But it’s hard to imagine any context that would make that sound less worse.