Bebe Rexha Says ‘Meant to Be’ Introduced Her to New, Friendlier Music World

Bebe Rexha dipped her toes in the country world with the release of “Meant to Be,” which she sang with Florida Georgia Line. The song introduced her to an entirely new genre, one she says she learned at the ACM Awards is far different from the pop world.

“All the girls shared one dressing room, so it was like Carrie Underwood, and Maren Morris, and Reba [McEntire] was walking by,” Rexha recalled to PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “I was like, ‘This is so different from the pop world.’ Everybody’s just equal, and there’s no egos, and everybody’s respectful.

“That’s really nice, because, in the pop world, it’s such a different vibe and a different world, where it’s very cutthroat, especially with women,” she continues. “So, being around them, and being around more of a family and a loving environment, it feels so much more fulfilling, in a sense, even when you have success.”

“Meant to Be” has stayed at the top of the charts for 28 weeks, earning both Rexha and Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley numerous accolades, including a recent party in their honor at the FGL House in Nashville.

“This is terrible to say, but if you have a No. 1 song, you’re never gonna get even a congratulations,” Rexha reveals. “I wrote ‘Monster’ for Eminem and Rihanna, I don’t even have a plaque on my wall for that, and it’s almost diamond, almost 10 million copies. So, the pop world is just completely different.”

“When we wrote ‘Meant To Be,’ I remember Tyler inviting me over to Nashville,” she adds. “Like, ‘Come on, let’s celebrate.’ He invited me and my whole team. And I was like, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘Cause we wrote a great song.’”

Hubbard offered to fly Rexha and her team to Nashville to celebrate, further proving that the country music world was vastly different from anything she had ever been part of before.

“I’s definitely a lot more of a loving environment,” Rexha says. “It’s a lot more friendly and enjoyable.”

“Meant to Be” has been a career-changer for both Florida Georgia Line and Rexha, which is even sweeter because neither artist intended to write a hit song when they got together.

“We were just out in LA writing,” Hubbard says. “[We] reached out to some different artists and she hit us back at last minute and said, ‘Yeah I’ll come to the studio tonight.’ I don’t even think she knew we were going to write a song. I think she just thought we were going to hang out and meet and maybe schedule time to write. But me and the boys were ready to write.

Download “Meant to Be” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/beberexha