Our favorite “woman in dichotomy” Bebe Rexha rolled through for a RADIO.COM LIVE Check In with Julia and gave us all the details behind her newest song “Baby I’m Jealous,” plus she gives us the chance to peer into the life of Rexha and hear about all the projects she has in the works.
“I wanted to write a song about how I really felt and about my insecurities, and you know the whole project that I’ve been working on is based on insecurities… and kind of figuring out a way of how to make it empowering,” shares Bebe. The singer feels that speaking about jealousy, anxieties, and insecurities is the only way to normalize having these conversations.
Having recently entered the dating scene, Rexha tells us, “finally, I saw like how social media can really kind of be hard on relationships and I was like ‘wow, I’m surprised nobody has ever talked about that.’ We’ve talked about sliding into DMs and stuff like that but, on a level of relationships, social media has become a big part of our lives now… we live online.” “Baby I’m Jealous” is merely a product of what Rexha has experienced first-hand when relationships become intertwined with scrolling through Instagram.
Bebe interprets flirtatious social media interaction as a modern-day way of meeting someone at a bar. She feels like when someone comes through in the DMs or comments a “winky” emoji it's equivalent to the “old fashion ways” of making eyes at someone in a bar, or approaching someone in the supermarket. “Leaving a DM is kinda like walking over and being like ‘hey,’” compares the “I’m a Mess” singer.
Aside from dropping “Baby I'm Jealous”, a masterful, ultra-pop, collab with Doja Cat, and working out the rules of social media dating, Bebe is set to make her first film debut in Kristen Bell’s upcoming comedy flick, Queenpins. Acting alongside Bell, Vince Vaughn, Paul Walter Hauser, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Rexha will be playing the eccentric computer hacker, “Tempe Tina.” The film is based on the true story of one suburban housewife who created the largest coupon counterfeit scheme to date.
While this may be Bebe’s first live-action role on the silver screen, we can’t discount the incredible creativity that came out of Rexha’s music video for “Baby I’m Jealous.” Starting with a reference to Freaky Friday and cameo’s from Nikita Dragun and Charli D’Amelio, Rexha and Doja travel through the decades to serve us stunning, 1960s mod madness, Marie Antoinette realness, and the dawn of creation looks that would make Adam and Eve feel “jelly jelly jelly jelly jelly on a plate.”
Rexha tells us that the idea for the “Baby I’m Jealous” music video evolved from her love of different time periods, especially the 1800s and the movie version of Pride and Prejudice. After talking through her ideas with the music video’s director, Hannah Lux Davis, Bebe and Davis settled on creating a visual piece that demonstrates jealously “throughout time.”
In a collaborative effort, both Bebe and Hannah worked together to emulate all the details that came with each time period displayed in the music video. From corset tightening to loin cloths, the visual details were not spared for this piece.
Having the opportunity to include social media icons in the “Baby I’m Jealous” video only made sense for Rexha. Bebe shares that she wanted to work with people she already knew and “felt comfortable with.” Having already known D’Amelio from bonding during the Jonas Brother’s tour, and loving Nikita’s sense of humor and incredible presence on social media, she had her dream team assembled. Plus, Avani Gregg made it on to the set after Charli introduced her to Bebe, and Bebe appreciated her “chill” demeanor. “It was actually the perfect mix of personalities,” says Rexha. She adds, “It was so fun and we shot for three hours, and it felt like I was actually hanging out with my girlfriends.” Having the opportunity to work with all these amazing women made Rexha miss the days pre-COVID and the ability to go out with her closest girlfriends.
Finally, Bebe shares that the subtle messages she includes about body image in “Baby I’m Jealous” are completely intentional. “I feel like I deal with body issues, you know like with my weight, and like loving myself… it’s been this up and down thing forever,” explains the artist. Rexha purposely made a point to include the messaging because she knows she is not the only one that struggles with body image and she knows she’s not the only one who “likes the way food tastes.”
Rexha’s new unapologetic, yet deceptively vulnerable, single is here to remind you that we all get a little jealous sometimes, and yeah girl, it's okay!
For more from Bebe and what we can expect from her upcoming album watch her full interview above.
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