Rexha was born on August 30, 1989, in Brooklyn, New York, to Albanian parents. Her father, Flamur Rexha, is an Albanian born in Debar (nowadays Republic of Macedonia), when it was part of Yugoslavia. He immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 21, and her mother, Bukurije Rexha, was born in the U.S. to an Albanian family with roots in Gostivar (which, like Debar, is now part of the Republic of Macedonia). In the Albanian language, bletë means "bee"; derived from it, Rexha gave herself the nickname "Bebe" as part of her stage name. Bleta and her family moved to nearby Staten Island when she was six.
In January 2015, Rexha co-wrote and was featured on G-Eazy’s «Me, Myself & I». The song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number one on BillboardPop Songs. The song was originally titled «I Don’t Need Anything» and was intended as a song for Rexha herself. Instead, she brought the song idea to G-Eazy and was featured during the chorus.
Rexha met Nicki Minaj’s manager, Gee Roberson, and asked if Minaj would contribute to a new song. In March 2016, Rexha released her single, called «No Broken Hearts» featuring Nicki Minaj. In April 2016, the music video was released, directed by Dave Meyer.The video accumulated over 240 million views on YouTube.
On July 29, 2016, Rexha and Dutch DJ and record producer Martin Garrix released their single, «In the Name of Love». It peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Hot 100, at number four on US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and entered the top 10 in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, and New Zealand. The music video was released on August 23, 2016, on Martin Garrix’s YouTube channel.
On November 6, 2016, Rexha hosted the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards, at Rotterdam, Netherlands and performed multiple songs throughout the night, such as her single, «I Got You».
