Bebe Rexha might have made her name as a vocal performer. However, her songwriting career is even more impressive, though less visible. In a recent conversation with DJ Whoo Kid, she discussed why nobody but Eminem wanted to touch “Monster”, and how it felt to share a stage with him.
Monster session
The song, originally titled “The Monster Under My Bed”, grew out of Bebe’s own struggles with mental health. That wasn’t why labels kept passing on it, though.
“We had written the song, and I was shopping it to labels. They didn’t get it”, Bebe recalls. She thinks that the main turn-off point was the production. The song was not the polished final product. The track was still built around a rough instrumental sketch just to keep the songwriting going, and the A&R executives couldn’t see past it. “The chords were there, everything was there, but the production wasn’t where it needed to be. So, I think a lot of the labels, they heard the song, but they didn’t hear what it could be. I had a lot of people pass on that song. And it wasn’t until we sent it to Riggs Morales”.
What Bebe needed was an artist as confident and hands-on with production as Eminem to spot the potential and make the song his own. And Riggs Morales, who introduced Eminem to The Source readers in 1998 and then worked as the Shady Records VP of A&R at the time, was the most direct route to Eminem. The fact that Frequency, who produced “The Monster”, has previously worked with Slaughterhouse, both collectively and with each member individually, added credibility to the project. Morales requested the song’s Pro Tools sessions right away, and the work began.
A revelation
If there was one person not entirely surprised by this turn of events, it was Bebe Rexha herself. She had called it from the very beginning. She was writing it with a small, trusted production team in a small Harlem studio when the realisation dawned on her. She knew who would be a perfect match for this song.
“We were in a room that was less than half the size of this room”, Bebe gestures at Whoo Kid’s studio. “We had put down the hook and the post. And I look at everybody and go, ‘Yo, this would be an amazing Eminem song’. Just ’cause I know what he’s doing and like the style. And they were like, ‘What are you talking?’ Frequency looked at me, and he was like, ’cause I always have ADHD, he’s like, ‘Just focus. Let’s finish the song first’”.
However, despite the initial dismissal, the thought stuck, Bebe believes. “I think that’s how I put the little chip in his head. When Riggs had hit him up randomly, he said, ‘Oh, I have a song. I don’t know. Maybe ’cause everybody’s so scared’. And I was like, ‘Why just play stuff? If it’s a great record, it’s a great record’”.
Rihanna takes over
It is a great song, but it was destined to take on a life beyond its writer. Despite being her personal testimony, her writing lent itself perfectly to other listeners to identify with and to other artists to perform. In this case, it was Rihanna who ended up on the final version of the song. “They were going to keep me on it originally, and then they put Rihanna on it”, shares Bebe Rexha. But she is not bitter about it. Having Rihanna record your song is no small thing.
And after all, she had a unique chance to perform it with Eminem live. There aren’t that many artists who have shared the stage with Marshall. For Bebe Rexha, the time came in 2018, when she sang her hook on “The Monster” at Coachella. But then again, stepping in after Rihanna put her stamp on the song was not easy, the singer/songwriter admits. “I was nervous because, I’m going to be honest, everybody thought probably it was going to be Rihanna. I was nervous, but it was really cool”. Besides the performance itself, the day was special for Bebe because she could meet Eminem for the first time. And Marshall surprised her again, right from the soundcheck. “He was not what I expected”, she admits. “Very quiet, composed, focused. Like he’s on a mission, you know?”
Of course, he is, as is Bebe herself. She continues the path of self-discovery, records new music, and moves from the giant publishing corporation to an independent label. And she still vividly remembers the revelation she had in a crowded Harlem studio all these years ago. After all, having writing credits on Eminem’s song goes a long way for an artist. Bebe understands it perfectly when she says, “That song has changed my life”.