Bebe Rexha - Bebe (LP)

In April 2023, Bebe Rexha slipped out her third studio album, Bebe, through Warner Records, and it plays like a love letter to the dance pop she grew up on. It is glossy, warm and unashamedly hooky, but there is a lived-in candour to the writing that keeps the sugar in check. The cover art leans into a sun‑bleached 70s glam vibe, and the music follows suit. You can hear the soft-focus disco pulse, the sparkle of vintage synths and those big chorus pay-offs she has always had a knack for.

“Heart Wants What It Wants” sets the tone. It moves with a steady four-on-the-floor and an airy melody that could soundtrack a late-night drive down the coast. The lyric is simple and human, a shrug at the mess of desire, and it lands because she sings it like someone who has been there a few times. Bebe’s voice is the anchor throughout the record. She can flip from nightclub glow to tear-streaked confessional without losing that radio sparkle, which is a neat trick.

The features are smartly chosen. “Satellite” with Snoop Dogg is a cheeky, breezy highlight, more winking neon than heavy club thump. It is pure earworm territory, and Snoop slides in like a veteran who knows not to crowd the host. Then there is “Seasons”, a closing duet with Dolly Parton that has already become a talking point. Dolly’s harmony sits like a hand on the shoulder, steady and unforced, and the song pulls the album’s themes into focus. Under the sequins there is a songwriter wrestling with change, cycles, the bits of yourself you try to outgrow. It is a beautiful pairing of two very different American pop storytellers.

Of course, the massive international hit “I’m Good (Blue)” with David Guetta is here too. That song went to number one in the UK and cracked the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100, and it earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. Folding it into the tracklist makes sense. It is the jet fuel that powered this era, and it connects the album’s retro shimmer to the festival-sized dance world where Bebe has spent so much time. Heard alongside the softer moments, it also shows her range. There is the big room hammer that first-time listeners might know her for, and there is the cooler, more romantic pulse that runs through the new material.

What I like most is how tidy the record feels. No bloat, no filler runs. “Call on Me” is the hands-in-the-air release valve, the sort of chorus that will spill out of gym speakers and backyard parties long after its chart week passes. A track like “I’m Not High, I’m In Love” is a neat mission statement for the album’s mood. It is fizzy and flirty, but also a little self-aware, like she is drawing hearts in the condensation on the window and having a laugh about it. The sequencing makes sense too. It starts in the club, takes little detours into candlelit territory, then closes the curtain with Dolly. Clean arc.

If you are eyeing Bebe Rexha vinyl for the shelf, this is the one that will convert the sceptics. The bass lines feel plush on wax and those string-like pads blossom nicely at home volume. Among Bebe Rexha albums on vinyl, Bebe has the most cohesive colour palette, sonically and visually. The Bebe vinyl pressing has become a quiet favourite to pull out when friends drop by and you want to tilt the room from chatter to a bit of a groove without blasting anyone’s head off.

For local crate-diggers, keep an eye on your Melbourne record store. Copies tend to move, especially when a new single bubbles up again on radio. If you prefer to buy Bebe Rexha records online, you will find standard black pressings and the odd coloured variant floating around, and it sits neatly alongside her earlier work if you are building out the run. It is also a tidy rec for anyone building a pop section among their vinyl records Australia haul who wants something that flirts with classic disco while staying very 2023.

Bebe does not try to reinvent the wheel here. She just polishes it until it spins. In an era where pop albums often feel like playlists, this one behaves like a proper record, with a start, middle and end you can feel. That is why it works as both a Friday-night lift and a Sunday tidy-up listen. And that is why it deserves a spot in the stack.