''Better Mistakes'' is the second studio album by American singer Bebe Rexha, released on May 7, 2021, by

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It serves as the follow-up to her debut studio album, '' Expectations'' (2018) and contains guest features from

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

Ty Dolla Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Griffin gai ...

, Trevor Daniel, Lil Uzi Vert,

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCl ...

Pink Sweats David Bowden (born February 14, 1992), known professionally as Pink Sweats (stylized as Pink Sweat$), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He released his first Extended play, EP ''Volume 1'' in 2018, led by the single "Honest ...

, Lunay and

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

. The album was preceded by the singles " Baby, I'm Jealous", "

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", and "

Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

Background

Bebe worked on the album and finished it before the COVID pandemic, with most of the recording taking place in the summer and fall of 2019. Rexha announced the album's title as ''Better Mistakes'', along with its artwork and release date (May 7, 2021), on April 14, 2021, along with the announcement of the third single, "

". On April 15, she revealed the tracklist on her social media accounts. The album was available for

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

on April 16, conceding with the release of "Sabotage".

Composition

Rexha described the album as a pop record with "a lot of hip-hop in it". She added that it's "not...dance music, but you can bop to it". The opening track, "Break My Heart Myself", which features Travis Barker, makes references to how Rexha lives with bipolar disorder.

Singles

On October 5, 2020, Bebe Rexha announced the lead single called " Baby, I'm Jealous", featuring

, would be released on October 9. The song charted at number 58 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. She released the follow-up single, "

", on March 4, 2021. On April 14, Rexha announced the third single, "

", would be released on April 16, along with the album's pre-order. On April 28, Rexha announced the song "Die for a Man" featuring American rapper-singer-songwriter Lil Uzi Vert would be released as the promotional single off the album on April 30. She later gave a snippet of the song a day before the single's release. A remix of "Break My Heart Myself" featuring Yeji and Ryujin of

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girl group

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was released as a single on July 29, 2022, following a viral dance performance of the original song by Yeji and Ryujin in June.

Critical reception

Robin Murray from '' Clash'' called the album a "bulldozer 30 minute pop experience" that "affords Bebe Rexha space to amplify her potency while exposing her insecurities", further summarizing it as "13 songs that punch out their truths and then dissipate".

Commercial performance

''Better Mistakes'' debuted at number 140 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 becoming Rexha's lowest charting album on the chart. In Canada, the album debuted at number 57 on the ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums.

Track listing

Notes * "Amore" contains an interpolation of the 1953 song " That's Amore", written by

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

and Jack Brooks. * "Mama" contains an interpolation of the 1975 song "

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", by the band

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Personnel

Musicians * Bebe Rexha – lead vocals *

– drums * Peter Rycroft – bass, drums, guitar, synthesizer programming * David Strääf – drum programming , guitar , backing vocals, drums, synthesizer ; acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, programming, violin * Richard Boardman – drum programming, synthesizer ; keyboards *

Burns Burns may refer to: Astronomy * 2708 Burns, an asteroid * Burns (crater), on Mercury People * Burns (surname), list of people and characters named Burns ** Burns (musician), Scottish record producer Places in the United States * Burns, ...

– all instruments * Pablo Bowman – backing vocals , guitar Technical * Colin Leonard – masterer *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is an American audio engineer based in California. He won three Grammy Awards: the first for mixing ''Growing Pains'' for Mary J. Blige in 2007, followed by '' El mal querer'' for Rosalía in 2018, and ''Hyperspace'' for Beck in ...

– mixer * Şerban Ghenea – mixer * Tom Norris – mixer * Mitch McCarthy – mixer * Greg Kurstin – recording engineer * Alex Pasco – recording engineer * Julian Burg – recording engineer * Burns – recording engineer * Devon Corey – vocal engineer * Jon Hume – vocal engineer

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Bebe Rexha albums Albums produced by Burns (musician) Albums produced by Greg Kurstin Albums produced by Jason Gill (musician) Albums produced by Jussifer Warner Records albums