David Guetta has hit the charts with his latest hit, “Hey Mama.” The popularity of Guetta’s latest song, though, has many asking just who it is singing the chorus and why isn’t she named on the track?
Guetta’s “Hey Mama” clearly features Nicki Minaj and fellow DJ Afrojack, but it doesn’t sound like either one of them was singing, and that’s where Bebe Rexha came in.
. @BebeRexha explained why she isn’t (officially) featured on David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” http://t.co/0PYgUH7OWa pic.twitter.com/nAND8ly7v9
— billboard (@billboard) April 30, 2015
The 25-year-old singer and songwriter is the voice you hear on Guetta’s latest track singing, “Beating the drum like dum di-di-day/I like the dirty rhythm you play.”
So why exactly isn’t she listed as one of the featured artists?
According to Billboard , Rexha explained her desire to be listed, saying, “ We talked about it — I actually emailed Guetta about it .”
Rexha went on to explain just why she wanted very badly to be listed as one of the featured artists on Guetta’s track, saying, “I really wanted to be featured on it, because, you know, I’ve been signed and dropped, and now signed a second time, so it’s been hard.”
So what happened? Rexha was told it was too many names.
“What ended up happening was that it looked like a lot of names on the title, so they wanted to keep as many low features as possible. That’s what I was told, and it makes sense to me. I guess more than two [featured] names don’t look good on the radio.”
Well, it may not look good on the radio, but it sure does sound good. Following Coachella, Guetta has his first number one Billboard hit ever. It’s not just the Billboard charts that Guetta is moving up.
. @DavidGuetta hit No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for (believe it or not!) the first time ever: http://t.co/XD9SaxQcgR
— billboard (@billboard) April 25, 2015
According to Broadway World , Guetta’s collaboration with Minaj, Afrojack, and Rexha has also hit “ #1 on iTunes’ Dance Singles, #5 iTunes Overall Singles, #10 Billboard Overall Singles Chart and #4 Shazam US Top 200 .”
“Hey Mama” comes off of Guetta’s latest album, Listen . It is Guetta’s sixth studio album featuring collaborations with Sia, John Legend, and Nico & Vinz.
David Guetta, who was one of this year’s Coachella headliners, has sold over eight million albums album worldwide and is sure to sell many more with the success of his latest hit, “Hey Mama.”
[Photo Courtesy of TNS Sofres ]