It’s easy to forget how weird the music landscape felt back in 2016. EDM was basically shedding its neon skin and trying to figure out how to live on the radio without just being a "loud noise." Then came Bebe Rexha In the Name of Love, a track that felt less like a calculated boardroom hit and more like a lightning strike.
If you were there, you remember. You couldn't walk into a H&M or turn on a car radio without hearing that crisp, clean guitar pluck followed by Bebe's raspy, almost desperate vocal delivery. It was the first time many people actually noticed her as a solo powerhouse, even though she’d been writing hits for everyone from Eminem to Selena Gomez for years.
Honestly? The song shouldn't have worked as well as it did. You had a 20-year-old Dutch wunderkind, Martin Garrix, who was mostly known for the big-room "jump around" energy of "Animals," pairing up with a singer-songwriter who was still fighting to prove she was more than just a "featured artist." But when they dropped it, everything changed.
How a 45-Minute Session Created a Billion-Stream Monster
Most people think these massive hits take months of agonizing over every snare hit.
Not this one.
Co-writer Ruth-Anne Cunningham later spilled the tea on TikTok, revealing that she, Ilsey Juber, and Matt Rad actually hammered out the core of the song in about 45 minutes. It was one of those rare moments where the melody and the "In the Name of Love" hook just fell out of the sky.
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When Martin Garrix first heard the demo, he was in Los Angeles. He’d met Bebe in January of that year, and she’d played him some of her unreleased stuff. He was immediately obsessed with her voice—it’s got that specific "cry" in it that you can’t really teach.
The process was kind of chaotic:
- Martin had a raw demo of the production.
- Bebe recorded her vocals while Martin was halfway across the world.
- They actually used FaceTime to coordinate the recording session.
- There was a ton of "back and forth" via email to polish the stems.
Think about that for a second. One of the biggest songs of the decade was partially directed over a glitchy video call. It’s wild how technology allows for that kind of intimacy when the artists are thousands of miles apart.
Breaking the EDM Mold
By the time the song officially released on July 29, 2016, the "future bass" sound was just starting to bubble up into the mainstream. Before Bebe Rexha In the Name of Love, Garrix was the poster boy for hard-hitting festival beats.
This song was different.
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It was delicate. It was "clean," as Billboard critic Kat Bein put it at the time. It swapped the aggressive synths for a more melodic, emotional drop that didn't just ask you to dance—it asked you to feel something.
Why the Vocals Mattered
Bebe’s performance on this track is, frankly, the reason it’s still on your "Throwback" playlists today. She starts almost in a whisper: "If I told you this was only gonna hurt..." By the time the chorus hits, she's belting. It’s soulful, it’s raw, and it gave the EDM world a sense of "prestige" it was desperately seeking. Plus, let’s be real—she can actually sing this live. Watch her 2016 Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performance with Martin playing live guitar. No lip-syncing, no hiding behind a laptop. Just raw talent.
The Chart Stats (Because the Numbers Don't Lie)
If you're wondering how big this actually was, the data is staggering. It wasn't just a "flash in the pan" club hit.
In the US, it peaked at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it absolutely dominated the Dance Club Songs chart at #1. Over in the UK, it hung around the top 40 for nearly half a year. But the real kicker? In January 2021, it officially crossed the 1 billion streams mark on Spotify.
Martin Garrix became the first Dutch artist to ever hit that milestone with a single song. Bebe celebrated by literally eating cereal off the plaque. Icon behavior.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Collaboration
There’s this misconception that this was "Martin Garrix’s song" and Bebe was just the guest.
If you look at the credits, Bebe is a primary songwriter. She wasn't just handed a lyric sheet; she helped build the emotional DNA of the track. This song was the bridge that took her from "the girl who wrote The Monster for Rihanna" to a household name.
The music video also played a huge role. Filmed at a massive mansion with that iconic scene of them jumping into the pool, it perfectly captured the "elegant but doomed" vibe of the lyrics. It felt like a movie. It gave the song a visual identity that made it perfect for the early days of Instagram and the eventual rise of TikTok.
Actionable Insights for the "In the Name of Love" Legacy
If you're a creator, an artist, or just a fan of the genre, there's a lot to learn from how this song was handled. It wasn't just luck.
- Simplicity Wins: The song relies on a simple, recurring guitar motif. Don't overcomplicate the "hook."
- Embrace Vulnerability: The lyrics aren't about partying; they're about the terrifying parts of love. That's what makes a song "sticky."
- Collaboration Over Ego: Garrix stepped back from his usual "big" sound to let Bebe’s voice breathe. Sometimes, doing less as a producer does more for the song.
Where to Experience It Now
If you haven't revisited the track lately, don't just stick to the radio edit. The DallasK Remix is a beast if you want more of that traditional EDM energy, but the original "Live Lounge" version from BBC Radio 1 is where you can truly hear the grit in Bebe's voice.
To dig deeper into the 2016-era pop explosion, you can check out the official music video which, at this point, is basically a time capsule for mid-2010s aesthetics.
The next time you hear those opening notes, remember that it started with a FaceTime call and a 45-minute songwriting session. Greatness doesn't always need a year in the studio—sometimes it just needs the right voice and a willingness to try something different.