“Seasons” by Bebe Rexha (ft. Dolly Parton)

“Seasons” is one of the more interesting tracks found on “Bebe” in that, first of all, it’s one of only three collaborations on the standard playlist of the 12-track album. Secondly, it marks Bebe Rexha’s first time teaming up with music legend Dolly Parton, with the latter likely being older than the former’s parents. 

For instance, whereas Rexha’s discography commenced in 2012, Parton’s dates all the way back to 1963. So in light of this collaboration, Bebe has gone about expressing her longtime admiration for Dolly and how working with her has been “an amazing experience”.

Credits for “Seasons”

Rexha wrote this song alongside Sarah “Solly” Solovay and its producer, Ido Zmishlany. And for the record, even though “Seasons” is the last track on the playlist of “Bebe”, it was actually the first Rexha wrote for the album.

Date of Release

Warner Records released the track on 28 April 2023.

Lyrics of “Seasons”

All lyrics considered, attempting to derive a thesis sentiment from this piece isn’t the easiest thing to do. Or let’s say that half of the song does put forth a discernible idea, which is sorta like the body may age, but internally the character remains the same. 

Or again, that’s one way of interpreting “Seasons”, i.e. the second half of the chorus in conjunction with the second verse, which are also the most discernible lines.

But the first verse, which is held down by Bebe Rexha, as well as the first half of the chorus rather emit what reads like a sentiment of discontent. Or for the sake of trying to make sense out of all of this, let’s postulate that the vocalists are playing the same character though at two different ages in said character’s life. 

Dolly has grown into an elder but seems to celebrate “still [being] a child” internally. However, Bebe comes off as if she’s not content with her life as is. Then concerning the chorus, the first couple of lines find the vocalist trying to “run away from” herself. But the last two imply that she’s rather cool with remaining “the same”.

So maybe what this is meant to allude to is a maturation in thought. That is to say that to the younger version of the vocalist, in her eyes has yet to find her place in the world.  But the older version, looking back, has found contentment.  Or, something like that.

“I lie awake inside a dream
And I run, run, run away from me
The seasons change right under my feet
I’m still the same, same, same, same old me”

Even Dolly’s verse honestly ends on sort of a negative note, pointing out that one of the lessons she has learned is that “you will live and die alone”. 

So by the time all is said and done, it can prove challenging trying to make out the ultimate point Bebe and her co-writers are trying to get across here. And with that said, interesting to note is that Rexha initially tried to recruit Dolly to participate on a different song, one that “was about heaven and hell”, but Parton refused due to not approving of its content.