Released May 30, 2011 Genre Eurodance, house Label Roton, Ultra | Format Digital download Length 3:33 | |
Recorded 2010; Play & Win Studios (Constanta, Romania) | ||
"Club Rocker" is a song by Romanian recording artist Inna featuring American rapper Flo Rida. The song is included on her second full-length studio album, entitled I Am The Club Rocker!. "Club Rocker" is the second single from the album, whilst in Western Europe it serves as the lead single, after "Sun Is Up" being included on the re-release of her debut album "Hot". After many months of speculation, it was revealed by Inna via her website that her new single was entitled "Club Rocker". The song premiered on May 30, 2011 at 0:33 (GMT-1). A music video for the song was shot in May 2011.
Contents
Background
Inna announced, during a show at Fun Radio in France, that this certain song will be her future single, to be released in four of five months, as of mid-December, 2010. This song is somewhat different from her last singles, opting for a more British sound. "Club Rocker" samples the chorus from Bass Attitude's "Seight". It premiered on May 30, 2011 at 0:30 (Romania's hour) via Facebook and YouTube. "Club Rocker" is a song which lasts 3 minutes and thirty-three seconds. Lyrically, the song has a party atmosphere, Inna confessing her "party animal" behavior as she can "make love automatic" while being "ecstatic".
Live performances
Inna performed "Club Rocker" for the first time in Bucharest during her INNA: Live la Arenele romane concert on May 17, 2011. Inna promoted the single in France, appearing live on Fun Radio on May 30. On the same date, she performed "Club Rocker" live on Cauet (NRJ Radio) Inna confirmed she will perform "Club Rocker" at Starfloor 2011 at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. Inna also sang a stripped-down version of "Club Rocker" while on the set of the video. She posted a video of her singing on YouTube. She recorded the acoustic version of the song, after performing it on Europa FM's garage concert in June. The song was also performed in the United Kingdom during the Party in the Park festival in Leeds and in the London gay club Heaven. Inna sang it in Beirut, during the NRJ Music Tour. On November 26, 2011 Inna performed the song live at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France during Starfloor 2011. She was wearing a sequin dress and 10 inches high heels. The song was performed as a closing act of an eight-minute show during the event.
Music video
Inna announced that she was drawing a special casting call for a new music video, the winner to be determined after downloading Internet Explorer 9 and answering a few questions about Inna. More than 10,000 fans entered, and on January 5, 2011, it was announced via Facebook that Cristea Constantin was the great winner. On January 25, 2011, Romanian socialite and model Natalia Mateuţ stated that she took part in the castings for Inna's new music video, but she did not accept the role, because it involved a bare naked photo shooting with her. The music video was filmed in early May in Bucharest and Braşov. The director was Alex Herron, who directed Inna's previous music video - "Sun is Up" and the director of photography was Maz Makhani, who have previously worked with Enrique Iglesias and Lady Gaga. The video was shot in two parts: the first one in a Gas station in Bucharest and the second one was shot on the highway to Braşov. Mihai Leu drives Inna's car, which takes part in a car racing rally. A snippet of the video, showing Inna singing a stripped-down version of "Club Rocker", was posted on her YouTube channel. The video was uploaded on the official YouTube account of the artist on June 27, 2011.
The video begins with a few girls fixing cars in an Auto service center located in Bucharest, Romania. Inna emerges from a black car, wearing a black leather bolero, blue jeans, and lace high-heel boots. She then appears texting on her phone to another service guy. The video shows that Inna was tweeting from her account to Thomas11. She giggles and then she is shown waving a tissue, so that a rally race can start. The next scene is set inside a car driven by Inna wearing a grey leather jacket. As the chorus kicks off, she and three other back-up dancers are shown in a dark elevator. The plot moves to a hangar where Inna changes her clothes. In a black party dress, Inna sings behind a lion's cage. As the lion roars, the chorus start once again and Inna's male dancers are shown dancing round a boxing ring. When the bridge begins, Inna is surrounded by couples kissing and making out. Fireworks are blown out. Play & Win, Inna's producers, are shown playing a Yamaha keyboard and a b-boy is dancing in front of the crowd. Inna then hooks up with "Thomas11" and the video switches to the human pyramid, then the image and the sound fade away.
The critics praised the video upon its release (having a sneak peek). Most critics compared the video to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" (for its opening), to Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive" (for the premise, main theme and some features) and to both Kylie Minogue's "All the Lovers" and Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" (for the human pyramid scene). The music video was nominated for "Best Video" at the 2011 Romanian Music Awards that took place on September 16, 2011 at Braşov, but lost to Andreea Bănică's video for "Sexy".
The version played in the music video neither features Flo Rida's appearance nor his rapping.
On March 6, 2012, the video to "Club Rocker" was uploaded onto "3beatproductions" YouTube account, her UK record label.
Chart performance
On June 4, 2011, the song debuted on the official French Singles Chart at number fifty-three, becoming her first single not to debut within the top ten. After weeks of moving back and forward without managing to outperform its debut position, "Club Rocker" climbed thirty-five places to number thirty-two on August 27, 2011, reaching its highest peak to date. It has also made it to the Top 100 Airplay Charts in Russia, Czech Republic and Slovakia, peaking at number thirty-eight, number thirty-nine and number eleven respectively.
In Inna's native Romania, "Club Rocker" debuted on the Romanian Top 100 at number forty-three on July 10, 2011, being the highest new-entry of the week. It peaked at number forty-two on the following week, becoming her lowest charting single there. It only spent nine weeks on the Romanian Top 100.
In 2012, the song was released in Germanic countries. It entered the Swiss Singles Chart on January 15, 2012 at a lower number sixty-four before dropping one position towards number sixty-five and falling off the chart on the following week. It also debuted at number fourteen in the Austrian Singles Chart on January 20, 2012 as delivering Inna her highest peaking song in that chart and also the highest debut for an Eastern European act all time. "Club Rocker" became Inna's fifth entry on the German Singles Chart, where it debuted and peaked at number fifty-five on February 6, 2012. "Club Rocker" experienced success in France.