I Am the Club Rocker

Background and composition

Inna first announced that she would commence work on a new album in June 2011. Initially, the record was planned to be entitled Powerless before getting its actual title. With the release of the album, Inna encouraged her fanbase to affirm themselves as "Club Rockers". Particularly, she described I Am the Club Rocker as the record that "describes [her] the best". The entire writing and producing process for the album was handled by Play & Win, while it was additionally produced by Juan Magan at their studios located in Bucharest and Constanţa.

The artwork for the album was produced during a photo shoot, which remains the most expensive one to be ever developed in Romania, with the total costs amounting to €15,000. It was shot by Edward Aninaru at the Media Pro Pictures studios in Buftea; over 50 male and female models were featured in the shooting which consisted of two different images – an uncensored one, leaked onto the internet, and the photograph used to commercialize the album. The artwork portrays Inna standing in the center of a background with semi-nude models. She's wearing a summer suit, sporting long boots and a French-like bun.

The album portrays an europop, dance-pop, techno and house record, with it being remiscent of balearic beats and kaleidoscopic synths. Inna's vocals are partially processed with Auto Tune. I Am the Club Rocker was influenced by several subgenres, including flamenco used in both "Un Momento" and "Endless", and italo house used in "No Limit" and "House Is Going On". German online magazine Laut noticed the use of offbeat-keyboards throughout some recordings, while news agency Teleschau described the album's instrumentation as "synth-heavy". The material for the record featured Inna singing in both English and Spanish.

Reception

Upon its release, I Am the Club Rocker became a commercial success in Mexico. It debuted at number fifty-three on the Mexican Albums Chart issued for 26 September 2011, but climbed up forty-five positions to number eight on the following week. With this performance, the record outperformed her debut studio album, Hot (2009), which peaked at number fifty-four in March 2011. In Poland, I Am the Club Rocker was certified Gold by the ZPAV, while in Belgium, the album entered the top twenty of the Walloon Chart, with it peaking at number twelve. The record as well entered the top forty of the French Albums Chart; it managed to open at a decent number twenty-three and lasted for a few other weeks within the top 100, before dropping down towards the bottom fifty positions and then completely exiting the chart. On the Czech Albums Chart, it opened at number twelve, and in Inna's native country, it was certified Gold by the UPFR for selling over 10,000 shipments. I Am the Club Rocker remains her first top fifty album in Japan, where it reached its peak position at number 45 and sold 7,691 copies.

The record was met with mixed reviews. German online magazine Laut writer, Kai Butterweck, was negative towards I Am the Club Rocker, commenting that "the scheme is the same in nearly all the songs: galloping offbeat-keyboards first meet with innovation loose beats, ere Inna's thin vocal organ moves the next three or four minutes on almost the same pitch". Furthermore, he described the rhymes of the recordings as being "cobbled together of a sixth graders' dictionary". Anna Julia Höhr, writing for the news agency Teleschau, as well criticized the album, saying that the singer's tunes sound "all the same", with her evaluating the record as "disappointing". AllMusic's Jon O'Brien rated I Am the Club Rocker with 2.5/ 5 stars, describing its songs as "sun-soaked Europop tracks that appear destined to blare out of various Club 18-30 hotspots until the inevitable 6-a.m. stagger back to the hotel". He also criticized the use of Auto Tune throughout the record and noticed similarities between the record's "Moon Girl" and Katy Perry's "California Gurls" (2010). O'Brien went on into saying that Inna "is going to have to change the record quickly if she wants to avoid the novelty-act fate of her homeland's formerly most famous pop export." He as well confessed that I Am the Club Rocker was the first Romanian major contribution to the international pop music industry after the work of girl band The Cheeky Girls. German radio station BB Radio was amazed about how "harmonious and compatible" her songs fit together on the record. They as well praised the "incredibly danceable and upbeat disco sound" and found Inna remained true to her style. BB Radio praised especially the song "Endless", which, according to them, distinguished itself positively musically and vocally from the other material on I Am the Club Rocker.

Promotion

"Sun is Up" was dropped out from I Am the Club Rocker as its debut release. Following this, it received an overwhelming success, with it remaining chartwise one of her most successful songs worldwide. The track reached the number one spot on the Bulgarian Airplay Chart and number two on the native Romanian Top 100 chart. Additionally, it peaked at number two on the French Singles Chart and at number three both on the Swiss Singles Chart and the Russian Music Charts. The song was certified Gold in both Italy and Switzerland, and Silver in the United Kingdom. An accompanying music video for the track was shot by Alex Herron in the city of Marbella.

"Club Rocker" was released as the second single from the album, featuring the appearance of American hip hop artist Flo Rida. It premiered in May 2011 and it was officially released on 30 May 2011 when it entered in the radio playlists of the Los 40 Principales Network and also became available for digital download on the French iTunes. The music video's production was made, like for her previous single, "Sun Is Up", by Alex Herron; the result premiered on Inna's YouTube account on 26 June 2011. "Club Rocker" became a moderate chart success, peaking at number thirty-two on the French Singles Chart. It was as well a major hit in Czech Republic and Slovakia, reaching the top forty.

"Un Momento", a collaboration with Spanish performer Juan Magan, premiered as the third single from I Am the Club Rocker. Its accompanying music video was shot in the city of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, by Inna's frequent collaborator, Alex Herron and debuted on 9 August 2011 on Inna's YouTube channel. The clip portrays her walking on the roads there and interacting with people; the video was meant to be "good" and "funny". Upon the release of "Un Momento", the track entered the Romanian Top 100, peaking finally at number twelve. It was successful across the European territory, with it reaching the top ten of the charts in Turkey, number four in Slovakia, number forty-two in France and number forty-six in Spain.

"Endless" was made available for digital download as the fourth single from the album. The tracks's music video came to support an anti-domestic violence campaign, with it showing Inna being verbally abused by her boyfriend with whom she finally breaks up. The song quickly entered the Romanian Airplay 100, debuting at number ninety-four on 11 December 2011 and reaching number five. "Endless" was as well a hit in Slovakia, achieving a peak position at number 9.

"Wow" was initially released exclusively as a promotional single in her native Romania in order to promote the brand new opening of the Romanian iTunes Store. Finally, it became the fifth single to be premiered from I Am the Club Rocker, with it featuring a cover artwork which was shot on a Romanian beach at the Black Sea shore. An accompanying music video was also made public on Inna's YouTube channel on 5 April 2012, with it presenting her playing several roles from famous tales, such as Snow White and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz's Dorothy. The track entered Inna's native Airplay 100 at number seventy-seven on 22 April 2012, with it reaching its peak position at number ten in June 2012, thereby becoming Inna's eighth top ten recording there. On the Russian Music Charts, "Wow" only reached number a decent number hundred seventy-one after entering the charts there at number 216 on 29 April 2012.

For one of the album's tracks, "Put Your Hands Up", an online video was exclusively released onto Inna's YouTube channel on 3 September 2011, with it featuring alumni moments from some of her concerts in Europe. Following this, Inna premiered two fellow promotional singles from I Am the Club Rocker, "Señorita" and "No Limit". Both of the recordings received a cover artwork for their promotional release. In the cover for "No Limit", Inna, apparently hurt, is portrayed fighting with a dinosaur with an X-ray device, while the photography for "Señorita" sees only half of her face being pink-colored. Subsequently, a last promotional song was made available for purchase, "July", whose artwork presents Inna appearing in a bikini with a vintage look later compared to Beyonce's appearance in her video for "Why Don't You Love Me" (2010).

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the album.

Sample credits