Rock Me (One Direction song)

Background and conception

"Rock Me" came together in a single-day collaboration between guitarist Peter Svensson of the Swedish band the Cardigans, Sam Hollander, and Allan 'Kool Kojak' Grigg for One Direction's second studio album, Take Me Home, which was released in November 2012. First, Grigg carried out its mid-tempo beat. "If you can slow a song down to mid-tempo, the girls are just gonna lose their minds," Grigg told Time magazine in 2012. Svensson reflected that Hollander "had an idea for a title that's like 'rock me' instead of ‘rock you,’ and the melody just came." Co-producers Lukasz 'Dr. Luke' Gottwald and Henry 'Circut' Walter ended up with writing credits on the finished recording too — "standard operating practice, now that the sound of a song has as much to do with its identity as its lyrics or melody," according to Time magazine correspondent Douglas Wolk.

Composition and lyrical interpretation

"Rock Me" is a mid-tempo pop rock song. Chris Payne of Billboard noted that the song deviates from One Direction's signature bubblegum pop sound, a notion shared by Al Fox for BBC Music, who dubbed it "vaguely rockier". The song's clapping riff are similar to those of the Queen 1977 single "We Will Rock You". According to the digital sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, One Direction's vocal range in the song span from the note of F₃ to C₅. Instrumentation includes guitar strings, piano lines and vocals. Written in the key of Ab major, the beat is set in common time and moves at a moderate 84 beats per minute.

It also incorporates a Queen-referencing chorus: "I want you to rock me, yeah, I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care." The track's lyricism regards a nostalgic message about a former significant other and a blatant double entendre for sexual intercourse. In the regard to its double entendre, Grigg noted, "but at the same time, there's a vulnerability in it that's, like, so sweet for girls. It's a little self-deprecating. There's not a lot of overt machismo in the song". "I approached it like high school," said Hollander: "On the first record, they were freshmen, innocent and wide-eyed. Now it's sophomore year, there are parties and driver’s licenses, and the world is theirs for the taking. That's what I wanted to capture".

Critical reception

The song garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, who centred on production quality and its rock elements. The New Zealand Herald writer Lydia Jenkin deemed "Rock Me" one of "the most banal songs ever written", but noted that the group "know what teenage girls want to hear." Idolator critic Sam Lansky praised the track as "irresistible" and commended its sonic palette as "explosively punchy". Writing for HitFix, Melinda Newman favoured its "nearly hypnotic anthemic" beat, and noted that "Rock Me" seems perfectly tailored to become a live staple. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star thought the song's Queen-references are "clever", assessing: "to show that One Direction’s puppeteers aren't totally operating on autopilot." Robert Copsey from Digital Spy opined that the song's "simple-yet-genius catchiness" is its strongest attribute. Billboard reviewer Chris Payne applauded its rock elements, regarding it as "welcome" deviation from Take Me Home's predominant bubblegum pop sound. In contrast to the positive reception, Alexis Petridis, writing for The Guardian, criticised the song as "excruciating", describing its lyricism as tedious and uninspiring.

Chart performance

In the week of 18 November 2012, "Rock Me" debuted at number one on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart due to strong digital download sales. As a result of an "end-of-year download rush" in the week ending 30 December 2012, the track entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 98, marking its peak position.