"Club Rocker" is a song recorded by Romanian singer

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Ro ...

for her second studio album, ''

I Am the Club Rocker ''I Am the Club Rocker'' is the second studio album recorded by Romanian singer Inna, released on 19 September 2011 by Roton as a follow-up to her 2009 album, '' Hot''. The complete production and writing process for the record was handled by P ...

'' (2011). The song was released on 30 May 2011, as the second single from the record; a remix version featuring American rapper Flo Rida was eventually made available. It was written and produced by

Play & Win Marco & Seba, previously known as Play & Win are a Romanian singer-songwriter and music production duo formed in 2000 by Radu Bolfea, Marcel Botezan and Sebastian Barac. Since then, they have been making music without Bolfea. They are a leading ...

members Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and Marcel Botezan. "Club Rocker" is a

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

–influenced electropop song, with its lyrics revolving around celebrating and partying. The recording samples "Bass Atitude" (2010) by French disc jockey Seight. The track was positively received, with

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

praising its catchiness and commercial appeal. In October 2014, "Club Rocker" was involved in a

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

lawsuit, with Spanish singer Robert Ramirez Carrasco accusing Play & Win of plagiarism. To promote the recording, an accompanying music video was shot by

Alex Herron Alex Herron is a Norwegian director and photographer. He has directed over 100 music videos and has also been a jury in Alarmprisen. Herron was presented with the Spellemannprisen award for Margaret Berger Margaret Berger (born 11 October 1 ...

and uploaded onto Inna's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel on 26 June 2011 to positive response. It was also nominated in the "Best Video" category at the 2012

Romanian Music Awards The Romanian Music Awards, or simply RMA, are a Romanian annual event awarding the best artists in Romania's music scene. It is organized by Music Channel Romania and has taken place in various locations in the country. It was held from 2002 until ...

. The clip portrays Inna at an auto service center and taking part in a rally race. She further promoted the recording through live performances, including at the NRJ Music Tour and Starfloor in 2011, while appearing on several radio stations. Commercially, "Club Rocker" reached number four in Lebanon and peaked within the top 30 in multiple countries.

Background and composition

"Club Rocker" was digitally released on 30 May 2011 by

Roton In theoretical physics, a roton is an elementary excitation, or quasiparticle, seen in superfluid helium-4 and Bose–Einstein condensates with long-range dipolar interactions or spin-orbit coupling. The dispersion relation of elementary excita ...

as the second single from Inna's second studio album ''

'' (2011). A remix featuring American rapper Flo Rida was also eventually made available. An accompanying cover artwork was shot by Edward Aninaru, who called the session "a real deployment of forces". The track was written and produced by Romanian trio

members Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and Marcel Botezan, and samples French disc jockey Seight's "Bass Attitude" (2010). "Club Rocker" is an electropop song with "twisted

riffs" and a "show–off production"; its "jerky" refrain is accompanied by "massive" electro beats. Lyrically, the track speaks about celebrating and partying. Jonathan Hamard from

Pure Charts Pure may refer to: Computing * A pure function * A pure virtual function * PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012 * Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool * Pure-FTPd, ...

saw the recording as "much less stubborn" than her previous "

Hot Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places * Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand **Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot Distric ...

" (2008), " Amazing" (2009) and "

Sun Is Up "Sun Is Up" is a song recorded by Romanian singer Inna for her second studio album, ''I Am the Club Rocker'' (2011), and also included on several versions her debut album '' Hot'' (2009). Written and produced by Play & Win members Sebastian Ba ...

" (2010). In another article, the same editor compared "Club Rocker" to "the electro vein" of "Hot", but called it "more electric". Similarly, Jérémy B. of French website Melty wrote: "Definitely a sound for clubs .."

Controversy

"Club Rocker" was involved in a

lawsuit in October 2014, with Spanish singer Robert Ramirez Carrasco accusing its composers, Play & Win, of copying the key accords of his song "A Minute of Life" (2011). He also claimed that he lost critical contacts and had suffered of depression as a result, further wanting representatives of the Uniunea Compozitorilor și Muzicologilor din România (Union of Composers and Musicologists from Romania) to analyze the two recordings. Both composers Ionel Tudor and Horia Moculescu found major similarities. After reportedly failing to reach an agreement, Ramirez demanded a reported

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

227–300,000 in damages at the Tribunalul București (

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Court). Inna's manager, Ștefan Lucian, negated the accusations: "The musical theme is not only used in several Play & Win songs, but also in other international records. Robert can not say he had copyright on this side." The singer itself also said: "Certainly the truth will be proven in court". In May 2018, after nearly four years, the court found Play & Win not liable of plagiarism and demanded fines of 91,000 lei from Ramirez.

Critical reception

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

gave generally positive reviews of the recording. An editor writing for German radio station

BB Radio BB, Bb, or similar, may refer to: In arts and entertainment *BB, abbreviation for a catalogue of works by Béla Bartók#Catalogues and opus numbers, Béla Bartók * BB (album), ''BB'' (album), by Mod Sun (2017) *"BB Talk", 2015 song by Miley ...

commended "Club Rocker" as a highlight on ''I Am the Club Rocker''. Similarly, Jon O'Brien from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

positively noticed that the song deviated from the formulaic production on the album, but criticized Flo Rida's vocals as "phoned–in". An editor from

Direct Lyrics MRC II Distribution Company L.P., doing business as MRC (formerly Media Rights Capital), is an American film and television studio. Founded by Mordecai (Modi) Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, the company funds and produces film and television programming. ...

praised the track's catchiness and energy, although "not as good as her previous stuff". Kevin Apaza from the same website was similarly positive towards "Club Rocker" and foresaw its commercial success, but likened the line: "She's moving like oh, oh oh" to "

Who's That Chick? "Who's That Chick?" is a song by French DJ David Guetta from the reissue of his fourth studio album ''One Love'' (2009), entitled '' One More Love'' (2010). The song features guest vocals by Barbadian singer Rihanna and was written by Guetta, ...

" (2010) by French disc jockey

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

and Barbadian singer Rihanna. Similar praise was outspoken by website Meltly: "Certainly, Inna will be the major artist of the summer and will crack the most delusional revelers." Based on the recording's success, ''

Libertatea Libertatea is a Romanian daily newspaper and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. It was founded on December 22, 1989 (12:45 p.m.), by Octavian Andronic, as "the first independent newspaper of t ...

'' called Inna a "spokesman" of Romania.

Pro FM Pro FM is a radio station in Romania and Moldova, it broadcasts in Romanian language. It was sold by Central European Media Enterprises Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) is a media and entertainment company that operates televisio ...

listed "Club Rocker" in their list of "16 hits with which Inna made history".

Commercial performance

Commercially, "Club Rocker" experienced moderate success on record charts. It excelled on both club and sales rankings in France, ultimately debuting at number 53 on the country's SNEP chart. After several weeks of moving up and down, the song climbed 67–32, reaching its peak position. On the

Romanian Top 100 Multiple record charts have been inaugurated in Romania since the 1990s. The Romanian Top 100 was the country's national chart until 2012. Founded in 1995, it was a ranking based on the compilation of charts submitted by local Romanian radio stat ...

, the recording opened at number 43 in July 2011 as that week's highest new entry. It peaked at number 42 the following edition, remaining her lowest–charting single in the country until the release of " Caliente" (2012). In early 2012, "Club Rocker" peaked at number 64 in Switzerland, while opening at position 14 in Austria. This remains Inna's highest–peaking and debuting single in the country, while also the highest opening for an

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an artist. In Germany, the track became the singer's fifth entry and reached number 55. "Club Rocker" further peaked within the top five in Lebanon, and the top 20 in Slovakia, Turkey and the Polish Dance Top 50.

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Club Rocker" was shot by

— with whom the singer had already collaborated for her "

" (2010) visual — during the span of three days in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a pop ...

and

, Romania. Maz Makhani acted as the

director of photography The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

, while a French team was hired. A special casting call for a role in the visual was drawn, with the winner to be determined after downloading Internet Explorer 9 and answering a few questions about Inna. One of the submitters was Romanian socialite and model Natalia Mateuţ, who however withdrew after learning that she would have had to appear barely dressed. The clip was uploaded onto Inna's

channel on 26 June, preceded by the release of a 27−second teaser on 13 June 2011. Inna's solo version of "Club Rocker" was used for the visual. The video opens with a few women fixing a car in an auto service center. This is followed by Inna emerging from a black car, wearing a black leather bolero, blue jeans and lace high−heel boots. She then appears

tweeting Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

on her phone to another service man ("Thomas11") and waves a tissue in front of the camera, following which the viewer is introduced to a rally race between Inna and the aforementioned man. The next scene is set inside the singer's car — driven by

Mihai Leu Mihai Leu also known as Michael Loewe (born 13 February 1969, in Hunedoara) is a Romanian former professional boxer who competed between 1991 and 1997. He held the WBO welterweight title in 1997. Leu retired after one title defense, against Mich ...

— wearing a grey leather jacket. During the chorus, Inna changes her clothes accompanied by three other female background dancers in a darkened elevator. Sporting a black dress, the singer enters a party hall and sings to the song in front of a lion cage. Following this, Inna and various other back-up dancers are shown performing around and in a boxing ring. For the track's

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, the singer is surrounded by multiple couples kissing in a huge

human pyramid A human pyramid is an acrobatic formation of three or more people in which two or more people support a tier of higher people, who in turn may support other, higher tiers of people. People above the bottom tier may kneel or stand on the shoulders ...

, while fireworks are blown out. Play & Win also have a cameo appearance playing a

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

keyboard surrounded by a partying crowd. In the video's final scene, Inna hooks up with "Thomas11", who had previously lost the race. The clip was met with generally positive reviews. A Melty editor called the singer's outfits "quite free and crazy", and wrote: "Ready to reclaim the dancefloor, Inna preserves her festive and dancing spirit while her energy continues to make us move .." French portal Pure People felt that the video suited the song well and appealed to the male audience, while a ''Unica'' writer thought: " ..a modern love story was created in a turbulent city." Direct Lyrics's Apaza criticized the music video as a "cheaper copy" of Rihanna's "

Shut Up and Drive "Shut Up and Drive" is a song by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her third studio album, ''Good Girl Gone Bad'' (2007). It was written by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers while the produc ...

" (2007) visual. The visual received notable airplay on Polish television, where it peaked at number three on

ZPAV The Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry ( pl, Związek Producentów Audio-Video, ZPAV) is the trade organization that represents the interests of the music industry in Poland, and the Polish chapter of the International Federation of t ...

's component video chart in September 2011. It was also nominated for "Best Video" at the 2012

, but lost in favor of Romanian singer

Andreea Bănică Andreea Bănică ( (born 21 June 1978) is a Romanian singer. She was part of the group Exotic, alongside Claudia Pătrăşcanu and Julia Chelaru. She subsequently formed the band Blondy with Cristina Rus.

's "Sexy".

Live performances

During the shooting for the music video of "Club Rocker", the singer uploaded a clip onto YouTube of her singing

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

portions of the song, which was praised by critics. Inna performed the single live for the first time during her Inna: Live la Arenele Romane gig in

on 17 May, while also appearing on NRJ in France and Europa FM in Romania to sing the song on 30 May and 17 June 2011, respectively. The singer also performed the track on 23 July during the NRJ Music Tour in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and at the Starfloor on 26 November 2011 at the

Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace ** Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées ** Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Other live performances of "Club Rocker" occurred during Inna's YouTube "Rock the Roof" series on the roof of a building in Paris on 22 December 2011, and at the

World Trade Center Mexico City The World Trade Center Mexico City, commonly known by its former name, Hotel de México, is a building complex located in the wealthy neighborhood of Colonia Nápoles in central Mexico City. Its most famous and recognizable feature is the 50- ...

in September 2012 along with other material from ''I Am the Club Rocker''.

Track listing

*Official versions # "Club Rocker (Play & Win Radio Edit Version)" – 3:32 # "Club Rocker (Play & Win Radio Edit Version) eat. Flo Rida – 3:34 # "Club Rocker (Play & Win Extended Version)" – 4:16 # "Club Rocker (Play & Win Extended Version) eat. Flo Rida – 4:16 # "Club Rocker (Play & Win Remix)" – 4:09 # "Club Rocker (Odd Radio Edit)" – 3:38 # "Club Rocker (Odd Club Remix)" – 6:07 # "Club Rocker (Allexinno Remix)" – 6:22 # "Club Rocker (Adrian Sina Remix)" – 4:30 # "Club Rocker (DJ Assad Remix)" – 3:39 # "Club Rocker (The Perez Brothers Remix)" – 5:18 # "Club Rocker (Odd Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 3:38 # "Club Rocker (Odd Club Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 6:21 # "Club Rocker (Allexinno Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 6:23 15. "Club Rocker (Adrian Sina Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 4:47
16. "Club Rocker (DJ Assad Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 3:38
17. "Club Rocker (Da Brozz Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 3:28
18. "Club Rocker (Da Brozz Club Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 5:10
19. "Club Rocker (LuKone Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 3:46
20. "Club Rocker (LuKone Club Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 5:44
21. "Club Rocker (Pat Farell Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 4:02
22. "Club Rocker (Pat Farell Club Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 6:30
23. "Club Rocker (L.A. Sia Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 5:46
24. "Club Rocker (Tony Zampa Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 7:37
25. "Club Rocker (

Mike Candys Michael David Kull (; born 20 August 1981), better known as Mike Candys (), is a Swiss record producer and DJ. He is managed by Mevlan D. Musical career In 2008, Candys became widely known in Switzerland with the song "La Serenissima". In 2009 h ...

Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 3:02
26. "Club Rocker (Mike Candys Club Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 5:18
27. "Club Rocker (Jack Holiday Remix) eat. Flo Rida – 4:49
28. "Club Rocker (Cutmore Radio Edit) eat. Flo Rida – 2:52
29. "Club Rocker (Cutmore Club Remix) [feat. Flo Rida" – 4:37

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Notes

References

External links

Official video
on

{{authority control 2011 singles 2011 songs Inna songs Flo Rida songs English-language Romanian songs Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Song recordings produced by Play & Win