"Rockin" is a song by the Canadian singer-songwriter

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

from his third studio album, '' Starboy'' (2016). The song was released to

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

in France on May 9, 2017, as the album's sixth international single. The song was written by the Weeknd, Peter Svensson,

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha (born August 28, 1978) is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian ( Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The S ...

, Belly, and producers Ali Payami and

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
AllMusic known professional ...

, with the Weeknd serving as a co-producer.

Music and composition

The song is performed in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 113 beats per minute.

Chart performance

"Rockin peaked at number 44 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 despite never being released as a single in North America. The song also charted and peaked at number 25 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

Critical reception

The song received generally mixed-to-positive reviews from music critics. Mosi Reeves from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' opined that the song "has an infectious garage-house rhythm courtesy of producers Max Martin and Ali Payami, but all The Weeknd can do is respond with a clunky chorus". Mike Pizzo, writing for the ''

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous ...

'', described the song as being " 2-step-fueled". Furthermore, Christopher Hooton from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote that "Rockin is a "workout jam". Writing for ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'', Jordan Sargent said the song is "destined to be a single".

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{The Weeknd songs 2016 songs 2017 singles The Weeknd songs Songs written by Max Martin Songs written by the Weeknd Songs written by Peter Svensson Songs written by Ali Payami Songs written by Belly (rapper) Songs written by Savan Kotecha Song recordings produced by the Weeknd Song recordings produced by Max Martin Song recordings produced by Ali Payami Republic Records singles XO (record label) singles Electro songs UK garage songs