Rockstar 101

Rihanna co-wrote "Rockstar 101" in collaboration with the song's producers The-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. Her vocals and the instrumentation for the song were recorded at Serenity Sound Studios in Los Angeles, California, the Boom Boom Room in Burbank, California and Triangle Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It was mixed by Jaycen Joshua at Larrabee Studios in Universal City, California; he was assisted in the process by Giancarlo Lino. Rihanna's vocals were produced by Makeba Riddick. The song was engineered by Marcus Tovar, Brian "B-LUV" Thomas, Andrew Wuepper and Chris "TEK" O'Ryan. Additional engineering was done by Pat Thrall. Guitar was provided by Tim Stewart, while Monte Neuble performed additional keys. "Rockstar 101" was the fourth single from the album Rated R to be released in the US and the sixth overall. It was sent to contemporary hit and rhythmic radio stations in the US on May 18, 2010, and to Australian radio stations on July 19, 2010. The song was released as an extended play (EP) in the United States through Masterbeat.com on June 2, 2010, to the iTunes Store on July 13, and in the United Kingdom through Amazon on June 29, 2010. These EP's consist of remixes by various DJs and music producers, including Dave Audé and Mark Picchiotti. ==Composition==

"Rockstar 101" is a grunge-crunk and hip hop song which lasts for three minutes and fifty-eight seconds. It features an "aggressive" guitar solo from Slash, according to Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly. Rihanna uses her lower register and "heavy" modulation to perform most of the song, and she "growls" the lyric "The only thing I'm missing is a black guitar". ==Critical reception==

"Rockstar 101" received mixed responses from music critics. Brian Linder for IGN praised the song, writing that it "actually works" despite sounding disjointed at first. Emily Tartanella of PopMatters defined "Rockstar 101" as a "brilliant bit of bravado" during her review of Rated R, while Ailbhe Malone for NME wrote that Rihanna sings with "swagger" on the track, which was something that she has Hova to thank for. Jon Pareles for The New York Times simply highlighted a line from the song, "I never play the victim". Neil McCormick for The Daily Telegraph thought that "Rockstar 101" was one of the few songs on the album to retain the "vaguest leftover hints of her warm Caribbean vocal flavouring". The song was met with a negative review from The Guardians Alex Petridis, who wrote "At one extreme, the resemblance of 'Umbrella's chorus to that of a stadium rock ballad seems to have encouraged Rihanna to cut out the middle-man and just start making stadium rock: cue the awful widdly-woo guitars of 'Rockstar 101' and 'Fire Bomb. ==Chart performance==

"Rockstar 101" made its first chart appearance on the United States' Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, where it peaked at number two; it stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. The song peaked on the US Hot Digital Songs chart at number 28, spending seven weeks on the chart. It subsequently peaked at number 64 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent five weeks on the chart. It also peaked at number 10 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs chart. "Rockstar 101" debuted on the Australian Singles Chart at number 50 on August 22, 2010; it peaked at number 24 two weeks later for one week, and remained on the chart for six weeks. ==Music video==

Background The director Melina Matsoukas filmed the music video for "Rockstar 101" in April 2010; she had previously directed the videos for Rihanna's singles "Hard" and "Rude Boy". This video was edited by Nabil Mechi from Murex, who previously edit videos for "SOS" and "Umbrella". On May 19, 2010, Rihanna released a 30-second sneak-peek preview of the video on the internet, whilst the full video premiered on May 25, 2010 through the high-definition music video website Vevo. Synopsis According to Jayson Rodriguez of MTV, the video is "a mix of goth bondage-esque voyeurism, complete with Rihanna's gyrating moves and a raging band that features Travis Barker on the drums". Although Slash is featured on "Rockstar 101", he does not appear in the music video. Instead, Rihanna pays homage to him by impersonating him by presenting herself wearing a skull-laden top hat, wig, leather jacket, dark glasses and toothpick: In other scenes, Rihanna smashes a black electric guitar and can be seen wearing an outfit made from parts of a guitar. Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker makes a cameo appearance and is featured as one of the drummers in Rihanna's rock band. ==Live performances==

(2010-11) Rihanna first performed "Rockstar 101" on American Idol on April 7, 2010. She wore a black PVC catsuit and was accompanied on stage by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt; the set design included flame throwers and a video screen which showed guitars, lightning bolts and skulls. At one point, the singer picked and played up a black Gibson Flying V guitar. Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone praised Rihanna's performance, writing "if the introductory rules of rock stardom are 'teach thyself to pick slide,' 'tight clod' and 'pyro!' then Rihanna has been paying attention in her 'Rockstar 101' classes after all". Lamb thought that "Rockstar 101" was one of the "weaker" songs on the album, and predicted that it would be "destined to end the streak of three consecutive top 10 pop hits from the album". "Rockstar 101" is also included on Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour (2013). ==Track listings==

• Digital download (the remixes; Masterbeat.com edition) • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Radio) – 4:18 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Radio) – 3:58 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Radio) – 3:57 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Radio) – 3:46 • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix Extended) – 4:28 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Club) – 7:52 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Mix) – 7:37 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Club Mix) – 7:51 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Extended) – 5:54 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Dub) – 6:44 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Power Dub) – 7:20 • Digital download (the remixes; iTunes Store edition) • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teacher's Pet Fix) – 3:51 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Radio) – 4:18 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Radio) – 3:58 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Radio) – 3:57 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Radio) – 3:46 • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix Extended) – 4:28 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Club) – 7:52 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Mix) – 7:37 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Club Mix) – 7:51 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Extended) – 5:54 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Dub) – 6:44 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Power Dub) – 7:20 • Digital download (the remixes; Amazon edition) • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teacher's Pet Fix Single Version) [Explicit] – 3:52 • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teacher's Pet Fix Single Version) – 3:51 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Radio) – 4:18 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Radio) – 3:58 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Radio) – 3:57 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Radio) – 3:46 • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix) [Explicit] – 4:28 • "Rockstar 101" (Chew Fu Teachers Pet Fix) – 4:28 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Club) [Explicit] – 7:52 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Pop Rock Mix) – 7:37 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Rockin Club Mix) – 7:51 • "Rockstar 101" (Loose Cannons Black Guitar R-Licks Extended) – 5:54 • "Rockstar 101" (Dave Audé Dub) – 6:44 • "Rockstar 101" (Mark Picchiotti Power Dub) – 7:20 ==Credits and personnel==

Credits are adapted from the inlay cover of Rated R. Recording • Recorded at Serenity Sound Studios, Los Angeles, CA; The Boom Boom Room, Burbank CA; Triangle Sound Studios, Atlanta, GA • Mixed at Larrabee Studios, Universal City, CA Personnel • Songwriting – Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart, Robyn Fenty • Production – Christopher "Tricky Stewart, Terius "The-Dream" Nash • Vocal production – Makeba Riddick • Engineering – Marcus Tovar, Brian "B-LUV" Thomas, Andrew Wuepper, Chris "TEK" O'Ryan • Additional engineering – Pat Thrall • Assistant engineering – Luis Navarro, AJ Clark, Jason Sherwood, Steven Dennis • Mixing – Jaycen Joshua • Assistant mixing – Giancarlo Lino • Guitar – Tim Stewart • Additional keys – Monte Neuble ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==