Post Malone's "Rockstar" is fucking everywhere right now. The 21 Savage-featuring ode to sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and pre-baked toaster pastries is currently hanging out at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Hell, the ubiquitous hit has even inspired someone with ample free time to throw Chad Kroeger's vocals over it for reasons not entirely clear.
Back in September, "Rockstar" co-producer Tank God chopped it up with Pigeons & Planes about how the chart-topping track came together. Now, in a new interview with Hypebeast, co-producer Louis Bell (Justin Bieber, Quavo, Selena Gomez) offers additional insight into Post and 21's Beerbongs & Bentleys tease.
Bell revealed he first met Post through his manager Dre London. At the time, Bell was given an early listen of an unfinished Post and 50 Cent collab. "[Post and I] met a few weeks later and began working on some ideas from scratch with Frank Dukes and a few other producers," he said. "It was during that process we realized quickly we had a great chemistry and the same vision musically. So we’ve been working closely since."
Though the sessions for "Rockstar" were spread out across "several months," the work was actually done in a mere three days. "The first night was in New York with Post and Tank God laying the rough sketches," Bell said. "The second night was Post and I finishing the song vocally and getting the beat finalized. The third and final night was adding 21 Savage’s verse and adding some final vocal ad libs to the last chorus."
Tank God had the original version of the beat (made while Tank was studying at the University of Hartford), which Post used to throw down a rough chorus and verse sketches. Later, Bell and Post hit the studio together and re-recorded vocals. Bell also added "a bunch of pads and synths" to the verses, an alternate bass line to 21's verse, and an outro that's inspired by "a wailing guitar solo."
A big factor in the final track's success, Bell added, is Post's "likability" factor. "There's always shifts in music and we're experiencing a major one right now with a new generation of artists emerging," Bell said. Check Bell's full interview with Hypebeast, which also includes his thoughts on how songwriting has changed since the '90s, right here.
