I have, in the past and from time to time, been accused of wanting to be a "Rockstar". I always find it a bit surprising and a more than a bit insulting. If I write songs, whether they're ever recorded or heard by anyone else, I am by definition a songwriter. If I play a musical instrument with any frequency and any competency at all, I am a musician. Yet, doing these things means I want to be a Rockstar, as if I'm some kind of a fool for aspiring to be something I clearly (in their opinion) could never be?
Just what exactly does it require for someone to become a Rockstar? It's relatively easy to be a rock musician or a rock singer or a rock songwriter, all you have to do is play rock music on an instrument, sing songs in a rock style or write songs in a rock style but none of those things makes you a Rockstar.
Some people who dress like Rockstars and exhibit a "Rockstar" attitude can sometimes be referred to as "the class rockstar" or "the neighborhood rockstar" but that's a title usually meant facetiously or derogatorily.
To truly be a Rockstar you need to become famous as a successful recording artist who performs Rock & Roll music, although these days everyone from Madonna to Prince to the late Michael Jackson is called a "Rockstar" even though they didn't technically play Rock music.
I never wanted to be a Rockstar and to accuse me of that is insulting in that it suggests that I am so ignorant of what a "Rockstar" is that I aspired to it without taking the first step toward attaining it. I am a musician, I am a songwriter (I'm definitely NOT a singer), I am a record producer and I am a guitarist in a bonafide Rock & Roll band, but don't call me a wannabe Rockstar. I am, however, a wannabe millionaire. Maybe, one day.
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