Poker Face (song)
"Poker Face" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). It was released on September 23, 2008, as the album's second single. It is a synth-pop song in the key of G♯ minor, following in the footsteps of her previous single "Just Dance", but with a darker musical tone. The main idea behind the song is bisexuality and was a tribute by Gaga to her rock and roll boyfriends. The song's lyrics feature various sexual innuendos.
This article is about the song by Lady Gaga. For other songs with the same name, see Poker Face (disambiguation) § Music."Poker Face"
January 2008
September 23, 2008
January 2008
Record Plant (Los Angeles)
3:58
- Streamline
- KonLive
- Cherrytree
- Interscope
"Poker Face" was acclaimed by most critics, who praised the song's robotic hook and chorus. The song attained worldwide success, topping the charts in 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many European countries. With over 14 million copies, "Poker Face" is one of the world's best-selling singles of all time and became the best-selling single of 2009 worldwide with over 9.8 million in sales that year alone. The accompanying music video for the song portrays Gaga singing it in various costumes and playing strip poker in a getaway villa. It was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2015.
Gaga performed the song on the eighth season of the television show American Idol, besides multiple other television appearances, as well as the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, all of her concert tours, and the Super Bowl LI halftime show. "Poker Face" was nominated for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
Background[edit]
"Poker Face" was written by Gaga and RedOne, while production was handled also by RedOne.[1] Gaga stated in an interview that "Poker Face" was written by her as a pop song and was a tribute to her "rock 'n' roll boyfriends". She also stated that the main idea behind the song was sex and gambling.[2] When Rolling Stone magazine asked about the meaning of the line "bluffin' with my muffin", Gaga explained that it really was a metaphor for her vulva, noting "it's my pussy's poker face!". She added that it came from a lyric "Blueberry kisses, the muffin man misses them kisses" from an unreleased track called "Blueberry Kisses" where a girl wanted her boyfriend to perform cunnilingus on her.[3]
During her Fame Ball Tour performance at Palm Springs, California, on April 11, 2009, Gaga explained to the crowd the true meaning behind the term "Poker Face" used in the song. She suggested that the song dealt with her personal experience with bisexuality. The idea behind the song was to be with a man but fantasizing about a woman, hence the man in the song needs to read her "Poker Face" to understand what is going through her mind.[4]
Composition[edit]
"Poker Face" is a synth-pop[5] and dance-pop[6] song, and follows the footsteps of Gaga's previous single "Just Dance".[5] Whereas "Just Dance" was predominately electropop, "Poker Face" carries a dark sound with clear vocals on the chorus and a pop hook[7] while combining the synths from "Just Dance" and the more dance-oriented beat of the next single "LoveGame".[8] According to Kerri Mason of Billboard, the composition "carr[ies] the pleather-and-sequins vibe of the downtown New York scene out of the underground and onto the FM dial without losing its smut and sass."[9]
Poker Face is set in a common time time signature, with a fast tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is written in the key of G♯ minor with Gaga's vocal range spanning from the note F♯3 to the note B4.[10][11] It begins with a medium tempo followed by electronic chord arrangement and the "Mum-mum-mum-mah" hook. The chords follow in this order: G♯m–E/G♯–F♯, and then for the chorus G♯m–E–B–F♯. This is followed by the sound of dance music, produced by a powerful beat from the instruments, and a stuttering hook following the chorus.[10]
Lyrically, "Poker Face" is all about sexual innuendo and teasing.[7] According to Daily Star, the chorus repeats two alternating lyrics. After the hook "Can't read my Poker Face" the backup singer says "He's got me like nobody" and then in the next line says "She's got me like nobody". Gaga explained in an interview with them that the line carries a bit of an undertone of confusion about love and sex.[12] However, the liner notes from the album booklet indicate both these lines only repeat "she's got me like nobody".[1] According to BBC, the "Mum-mum-mum-mah" hook used in the song references Boney M.'s 1977 hit "Ma Baker".[13]
Music video[edit]
The music video for "Poker Face", directed by Ray Kay,[60] was filmed at the luxury villa on bwin PokerIsland[61] and featured bwin branded poker equipment as product placement.[62]
The video premiered on October 22, 2008. It is set by a pool, as well as in a mansion. It begins with Gaga emerging from the pool wearing a mirror masquerade mask and a black sleeveless latex bodysuit with a jagged shoulder pad, with two Great Danes beside her. She throws the mask aside and the song begins with a facial shot of Gaga singing it.[60] Gaga wears a metallic sticker on her left cheek in this shot. Featured in the video are scenes of Gaga in a mansion and dancing poolside with her dancers in a turquoise leotard.[60] Gaga attends a wild party where every man and woman tries their luck on a strip poker game. The party gets wilder when all the party's guests strip down to their underwear, dance around, and share kisses with each other. The video also features several white mannequins on her swimming pool deck. During the musical interlude before the "I won't tell you that I love you" hook, Gaga is shown in her trademark "Pop Music Will Never Be Low Brow" sunglasses while sitting beside the pool. The video ends with the head shot of Gaga singing the Mum-mum-mum-ma hook.
Gaga explained in the nineteenth episode of her "Transmission Gagavision" series the main idea behind the music video for "Poker Face": "I knew I wanted it to be sexy, so I thought no pants, because that's sexy, [...] And I knew I wanted it to be futuristic, so I thought shoulder pads, because that's my thing."[63] The music video premiered on British MTV on February 17, 2009. In some versions of the video, the words "muffin" (being a slang term for a woman's vagina), "Russian Roulette" and "gun" are censored out (bleeped).[64] On June 21, 2009, the video won the Best International Artist Video at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards.[65] The video received four nominations at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, in the categories of Video of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Video and Best Pop Video. Along with five other nominations for "Paparazzi", Gaga was tied with Beyoncé for most nominations each for that year.[66]
In June 2010, Gaga held a reverse auction for one of the necklaces worn in the music video, designed by Brian Lichtenberg. All the proceeds from the auction went to the Lupus Foundation of America.[67]
Cover versions and adaptations[edit]
In 2009, a single by rapper Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West and Common titled "Make Her Say" was released; it contains a vocal sample of the acoustic version of "Poker Face" from The Cherrytree Sessions EP. It features Kanye West, who also produced the track, and Common, as well as scratches from DJ A-Trak.[104] Actor Christopher Walken performed a special a capella rendition of "Poker Face" on BBC1's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross for Halloween 2009.[105]
The song was also featured in the South Park episode titled "Whale Whores", sung on Rock Band by series character Eric Cartman, with guitar by Kyle Broflovski and drums by Kenny McCormick. During Cartman's performance, Stan interrupts to rant about Japanese whaling. After Stan gives a heartfelt speech and leaves on the verge of tears, the other boys resume the song and Cartman replaces the next verse's second line with "I don't give a crap 'bout whales so go and hug a tree."[106] On March 16, 2010, South Park's version of "Poker Face" became available as a downloadable song for the video game Rock Band, on the same day a Lady Gaga track pack featuring the original song was released.[107]
Lea Michele and Idina Menzel, in character as Rachel Berry and Shelby Corcoran respectively, covered an acoustic version of "Poker Face" in the "Theatricality" episode of Glee. Their version debuted at position 100 on the Billboard Hot 100, and moved up to a peak of 20 on the next week.[108][109] It went on to become one of the show's most popular recordings; having sold 410,000 U.S. downloads, it remains the tenth best-selling song in the show's history.[110]
"Weird Al" Yankovic included the chorus in his polka medley "Polka Face" from his 2011 album Alpocalypse.[111] During the end credits of the 2012 The Simpsons season-finale episode "Lisa Goes Gaga", Homer Simpson performed a parody version entitled "Homer Face".[112] On February 19, 2021, Kelly Clarkson sang a rock cover of the song during her talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, on the Kellyoke segment.[113]
Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Fame.[119]