"Poker Face" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her debut studio album, The Fame (2008). The track was released on September 23, 2008, as the album's second single, through Streamline Records, KonLive, Cherrytree Records, and Interscope Records. Gaga wrote the song alongside its producer, RedOne. It was also recorded at Record Plant Studios, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The song is a synth-pop and dance-pop tune in the key of G minor, following in the footsteps of her previous single "Just Dance", but with a much darker musical tone. The song revolves around bisexuality, and was a tribute by Gaga to her rock and roll boyfriends. Its lyrics feature various sexual innuendos.
Upon being released, "Poker Face" was acclaimed by most critics, who praised the song's robotic hook and chorus. Commercially, it topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. With over 14 million copies sold, "Poker Face" is one of the world's best-selling singles ever and became the best-selling single of 2009 worldwide with over 9.8 million in sales that year alone. It was also certified diamond in Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
The song's accompanying music video, directed by Ray Kay, premiered on October 22, 2008, and features Gaga singing it in various costumes and playing strip poker in a getaway villa. She performed the song on the eighth season of the television show American Idol, besides multiple other television appearances, 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 Annual Grammy Awards, and won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
Background "Poker Face" was written by Gaga and RedOne, while production was also handled by RedOne. 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. 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.
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.
Composition "Poker Face" is a synth-pop and dance-pop song, and follows the footsteps of Gaga's previous single "Just Dance". Whereas "Just Dance" was predominately electropop, "Poker Face" carries a dark sound with clear vocals on the chorus and a pop hook while combining the synths from "Just Dance" and the more dance-oriented beat of the next single "LoveGame". 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."
"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 F3 to the note B4. It begins with a medium tempo followed by electronic chord arrangement and the "Mum-mum-mum-mah" hook. The chords follow in this order: Gm–E/G–F, and then for the chorus Gm–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.
Lyrically, "Poker Face" is all about sexual innuendo and teasing. According to Daily Star, the chorus repeats two alternating lyrics. After the hook "can't read my poker face", the backup singer 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. However, the liner notes from the album booklet indicate both these lines only repeat "she's got me like nobody". According to the BBC, the "Mum-mum-mum-mah" hook used in the song references Boney M.'s 1977 hit "Ma Baker".
Critical reception
Upon release, "Poker Face" received critical acclaim. Priya Elan from The Times, in a review of The Fame, said that "Poker Face" was one of the finest moments of the album with its "love-as-card-game cheek". BBC Music reviewed the "strut-tastic" single as "expressing her overwhelming desire for celebrity and fortune." Bill Lamb of About.com said, "'Poker Face' works well on pop radio, but with slight mixing alterations it would be equally at home in a dark, sweaty, late night party atmosphere. She has refreshed the pop world in the US and UK at one of the slowest times of the year. 'Poker Face' keeps the motors humming as everyone waits for the next step forward from Lady Gaga." Chris Williams of Billboard also gave a positive review of the song saying, "Once again, hooks are aplenty, with '80s-inspired synthesizers, robotic verses and a warm, sunny hook in the chorus, which is even more addictive than the previous single ('Just Dance')...With a focused artistic vision, a swagger in her interview style and above all, a fantastic collection of diverse pop nuggets, Gaga is playing her cards right—and "Poker" is another obvious ace."
Slant Magazine music reviewer Sal Cinquemani included "Poker Face" among the songs that work in The Fame, namely tracks like "Starstruck," "Paper Gangsta" and "Summerboy". Matthew Chisling from Allmusic called the song "infectious" and along with the title track "The Fame", complimented them for "rejuvenating the vibe on the album for its second half." Andy Downing from The Chicago Tribune called the song "jaunty" while reviewing Gaga's Fame Ball tour. Evan Sawdey from PopMatters.com felt that "Poker Face" along with the track "Paparazzi", duplicate much of the same "glitzy territory that previous single 'Just Dance' had covered, but never once does it feel like Gaga is deliberately repeating herself." Rolling Stone in a review for The Fame Ball Tour compared the live acoustic "bluesy" version of "Poker Face" with the music of singer Amy Winehouse. Erika Hobert from the New Times Broward-Palm Beach newspaper called the song "trashtastic Europop." The song was nominated for Grammy Awards in the categories for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Dance Recording, ultimately winning the last of these.
Rolling Stone ranked it number ninety-six on their list of 100 Best Songs of the 2000s decade. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 103 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". In rankings of Gaga's discography, Billboard placed "Poker Face" second on a list of her 15 greatest songs in 2019, while Marie Claire ranked it ninth in a list published the same year. The Guardian placed it seventh among 30 songs in 2020, and The Independent ranked it 14th in a ranking of all her songs published in 2025.
Commercial performance In the United States, the song debuted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of January 3, 2009, and reached number six on March 7 of that year. The next week, the song climbed another three places, reaching the number three position and staying there for two additional weeks. On the Billboard issue dated April 11, 2009, the song topped the chart. "Poker Face" became Gaga's second consecutive number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the first time a new artist has had their first two charting singles hit number one on that chart since Christina Aguilera did so with "Genie in a Bottle" and "What a Girl Wants" in 1999 and 2000. The song spent one week at the top of the chart, nine weeks at number two, 18 weeks in the Top 10 and stayed on the Hot 100 for a total of 40 weeks. "Poker Face" also peaked on both the Hot Dance Airplay and Hot Dance Club Play charts. It became the first single since Madonna's 2006 single "Sorry" to top all the three dance charts in a single week including the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. The song has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and sold 7.5 million paid digital downloads in the United States as of February 2018, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Gaga is the first artist in digital history to top the six and seven million mark in paid downloads with two songs, the first being "Just Dance". "Poker Face" is Gaga's most digitally-sold track in the United States.
In Canada, the song debuted at number 41 on the Canadian Hot 100. On the chart dated December 13, 2008, "Poker Face" ascended to the number one spot and then spent nine non-consecutive weeks at the top. The song was later certified Diamond by Music Canada for sales of 800,000 copies. "Poker Face" entered the Australian charts at number 26, and in its seventh week peaked at number one. "Poker Face" has shipped over 1,050,000 copies in Australia, being certified fifteen times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It held the record for the longest-charting song in ARIA Chart history of 106 weeks until this was broken in May 2015 by Vance Joy's "Riptide". In New Zealand, the song debuted on the official chart at number 21. In its sixth week, it peaked on the chart, spending 10 consecutive weeks at number one. "Poker Face" was later certified quintuple platinum, selling over 150,000 copies according to the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).
In the United Kingdom, "Poker Face" debuted at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart. After three months, it climbed to number one and provided Gaga with her second consecutive British number one single. It was the biggest-selling digital single in the United Kingdom, before being overtaken by "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas in June 2010. However, the song became the country's biggest-selling single of 2009, and was awarded The Record of the Year. By September 2017 the song had 1.18 million pure sales and had been streamed 8.27 million times. In January 2025, the song was awarded a quadruple platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) having sold 2.4 million copies in the UK with 155 million streams as of February 2025.
In Italy, the song debuted at number 19 and peaked at number two. The song has also reached the peak in a number of European countries including Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. In Germany, "Poker Face" became the most successful download single ever and the first to sell more than 500,000 downloads. The song also spent 16 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard European Hot 100 Singles chart. By November 2009, the song had sold over 9.8 million copies globally according to IFPI, making it the world's best-selling overall single that year. It went on to sell over 13.4 million copies by 2013, making it one of the best-selling singles ever. More than fifteen years after its release, "Poker Face" entered the Billboard Global 200, established in 2020, and later peaked at number 45 on May 17, 2025, spending 63 weeks on the ranking.
Music video