LADY GAGA - Poker Face Review

It was a long, slow climb to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Grammy Award-nominated Lady GaGa's debut, "Just Dance," which took nine months to reach the summit in January. It looks as if the second release, "Poker Face," from the album "The Fame," won't have as long a wait. 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. Already, the track has reached No. 1 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Finland, Norway and Sweden. While comparisons abound—Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Madonna—Lady GaGa has a singular sound and style. 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. —Chris Williams...full text It looks like Lady GaGa won't have much trouble keeping the "Just Dance" party going on her next single. That synth heavy electro feel is back, and GaGa has another brief breakdown to try and keep things interesting throughout. She is undoubtedly a new star, but "Poker Face" is unlikely to be an enduring track....full text Daniel Incognito of Sputnikmusic reviewed the song saying "Poker Face shares the rest of the album's (The Fame) lively personality – the synths being anything but level. The vocal texture in the breakdown takes an eccentric turn, but strangely has a nice alluring quality to it".[2]

The Times in a review for The Fame said that "Poker Face" was one of the finest moments of the album with its love-as-card-game cheek.[3]

BBC reviewed the "strut-tastic" single as "expressing her overwhelming desire for celebrity and fortune."[4]

Nick Levine, music editor of Digitalspy also praised the single saying "'Poker Face', one of the best tracks here, (The Fame) features both passable innuendo ("I wanna roll with him, a hard pair we will be") and childish, half-arsed nonsense ("I'm bluffin' with my muff")." [5]

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Chart performance

Poker Face peaked at number one on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and has stayed there for 8 weeks. It is the second single by Lady Gaga to do so after "Just Dance" which, however, spent just one week at the summit. After 16 weeks on the chart Poker Face sold over 165,000 copies going 2x Platinum on the ARIA Charts.[6][7]

In Canada, the song debuted at number 41 on the Canadian Hot 100. As it began to receive more radio airplay, it reached the top ten. On the chart dated December 13, 2008, Poker Face ascended to number one where it has spent nine non-consecutive weeks so far (four more than "Just Dance", her first five-week chart-topper).[7] The song also managed to top the Digital Downloads chart.[8] The Hot 100 run was interrupted by Kelly Clarkson's single "My Life Would Suck Without You", but "Poker Face" came back again on the top for the issue of February 14, 2009.

In America, the song debuted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart on the week of October 18, 2008 at number 25.[9] On the week of January 3, 2009, the single entered the Billboard Hot 100 at 92 and moved up to 81 the following week. The song has reached a peak of 10 for the issue dated February 28, 2009.[10] Along with her former chart topper in the 5th position, Lady Gaga became the first debut artist to place her two debut singles simultaneously in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The song also debuted on the Pop 100 at number 61 and moved to a peak of 12.[11] The song currently has peaked the Hot Dance Airplay chart for the issue date of February 7, 2009 [12] and also peaked the the Hot Dance Club Play chart for the issue date of February 21, 2009.[12]

In New Zealand, "Poker Face" debuted at number 21 on October 6, 2008. In its sixth week, it topped the chart and was certified platinum. It spent a huge 10 weeks at number one and was knocked off on its 16th week in the charts by Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". "Poker Face" spent the most weeks at number one since Crazy Frog's "Axel F" spent 11 non-consecutive weeks at number one in July - October 2005, and the most consecutive weeks at number one since UB40's song "Can't Help Falling in Love" spent 10 consecutive weeks at number one in June - August 1993.[13]

In Finland the song entered the chart at number 19 and climbed to the top on the second week of January.[14] It also topped the Finnish download chart and is still at number one after nine weeks....full text