SongsTube Paula Abdul

About "Straight Up"

"Straight Up" is a single by American recording artist Paula Abdul from her debut studio album, Forever Your Girl (1988). The song is a mid-tempo dance-pop song with influence from the pop rock and new jack swing genres. Written and produced entirely by Elliot Wolff, the song was released as the album's third single on November 22, 1988, by Virgin Records.

"Straight Up" became Abdul's first top 40 hit in the United States, before going on to be her first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. Her first two singles had been modest hits that had sparked only mild interest in her album, but "Straight Up" helped the album reach the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, before it finally reached number one following a record-setting 64 weeks on the market after spawning three more number-one hits. "Straight Up" brought Abdul widespread public attention, and has remained as her biggest international hit to date, reaching the top 10 in at least 16 countries. The song was also included in her six compilation albums, released between 1998 and 2013.

The song also received positive reviews from music critics, with Daniel J. Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music praising it as "hold[ing] a certain appeal over many, many listenings." It also earned Abdul several award nominations in the US, most notably including her first Grammy nomination in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1990, and six other nominations for its music video at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.