'Straight Up' attained breakthrough success for Abdul in the States. Running a total length of four minutes and eleven seconds in its original version, the song finds Abdul's vocals span from A 3 to C 5 in the song, while the singer questioning her partner if he was genuinely loving her or 'just having fun'. 'Straight Up' is performed in the key of D minor with a shuffling tempo of 96 beats per minute in common time and a chord progression of Dm–B ♭–Gm–Am. One of the 12' versions was remixed by LA 'Powermixers' Chris Modig and Boris Granich, known for their special Power mixes at Power 106 during the 1980s. 'The Way That You Love Me' was promoted a year later scoring a 5th top 5 hit in the US.

The strategy paid off, as 'Straight Up' was followed by three more number-one hits. The label switched promotion 'The Way That You Love Me' to 'Straight Up'. 'Straight Up' was the third single released from her debut album Forever Your Girl, after ' Knocked Out' and ' The Way That You Love Me.' While the latter found modest success on the R&B charts, to radio station KMEL in San Francisco started playing 'Straight Up' from the album. 'Literally, within 10 days I sold a million copies.' The song was originally recorded in a bathroom, and in the masters of the recording, someone in the next apartment can be heard yelling 'Shut up'. Later a friend of hers told her that somebody with her same name was being played on a northern California radio station. The song was recorded at a cost of $3,000. The record label didn't think the song was any good but Abdul offered to record two songs they wanted, which she didn't like, if they would let her do 'Straight Up'.

At that time she was a full-time choreographer, and on the side, late at night she was recording music. But Abdul heard something she liked in it, and retrieved it. The demo version was “so bad” that Abdul’s mother was 'crying laughing' at it, and threw it in the trash. She explains that her mother knew someone whose boyfriend was an aspiring songwriter, and she got 'Straight Up' as an 8-track demo. Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music praising the song as 'hold a certain appeal over many, many listenings.' It also earned Abdul several nominations in the US, most notably including her first Grammy Awards 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.Īccording to Paula Abdul, her mother found this song for her. The song also received positive reviews from music critics, with Daniel J. The song was then included in her six compilation albums, released between 19. 'Straight Up' brought her widespread public attention, and has remained as her biggest international hit to date, reaching the top-10 region in over 11 countries. 'Straight Up' helped her album reach the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart, before it finally reached number one after a record-setting 64 weeks on the market after 3 more #1 hits. Her first 2 singles were modest hits that sparked a little interest in her album. 'Straight Up' became her first top 40 hit in the United States, earning her first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. Written and produced entirely by Elliot Wolff, the song was released as the album's third single on November 22, 1988, by Virgin Records. The song is a mid-tempo dance-pop song with influence from the pop rock and new jack swing genres. ' Straight Up' is the breakthrough song for American recording artist Paula Abdul from her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988).

Paula abdul straight up choreography