Lady Gaga - Poker Face

Lady GaGa is probably one of the most influential pop artists today. Her real success started in 2008 with the release of her album The Fame; Poker Face was the second single to be released from her album and it spent nine weeks at number one.

Typical conventions of a pop music video:

• close up shots of artists (lip syncing)
• Generally targeted at younger audiences
• choreography
• happy vibrant themes
• colourful
• commercial exhibitionist performance
• voyeurism
• typically has a narrative

This music video clearly identifies with the typical conventions. Firstly, there is a narrative. The video shows Lady Gaga at a wild poker party in a luxurious mansion. The game of poker quickly turns into strip poker as we see shots of the players gradually taking their cloths of, until they are wearing nothing but their underwear. Other shots inside the mansion tell us it is a party, as we see Lady Gaga and other people dancing and touching each other on the sofas.

The first shot we see is a close up of Lady Gaga  wearing a mirrored mask. We then zoom in and out to see Gaga rising from the pool in a tight fitting black leather cat suit. The shots we see can refer back to Goodwin's theory, that there is voyeuristic treatment of the female body.We then cross cut to a different scene where Lady Gaga is lip syncing. We only see close up shots of her face whilst lip syncing and there is mild movement, where she is dancing to the beat of the music.These first scenes follow the conventions of a pop music video as straight almost all the shots are close ups of her face, emphasising her beauty and image to the audience. These scenes of her Lip syncing are shown throughout the video, yet thy have no importance to the narrative.

We then are introduced to the narrative. We see long/establishing shots of Gaga strutting (to the time of the music) outside a massive, modern mansion. This sets the scene.For the chorus, Gaga and some backing dancers perform a dance routine which is fast and in time to the beat; we can also refer this back to Goodwin's theory, that there is a relationship between music visuals. The dance routine also ties in the the typical conventions of a pop video. Gaga is wearing a bright blue swimsuit where the sides have been cut out; it is very flattering and enhances her slim figure. The routine is repeated when the chorus is played; there are also long shots of Gaga dancing solo. The importance of her dancing alone is to sell herself in terms of her image. 

The next scene is where we can understand the narrative and the visuals portray the lyrics.  

We can see that she is at a party as there are people dancing along in the background; we can also tell there is a poker game going on as there is a table with poker chips and cards on. Gaga flashes her cards whilst the lyrics "a little gambling is fun when you're with me". In general I don't think the narrative fully shows what the lyrics mean. The poker party is the only real portrayal of her lyrics. However, I think the idea of a 'poker face' and 'bluffing' is a metaphor for something else. 


I would classify this video as being a commercial exhibitionist performance. The video is very much about selling Lady Gagas image through the use of close ups, her make up and outfits are tailored to make her likeable and inspirational to her audience.


It is clear that the genre of this music video is pop. There is even a shot where Lady Gaga is sitting on the edge of the pool wearing some sunglasses which flash words. It flashed the words 'Pop culture'. Wikipedia says the genre is electro-pop but Wikipedia can sometimes be an unreliable source as anyone is entitled to change the information.