When was straight up released

For a behind-the-scenes figure like Paula Abdul to become a chart phenomenon, a whole lot of things had to play out in very specific ways. Abdul belonged to her moment, and her moment belonged to her. Paula Abdul grew up around show business; she went to Van Nuys High School in the San Fernando Valley, the alma mater of a whole lot of movie stars, and her mother once worked as the assistant for the great director Billy Wilder.

Abdul was a cheerleader in high school, and she studied broadcasting at Cal State Northridge, hoping to become a sportscaster. Abdul got involved in sports a lot earlier than she planned, though. A friend convinced her to try out for the Laker Girls, the famed cheerleading squad, and she won a spot on the team during her freshman year of college. Some of the Jackson brothers had Lakers season tickets, and they were impressed enough with the Laker Girls to ask who did their choreography.

Abdul may have had an affair with Jackie Jackson, the oldest of the Jacksons, who was married at the time. Over the next few years, Paula Abdul worked on a baffling array of music videos. Abdul also got jobs in movies and TV. When Abdul became a singer a couple of years later, she pretty clearly patterned herself after what Janet was doing on Control , right down to the hairstyle. Around the same time that she was working on those Janet Jackson videos, Abdul decided that she wanted to become a singer, too.

If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record, and she could sing. The song took off, and it made Abdul into a phenomenon. By the end of the year, the album had sold four million copies.

The demo apparently sounded like shit, but she loved the song, and she said that she had to have it. Wolff clearly had a great sense of timing. There are so many catchy little things going on in the song — the deliriously fake horn-blats, the vrooming synth just before the chorus, the power-chord guitars buried in the mix. But Abdul still projects a ton of personality onto the song.

And on the bridge, Abdul really just crushes it. Really, everything about the bridge is perfect; I love the way the drums get even bigger and more urgent. The slightness works. At certain points of the song, Abdul sounds stressed and desperate. It opens with Abdul tap-dancing, not singing, and its stark black-and-white color scheme always draws attention to the way Abdul moves. Straight Up Power Mix 3. Straight Up House Mix 4.

Straight Up Marley Marl Mix. Straight Up Ultimix Mix B1. Opposites Attract Mix B2. Straight Up Single Version. Straight Up 12" Remix A2. Straight Up Power Mix B1. Straight Up House Mix B2. Straight Up House Mix. Straight Up 2. Cold Hearted. US Cassette Single - Virgin 7 1. Straight Up Power Mix. I've been a fool before Wouldn't like to get my love caught In the slammin' door Are you more than hot for me Or am I a page in your history-book I don't mean to make demands But the word and the deed go hand in hand How about some information-please Chorus out.

Paula Abdul Official Fan Site. The "Straight Up" Story. Music Video.