Lady Gaga confirms hidden gay meaning behind ‘Poker Face’ lyrics
Lady Gaga has revealed that the lyrics to ‘Poker Face’ have a secret – gay – meaning (Getty Images)
Lady Gaga has revealed that the lyrics to her smash hit single “Poker Face” have a very gay hidden meaning.
Released in 2008, “Poker Face” is one of pop icon Lady Gaga’s most instantly recognisable songs, with gambling-themed lyrics filled with metaphorical references to sex.
But, performing at her ‘Jazz & Piano’ residency in Las Vegas, Gaga was filmed sat behind a piano, and before launching into the song, which reached number one on various charts, teased that the real meaning of the lyrics are a whole lot gayer than at first listen.
“I bet you didn’t know this song was about having sex with men and thinking about women,” she said, to rapturous applause from the crowd.
“Now that’s my kind of poker face,” she added.
The song includes the lines: “Can’t read my, can’t read my/ No, he can’t read my poker face/ (She’s got me like nobody).”
In the video, Gaga said to the audience: “Come on, sing along, I know you’ve done it” – with ‘it’ being having sex with a man and imagining it’s a woman.
Gaga spoke about the song being a reference to bisexuality in 2009, shortly after the single’s release, telling Jonathon Ross she’d “think about women” while “having sex with her boyfriend.”
The icon then further called the banger an “ode to bisexuality” in 2021.
In 2013, Gaga proudly came out bisexual. During a 2013 release party for her album Artpop she said: “You know what? It’s not a lie that I am bisexual and I like women, and anyone that wants to twist this into ‘she says she’s bisexual for marketing’, this is a f**king lie. This is who I am and who I have always been.”
Lady Gaga hasn’t just been teasing queer meanings to her songs in recent months; she’s also performed at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris 2024, and starred in another trailer for Joker sequel, Folie à Deux, opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
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