"Straight Up" is a song by American recording artist Paula Abdul from her debut studio album, Forever Your Girl (1988).

The single brought Abdul widespread public attention and remains her biggest international hit to date, reaching the top 10 in at least 16 countries.

While the latter found modest success on the R&B charts, radio station KMEL in San Francisco started playing "Straight Up" from the album.

"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.

It was used as a lip sync song in the third season of reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, where contestants Raja and Carmen Carrera had to perform it to avoid elimination.

[7] Jerry Smith from Music Week wrote, "Having had a US number one, this catchy dance groove by a successful choreographer gets its UK release with the seemingly unavoidable fate that it should do comparably well here.

Tom Breihan of Stereogum views the song as "the sort of fizzy pop-music brilliance" which cannot be ignored with "a great sense of timing"; as the piece Abdul was "put on earth to sing" along with her dance abilities; and as "fitting the 1989 zeitgeist".

With that, he views that the vocals are greatly diminished by the drums and Abdul's lack of "hitting big notes", however projecting "total assurance" on the beats and "a ton of personality".

He opines that the lyrics showcase "slightness which works" with Abdul character's questioning of her lover seeming "stressed and desperate" at points but mostly "having fun" and "flirting".

Analyzing the music video, he views the song's "hard, physical" aspect being "emphasized" via a "near-masterpiece" vision of "flashy but simple opening" with Abdul's pre-music dance and a "stark" black-and-white color scheme which "draws attention" to Abdul's moves alongside other "grabbing" appearances and visuals.