"Make Her Say" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kid Cudi, released as the second single from his debut album '' Man on the Moon: The End of Day'' (2009). The single was digitally released to iTunes on June 9, 2009. It features fellow American rappers Common and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

, the latter of whom also produced the song. The song is perhaps best known for its sample of the US number-one hit single " Poker Face", as performed by American singer

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

. The song received a nomination for

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontin ...

at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Background and lyrical content

"Make Her Say" is performed by Kid Cudi,

, and Common. It was originally titled "I Poke Her Face", but was changed to make it more acceptable for radio. The song was written by all three artists, produced by West, and features scratches from DJ

A-Trak Alain Macklovitch (born March 30, 1982), known by his stage name A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highly ...

(of whom West is a fan) and producer RedOne are credited as co-writers, because an acoustic version of Gaga's song " Poker Face" from ''

The Cherrytree Sessions ''The Cherrytree Sessions'' is the first extended play by American singer Lady Gaga. It consists of three acoustic versions of " Poker Face", " Just Dance", and " Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)". The EP was released on February 3, 2009, initial ...

'' EP is sampled throughout the song. Gaga voiced approval of the track, saying that West "had so much insight into what the song was about." Incidentally, just a few weeks later, the two revealed plans to tour together; however, the tour was later canceled. In addition to the Lady Gaga sample, the song also makes musical references to T.I.'s "

Whatever You Like "Whatever You Like" is a song by the American rapper T.I., released as the lead single (second overall) from his sixth studio album, ''Paper Trail'' (2008). The song was written by T.I. and David Siegel, alongside the song's producer Jim Jonsi ...

Asher Roth Asher Paul Roth (born August 11, 1985) is an American rapper. He is best known for his debut single "I Love College". Roth released his debut studio album ''Asleep in the Bread Aisle'', on April 20, 2009, by Universal Motown, SRC, and School Bo ...

's " I Love College", and

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He became widely known for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the 2004 biographical film ''Ray'', for which he won the A ...

's "

Blame It "Blame It" (also known as "Blame It (On the Alcohol)") is a song by American singer and actor Jamie Foxx, released as the second official single from his third studio album, ''Intuition'' (2008). It features singer T-Pain and was written by C ...

Music video

The music video for "Make Her Say" was directed by Nez Khammal and released on July 20, 2009. The video carries a minimal aesthetic, with scenes taking place in empty, wide-open spaces. Although Kid Cudi, Kanye West, and Common all appear in the video, they never attended a film shoot together. The music video utilizes a split screen effect to create the illusion that the three artists were all filmed in the same location. In reality, they had shot their individual scenes on opposite coasts of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

; Common and Kid Cudi were filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

while Kanye was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. The group had wanted Lady Gaga to be included in the video, but she was too busy to make the appearance. The video uses a shortened version of the song that cuts out the outro. The "Make Her Say" video is also the first music video to feature the hardware from

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

's ''

DJ Hero ''DJ Hero'' is a music video game, developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision as a rhythm game spin-off of the '' Guitar Hero'' franchise. It was released on October 27, 2009 in North America and on October 29, 2009 in Europe. The g ...

''.

Live performances

Kid Cudi performed the song solo during his set at the 2009 Bamboozle music festival. Kid Cudi also performed the song on June 13 in Chicago at The B96 Pepsi Summer Bash and in London at the 2009

O2 Wireless Festival The Wireless Festival is a rap and urban music festival that takes place every year in London, England. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. While it started as primarily a rock and pop festival, in recent years it has focused on hip hop and ...

. He also performed his verse of the song at Lollapalooza 2009 in Chicago, IL. He performed the song with Lady Gaga on her Monster Ball tour in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Track listing

Man on the Moon CD: The End of Day #"Make Her Say" - 3:36 Digital single #"Make Her Say" – 3:57 Promotional CD single #"Make Her Say" (Clean) – 3:58 #"Make Her Say" (Dirty) – 3:58 #"Make Her Say" (Instrumental) – 3:57 Promotional CD single 2nd Version #"Make Her Say" – 3:58 #"Make Her Say" (Instrumental) – 3:57 #"Make Her Say" (

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...

Remix) – 4:20 #"Make Her Say" (Nadastrom 88 Dub) – 6:10 U.S. CD single #"Make Her Say" – 3:59 #"Day 'N' Night" – 3:42 #"Day 'N' Night" (Crookers Remix) – 4:41

Chart performance

In the

, "Make Her Say" debuted at number fifty-one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on June 18, 2009. That same week, it also entered the Canadian Hot 100 at number seventy-eight. The song entered the

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart at number six for the issue date of July 4. The following week, it appeared on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart at number seventy-three.

Charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2009 singles Kid Cudi songs Kanye West songs Common (rapper) songs Song recordings produced by Kanye West Songs written by Kid Cudi Songs written by Kanye West GOOD Music singles Universal Motown Records singles 2009 songs Songs written by Lady Gaga Songs written by Common (rapper) Songs written by RedOne Dirty rap songs