Toxic (song)
"Toxic" is a song by American singer Britney Spears, released as the second single from her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003). It was written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, with additional writing from Cathy Dennis and Henrik Jonback. It was initially offered to Kylie Minogue for her album Body Language, but she turned it down. A dance-pop and techno-pop song with elements of South Asian music, "Toxic" features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers and surf guitar. It is played in the key of C minor with a tempo of 143 beats per minute. It is accompanied by breathy vocals and high-pitched Bollywood strings, sampled from Laxmikant–Pyarelal's "Tere Mere Beech Mein" (1981). Its lyrics draw an extended metaphor of a lover as a dangerous and addictive drug.
For other songs with similar names, see Toxic (disambiguation) § Music."Toxic"
January 12, 2004
2003
- Murlyn (Stockholm)
- Record Plant (Los Angeles)
3:19
- Cathy Dennis
- Christian Karlsson
- Pontus Winnberg
- Henrik Jonback
"Toxic" received acclaim from critics, who praised its hook and chorus, with many deeming it among the highlights of the album. It won Best Dance Recording at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, marking the first Grammy win of Spears' career. The song topped the charts in 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, and reached the top five in 15 countries. In the United States, it became her fourth top-ten single, peaking at number nine. The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and includes references to Blade Runner, The Seven Year Itch and John Woo films. It features Spears as a secret agent who poisons her boyfriend, and includes scenes of Spears naked with diamonds on her body. Following the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, the video was deemed too racy for MTV and was moved to late-night programming.
Spears has performed "Toxic" in live appearances, including the 2004 NRJ Music Awards and three of her concert tours. It was the opening number of the Onyx Hotel Tour (2004), where she sang atop a bus wearing a black catsuit. Spears also performed remixed versions of "Toxic" at the Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), the Femme Fatale Tour (2011) and Britney: Piece of Me (2013). "Toxic" has been covered by artists such as Local H, Mark Ronson, A Static Lullaby, Reece Mastin and Ingrid Michaelson, and in the TV series Glee. It has also featured in films such as Knocked Up, You Again, Pitch Perfect 3, and TV series Doctor Who and Chuck. "Toxic" has become one of Spears' signature songs and is widely cited as among the most influential and innovative songs in pop music. The song has been included in multiple all-time lists of best songs, including by Pitchfork, NME and, in 2021, was ranked among Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Writing and recording[edit]
"Toxic" was written by Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback, Christian Karlsson, and Pontus Winnberg from production team Bloodshy & Avant. It was produced by Karlsson and Winnberg.[3]
The song was written with the American singer Janet Jackson in mind,[4] but was initially offered to the Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who turned it down.[5] Minogue said she "listened to a snippet of it in the record-company offices and decided against it". She said she was not angry when it became a hit for Spears: "It's like the fish that got away. You just have to accept it."[6]
"Toxic" was recorded at Murlyn Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and Record Plant in Los Angeles. It was mixed by Niklas Flyckt at Khabang Studios in Stockholm.[3]
On June 5, 2017, a version of "Toxic" without the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune on Spears's vocals was leaked to YouTube. Despite a general expectation that the leak would confirm suspicions of Spears' natural vocals being poor, it was positively received overall.[7][8][9]
Composition[edit]
"Toxic" is a classic dance-pop and techno-pop song, featuring elements of South Asian music.[10][11][12][13] It features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers, violins, and high-pitched strings.[14][15] It also contains surf guitar, that according to Caryn Ganz of Spin, "warps and struts like it's been fed into The Matrix." The music was also compared to the soundtracks of the James Bond film series.[14] The hook of "Toxic" samples a portion of "Tere Mere Beech Mein", from the soundtrack of the 1981 Bollywood film Ek Duuje Ke Liye.[16] However, it is not lifted verbatim from the score and mixes two different sections of the piece for the introduction section; later in the song, the cut-up sample is dropped in favor of a re-recorded string arrangement to improve the quality of the melody as evidenced by the multitrack recordings available on the internet.[17] Spears' vocals on the song are breathy.[15] Some of the refrains were inspired by pieces of classical music, such as "Flight of the Bumblebee", "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", and "Dumky Trio". NME described the song as presenting "piercing strings, hip-hop beats, eastern flavour and a dangerous escapade with temptation."[18]
According to the official sheet music on Music-Notes, "Toxic" is set in the key of C minor, and follows a fast tempo of 143 beats per minute, but the pre-chorus is based on the C Dorian mode.[19] Spears's vocal range spans from the low note of F3 to the high note of G5.[20] Lyrically, "Toxic" talks about being addicted to a lover.[21] Spears refers to her addiction in the lyrics and sings lines such as "Too high / Can't come down / Losing my head / Spinning round and round" in a falsetto. A reviewer from Popdust called the verse "The most representative lyric of the song's delirious, disorienting charm."[17][22] "Toxic" ends with an outro in which Spears sings the lines, "Intoxicate me now / With your lovin' now / I think I'm ready now."[22] Nick Southall of Stylus Magazine said the lyrics made Spears sound afraid of sex.[23]
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of In the Zone.[3]