Toxic (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Toxic


Artist = Britney Spears
from Album = In the Zone
Released = flagicon|US February 24, 2004 flagicon|Germany February 2, 2004 flagicon|UK March 1, 2004
Format = CD, DVD
Recorded = 2003
Genre = Electropop, dance pop
Length = 3:21
Label = Jive
Writer = Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback
Producer = Bloodshy & Avant
Certification = Platinum (Australia, Norway, United States) Gold (New Zealand, Sweden) Silver (France, UK)
Last single = "Me Against the Music" (2003)
This single = "Toxic" (2004)
Next single = "Everytime" (2004)Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = single


Lower caption = UK DVD Single"Toxic" is a Grammy Award-winning dance-pop song written by Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, and Henrik Jonback for Britney Spears' fourth studio album "In the Zone" (2003). It was released as the album's second single in early 2004 (see 2004 in music). "Toxic" enjoyed critical acclaim and international success, topping many singles charts around the world. In 2005 it won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, Spears' first Grammy ever. [ [http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pc3_1_1&zone=PC&lm=pc3_1&prid=3951 "'We Are The Champions' by legendary rock band Queen is voted the World’s Favourite Song in The Walkman phones 100 global poll."] Sony Ericsson. September 28, 2005. Retrieved June 19, 2007.] Along with "...Baby One More Time", "Oops!... I Did It Again", and "Gimme More" it is considered one of Spears' signature songs.

It has been covered by many artists, making it one of the most covered songs by Spears. The song's cowriter, Cathy Dennis, recorded the demo for the song.

Music and structure

"Toxic" is a dance-pop song composed in the key of C minor. It is written in common time and moves at 143 beats per minute. Spears' vocal range for the song spans nearly two octaves, from G₃ to F₅.Sheet music for "Toxic". Hal Leonard Corporation. 2003.]

After the introduction repeats the hook four times, Spears sings the first two verses, each one followed by the hook. After singing the bridge, she sings the chorus. Spears sings the third verse and then the chorus. Following a break she sings the chorus twice and closes the song with an outro.

Music video

It was directed by Joseph Kahn. It portrays Spears as a secret agent of some sort. She's a flight attendant on a concorde-like airliner, who after receiving a phone call, pushes an overweight man into the lavatory and French kisses him. Spears pulls the face of the man off, revealing a handsome man portrayed by model Matthew Felker, and steals his wallet and a key. Spears is then shown in Paris, in a black pleather catsuit and with wavy red hair, and is picked up by Tyson Beckford on a Ducati 999. The pair drives to a factory, where she uses the key to steal a toxin and passes through a series of security measures. Spears then scales a building, now in a superhero-style costume and with black hair, and enters the apartment of a former lover, played by actor Martin Henderson. They make out and Spears pours the toxin in his mouth, killing him. After planting a kiss on him, she jumps off the balcony, landing back in the airplane in her original attire, and winks at the camera before returning to her duties as a flight attendant. The video closes as it began, with birds flying behind the aircraft.

The Music video contained many "Toxic" references. For example, the toxins that Britney stole were poisonous thus making them Toxic. Also, the factory which Britney broke into was called "Toxic Industries", shown on a large sign above the entrance Britney broke into and the Airliner company Britney worked as a flight attendant for was called "Toxic Air".

The video is intercut with sequences of Spears with hundreds of Swarovski crystals glued to her body, wearing only a G-string. It took nearly nine hours for makeup artists to glue the crystals to her body.Fact|date=September 2008 During filming of the sequence, only director Joseph Kahn and Visual effects supervisor Chris Watts were there to shoot; other crew members had to leave the room.Fact|date=September 2008

Chris Watts was awarded the "Best Visual Effects in a Music Video" by the Visual Effects Society for his work on Toxic.

The music video debuted at number one on MTV's "Total Request Live". [ [http://www.atrl.net/trlarchive/?s=debuts "The TRL Archive - Debuts"] . ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.] It spent sixteen days at the top of the countdown [ [http://www.atrl.net/trlarchive/?s=numberones "The TRL Archive - Number Ones"] . ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.] and was retired after fifty days on the program. [ [http://www.atrl.net/trlarchive/?s=halloffame "The TRL Archive - Hall of Fame"] . ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.] The video was nominated in four categories at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video, and Video of the Year.

Acclaim

The song received much acclaim from critics and the industry. It earned Spears her first Grammy for Best Dance Recording in 2005. It also came 5th in the highly regarded Pazz and Jop Poll for single of the year. [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/pazznjop/04/singles_winners1.php Pazz & Jop 2004 ] ] In addition, several popular music magazines have selected it one of the greatest songs to be released since the year 2000. Indie music websites Pitchfork Media and Stylus Magazine both named it one of the top songs to be put out between 2000 and 2005, Pitchfork ranked it 13th [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/2000-04/singles/index.shtml] and Stylus ranked it 14th [ [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1419 The Top 50 Singles: 2000-2005 - Article - Stylus Magazine ] ] . Blender also ranked it on their list of the top 500 songs from 1980 to 2005 placing it 110th. [ [http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/3172289350/show/542922 Acclaimed Music Forum ] ] The song was chosen as the second favorite song of the world (all time) in a global survey made by Sony Ericsson, in which 700,000 music fans of 66 countries contributed, behind "We Are the Champions" by Queen. [ [http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pc3_1_1&zone=PC&lm=pc3_1&prid=3951 "'We Are The Champions' by legendary rock band Queen is voted the World’s Favourite Song in The Walkman™ phones 100 global poll."] Sony Ericsson. September 28, 2005. Retrieved June 19, 2007.]

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Toxic"."UKBritney.tv" [http://www.ukbritney.tv/discography/4inthezone_02toxic.phpBritney Spears — Toxic (UK)] . Retrieved on May 27, 2007]

Certifications

External links

* [http://www.mp3musicsongs.com/Toxic_by_Britney_Spears.ashx Toxic by Britney Spears]
* [http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=501686&vid=28136 Music video for "Toxic" at MTV Overdrive]

References