Toxic (song)

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"Toxic"
"Toxic" cover
CD single
Single by Britney Spears
from the album In the Zone
Released March 1, 2004 (UK)
Format 12" single
DVD Single
Recorded 2003
Genre Pop/Dance
Length 3:21
Label Jive
Writer(s) Cathy Dennis
C. Karlsson
P. Winnberg
H. Jonback
Producer(s) Avant
Bloodshy
Certification Platinum
Chart positions

Top ten positions
Britney Spears singles chronology
"Me Against the Music"
(2003)		 "Toxic"
(2004)		 "Everytime"
(2004)

"Toxic" is a Grammy Award-winning song and the second single from the album In the Zone by pop superstar Britney Spears, released during the first quarter of 2004 and an international #1 smash hit.

The Bloodshy and Avant-produced "Toxic", which has been described as a pop song crossed with a James Bond theme song, boasts both Bollywood strings and slick production, with writing credits from Cathy Dennis and others.

The song is about Britney falling in love with a man. She feels addicted to him: he is like a drug for her. His effect on her is like alcohol or drugs: she calls it a "poison paradise". On the one hand, it is "paradise" because it makes her feel high ("too high: can't come down", "I'm on a ride", "I'm loving it"). On the other hand, it is "poison" ("you're toxic") because she feels addicted to his love ("I need a hit", "There's no escape") and "it's dangerous" (she thinks "a guy like you should wear a warning").

The single was a major international success. It has been covered by The BossHoss, The Pulsar Triyo, Local H, the Chapin Sisters, and Nickel Creek.

Contents

[edit] Music video

Britney with black hair.
Enlarge
Britney with black hair.

The Joseph Kahn-directed music video for "Toxic" ranks with "I'm a Slave 4 U" as Britney's most risqué. Like "...Baby One More Time", Spears came up with the entire concept on her own.

The video begins with a scene of several birds flying in front of a futuristic airplane in the sky. The camera moves for shots inside the aircraft and reveals Spears to be a flight attendant. She answers a phone call, dances provocatively with her trolley and spills wine on a man's trousers (and then proceeds to clean up her mess), before moving on to an overweight man standing in the path eating a sandwich; she then abandons her trolley to push him into the facilities, and locks the door with both of them inside. The two begin kissing, in which Spears pulls the face of the man off, revealing a supermodel's face beneath. They continue making out, and while the man is distracted from their actions, Spears steals a key from him.

Spears is on the streets of Paris in the next part of the video, wearing a dominatrix suit, sporting wavy red hair, waiting to be picked up. Her transport (shirtless supermodel Tyson Beckford who is riding a red Ducati 999 motorcycle) arrives, and the pair drive off to Spears' destination, a factory owned by "Toxic Industries Inc". She uses the key she stole from the man on the airplane to enter a room that contains toxin. Spears then exits the building, but not before having to pass through a series of security measures, including eruptions of fire and rotating glass wheels.

Following the adventure, Spears climbs up the wall of a building. Now adorned in a type of superhero costume with black hair, she enters the apartment of her former lover. They begin to make out, but for Spears, this is only a distraction so that she can use the toxin she stole to murder the man. She plants a kiss on his face, and then jumps off the edge of the building, and lands in the airplane that the video originally began in, winking at the camera before returning to her duties as a flight attendant. The video closes as it began, with birds flying behind the aircraft.

[edit] Awards

"Toxic" earned a number of award nominations and wins. Predictably, with its popular video, it became one of the most-nominated works at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards. It also became Spears' first to be nominated in the category for Video of the Year; she was the only female nominated in the category for that year's ceremony. However, she still lost to Beyoncé's "Naughty Girl" in the category of Best Female Video, securing a second consecutive win for Beyoncé. "Toxic" was also the only video from the Best Pop Video category to be nominated in Video of the Year, but lost in that category too.

Regardless of the VMAs' outcome, "Toxic" still won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Single and, her first Grammy in the category of Best Dance Recording, this time, in another media battle against Kylie Minogue who was also nominated for this category.

[edit] Tracklisting and formats

  • EU/AUS CD Single
  1. Toxic (Album Version) 3:19
  2. Toxic (Instrumental Album Version) 3:19
  3. Toxic (Bloodshy & Avant’s Intoxicated Remix) 5:35
  4. Toxic (Armand Van Helden Remix Edit) 6:35
  • UK CD Single
  1. Toxic (Album Version) 3:19
  2. Toxic (Lenny Bertoldo Mixshow Edit) 5:46
  3. Toxic (Armand Van Helden Remix Edit) 6:35
  4. Toxic (Felix Da Housecat Club Mix) 7:09
  5. Toxic (Instrumental Album Version) 3:19
  • UK DVD Single
  1. "Toxic" Video
  2. "Britney Previews 'In The Zone'" Video Interview
  3. "Toxic" Lenny Bertoldo Mixshow

[edit] Remixes and other versions

These are (official) remixes and other versions of "Toxic" and the album/single they appear on:

  • Faint/Toxic
  • Album Version 3:19
  • Instrumental/Album Mix Instrumental 3:19
  • Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix 7:56
  • Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Edit 6:43
  • Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Radio Edit 4:29 - only available on B in the Mix: The Remixes Deluxe Edition
  • Bloodshy & Avant's Intoxicated Remix 5:35
  • Felix Da Housecat's Club Mix 7:09
  • Lenny Bertoldo Mixshow Edit 5:46
  • Lenny Bertoldo Radio Mix 3:32
  • Armand Van Helden Remix 9:34
  • Armand Van Helden Remix Edit 6:25
  • Armand Van Helden Radio Edit 3:46
  • Yiannis Outstanding Tribal Mix
  • Wave Group/Shoichiro Hirata Remix 1:50 - Cover of the original featured in beatmania, a music simulation game on the American PS2 game console

There is also a mix by DJ Sat One going around featuring a rap by Bahamadia (who some confuse with P. Magnet) which is considered by some to be official; however, it's not a commissioned release.

There are a further 2 remixes, the first nicknamed "toxic riddims" released in the UK on the club circuit and is still doing the rounds, which involves rap style lyrics. This is an unofficial remix and as such can only be found on p2p networks although due to its success in the clubs it is surprising it has not been actually released. The official title for this remix is Britney Spears vs Cutback - toxic vs rock to the rhythm or on the p2p networks, toxic riddims or toxic remix. The second was released on MTV Mash Up and is a mix of Usher - Yeah with Britney Spears - Toxic

MTV also released another unofficial mash-up remix, this time mixing the song Faint (by Linkin Park) with Toxic (By Britney Spears). This remix is widely available over p2p networks, like Limewire .

[edit] Chart performance

"Toxic" became Spears' biggest U.S. hit since "...Baby One More Time", and her first top-ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2000's "Oops!... I Did It Again". For these reasons, the song is considered by some critics to have been her first comeback single.

Although radio has never really warmed to Spears' music, "Toxic" did reach #9 on the Hot 100 chart. The single also experienced strong downloads, and became her first number one on the Hot Digital Tracks (it was the 4th most legally downloaded song of 2004); however, these downloads did not help the song on the charts, as digital sales did not begin counting towards chart positions until early 2005; it likely would have been a top 5 single otherwise[citation needed]. The single was also ranked at forty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End chart for 2004.

On Top 40 radio, the song reached number one for four weeks on the Mainstream Top 40 and number two on the Top 40 Tracks. "Toxic" also reached the top twenty on the Rhythmic Top 40.

"Toxic" became one of the biggest worldwide hits of 2004, and reached the top five or number one in nearly every country it charted in.

The single also became a huge success in the UK, selling 102,000 copies in its first week of release and debuting at number one, charting ahead of Kylie Minogue's "Red Blooded Woman" which entered the chart at #5. The chart battle between the two divas was highly popularized in the UK[1]. Ironically, the song had originally been offered to Kylie for inclusion on her 9th studio album Body Language, but she turned it down [2]. "Toxic" sold a total of 268,000 copies in the UK and became the 9th best selling single of 2004.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2004)[3] Peak
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 9
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales 3
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 25
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 16
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks 2
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 37
U.S. Billboard Latin Pop Airplay 35
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 Songs 1
Argentina Top 40 Singles 1
Australia Top 50 Singles 1
Austria Top 75 Singles 5
Belgium Top 50 Singles 6
Brazil Top 100 Singles 4
Canada Top (50/100) Singles 1
Chile Top 20 Singles 1
China Top 20 Singles 2
Denmark Top 20 Singles 4
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1
Finland Top 20 Singles 8
France Top 100 Singles 3
Chart (2004) Peak
German Top 100 Singles 4
The Official Israeli Chart 1
Greece IFPI Top 50 Singles 1
India Top 20 Singles 12
Indonesia Chart 1
Irish Top 50 Singles 1
Italy Top 50 Singles 4
Latvian Airplay Top 5
Mexican Top 100 1
Netherlands Top 40 Singles 4
New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 Singles 2
Norway Top 20 Singles 1
Portugal Top 20 Singles 1
Russia Top 20 Singles 2
Singapore Top 20 Airplay 1
Spain Top 40 Singles 5
Sweden Top 60 Singles 2
Switzerland Top 100 Singles 4
Taiwan Top 10 Singles 5
'Tokyo Hot 100' 7
U.K. Top (40/75) Singles 1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1
United World Chart 1
Turkey Top 50 1

[edit] Certifications

Country Certification Sales
U.S Platinum 1 million+
Australia Platinum 70,000
France Silver 125,000
New Zealand Gold 5,000
UK Silver 200,000
Worldwide 3x Platinum 6.5 million

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3541221.stm
  2. ^ Kylie Minogue turned down "Toxic" for her Body Language album:
  3. ^ Chart peak positions:
    Preceded by
    "Mysterious Girl" by Peter Andre    		 UK Singles Chart number one single
    March 7, 2004 - March 14, 2004    		 Succeeded by
    "Cha Cha Slide" by DJ Casper
    Preceded by
    "Superstar" by Jamelia    		 ARIA (Australia) number one single
    March 14, 2004 - March 21, 2004    		 Succeeded by
    "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris
    Britney Spears
    Discography
    Albums:
    ...Baby One More Time · Oops!... I Did It Again · Britney · In the Zone
    Other Albums:
    Greatest Hits: My Prerogative · B in the Mix: The Remixes
    Singles:
    "...Baby One More Time " · "Sometimes" · "(You Drive Me) Crazy" · "Born to Make You Happy" · "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart"
    "Oops!...I Did It Again" · "Lucky" · "Stronger" · "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know"
    "I'm a Slave 4 U" · "Overprotected" · "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" · "I Love Rock 'N Roll" · "Boys"
    "Me Against the Music" · "Toxic" · "Everytime" · "Outrageous"
    "My Prerogative" · "Do Somethin'" . "Someday (I Will Understand)"
    Awards · Music videos · Products · Bootlegs . Kevin Federline · Crossroads
    Jive Records · Max Martin · Fifth studio album


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