Toxic (song)
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| “Toxic” | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by Britney Spears from the album In the Zone |
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| Released |  February 24, 2004 February 2, 2004 March 1, 2004 |
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| Format | CD, DVD | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2003 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Dance-pop | |||||||||||||
| Length | 3:21 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Jive | |||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Bloodshy & Avant | |||||||||||||
| Certification | Platinum (Australia, Norway, United States) Gold (New Zealand, Sweden) Silver (France, UK) |
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| Britney Spears singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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| “Toxic” | |||||
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| Single by Yael Naim from the album Yael Naim |
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| Released | 2007 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Recorded | 2007 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 4:27 | ||||
| Label | Tôt ou tard | ||||
| Producer | Yael Naim, David Donatien | ||||
| Yael Naim singles chronology | |||||
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"Toxic" is a British and American 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 international success, topping many singles charts. In 2005 it won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.[1] Along with "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" it is considered one of Spears' signature songs.
It has been covered by Yael Naim, The BossHoss, Local H, the Chapin Sisters, Juliet Turner, Nickel Creek, Hurra Torpedo, The Zoo, Mark Ronson, Count Zero, I Set My Friends on Fire, Kate Miller-Heidke, Hard-Fi, Metronomy, Monsters From Mars, and even Shar Jackson, the mother of Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline's first two children. The song's cowriter, Cathy Dennis, recorded the demo for the song.
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[edit] 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.[2]
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.[2]
[edit] Music video
The music video of Toxic is Britney's most expensive one to date, budgeting $1,000,000[3].
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 Matt 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 the "Toxic Industries" 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 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. 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.
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.[4] It spent nineteen days at the top of the countdown[5] and was retired after fifty days on the program.[6] The video was nominated in 4 categories at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video, and Video of the Year.
[edit] 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[7]. 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[8] and Stylus ranked it 14th[9]. Blender also ranked it on their list of the top 500 songs from 1980 to 2005 placing it 110th[10].
[edit] Chart performance
"Toxic" is Spears' fourth top-ten single in the U.S. reaching #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); The single 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 the top on the Top 40 Tracks. "Toxic" also reached the top ten on the Rhythmic Top 40.
"Toxic" became one of the biggest worldwide hits of 2004, and reached the top three or number one in nearly every country it charted in.
On the ARIA Chart in Australia, it went to number one, knocking Jamelia's "Superstar" off the top and being replaced by "Yeah!" by Usher. It ended up being one of the best-selling singles of the year.
The single also became a huge success in the UK, selling 105,000 copies in its first week of release and debuting at number one,[11] 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.[12] Ironically, the song had originally been offered to Kylie for inclusion on her 9th studio album Body Language, but she turned it down.[13] "Toxic" sold a total of 268,000 copies in the UK and became the 9th best selling single of 2004. In the United States the single sold over 500,000 downloads and 500,000 CD singles. It has been certified Platinum. The single sold 5,355,000 copies worldwide in 2004 alone.[14][11]
In New Zealand, Toxic debuted in the chart on February 11, 2004 at number forty-one, being the second highest entry of that week. The next week it moved up only three places before shifting up a further eight places in its forth week. In its fifth week Toxic entered the top twenty coming in at number nineteen. The song then rocketed up to number three in its sixth week on the chart. The song stayed there for two weeks before it moved up one more place to number two in April where the song peaked and stayed for another 2 weeks, being held off the top spot by Eamon's Fuck It (Don't Want You Back). Toxic was certified Gold in its tenth week and stayed on the chart for twenty-four weeks, eleven of them being in the top ten.[15] Toxic also ended up at number eleven on New Zealands Annual Top 50 Singles Chart for 2004.[16]
The single ended the year as the 26th most played song in Latin America.[17]
[edit] Certifications
| Country | Certification | Sales |
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| United World Chart | 2x Platinum | 5.3 million |
| Australia[18] | Platinum | 70,000 |
| France[19] | Silver | 125,000 |
| New Zealand | Gold | 5,000 |
| Norway | Gold | 20,000 |
| Sweden | Gold | 10,000 |
| United Kingdom | Silver | 268,000 |
| United States | Platinum[citation needed] | 1,000,000+ |
[edit] Charts
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[edit] Year End Charts
| Country | Position |
|---|---|
| Austria [26] | 25 |
| Australia[27] | 38 |
| Germany [28] | 30 |
| Latvian Airplay[29] | 31 |
| New Zealand [30] | 11 |
| Swiss[31] | 17 |
| Tokio Hot 100[32] | 95 |
| USA [33] | 48 |
| United Kingdom [34] | 9 |
| United World Chart[35] | 5 |
[edit] As soundtrack
The song was included in a 2005 episode of Doctor Who entitled The End of the World, where it was a recording on a jukebox that survived until the year 5 billion as an example of "a traditional ballad". It was used by the central villain of the story as background music for witnessing the destruction of the Earth.
[edit] Cover versions
Along With …Baby One More Time, Toxic has become one of Britney Spears most covered songs. Cover versions include:
- The Jerusalem-based indie rock band missFlag[2] regularly covers the song in concert [3] and has a newer version on their MySpace page[4].
- Indie band Hard-Fi covered the song for the Radio 1. Established 1967. The song is fused with The Clash's Brand New Cadillac. Lead singer Richard Archer is quoted as saying their cover will "send Britney mad".[36]
- Juliet Turner on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2.
- The song was covered by alternative rock band Local H and is available for free by clicking on the picture here (Link no longer works)
- The progressive rock band Marillion recorded a live version of the song for their 2007 album Friends.
- The PlayStation 2 video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 has a cover of the song, covered by WaveGroup Sound.
- The WaveGroup cover was remixed by Shoichiro Hirata for another PS2 game, beatmania.
- Progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek is known to cover the song in concert, with mandolinist Chris Thile imitating Spears' dance moves at select parts of the song.
- The song was covered by Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo and is found on their album "Kollossus of Makedonia." Their version is played at roughly half speed on a variety of kitchen appliances.
- The Columbia University Marching Band regularly plays an in-house arrangement of the song at football and basketball games, as does Harvard's band.
- Mark Ronson uses a sample of Spears' "Toxic" in his own hip-hop version of the song (titled simply "Toxic"). It features Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tiggers and Nick Catchdubs and can be found on his second album Version.
- Israeli singer Shiri Maimon has made her own version of this song in Hebrew, a video was also produced.
- French-Israeli singer Yael Naim released a cover on her eponymous album.
- Toxic is sampled along with Linkin Park's Faint for a song known as "Toxic Faint".
- The Gainesville, Florida, based ska band One and Done performs Toxic as part of their normal show.
- Saskatchewan based baritone Nathan Plant performed a cover as part of a special charity album.
- Monsters From Mars has released an instrumental surf version.
- Yael Naïm has released a pop-soul acoustic version on her album "Yael Naïm". In Spain, this song is used to an official theme from 2008 TV serie "El Internado" on their third series.
- The Salem, Oregon band Moothart does a Techno / Hardcore version [5]
- EastEnders in the Episode Chelsea seeks solace
[edit] Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Toxic".[11]
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UK CD Single (82876 602092)
UK DVD Single (82876 603669)
UK 12" Vinyl (82876 602091)
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Europe/Australia CD Single (82876 591732)
Germany Pock-It CD (82876 611132)
U.S. Promo CD (JDJ-591532)
U.S. 12" Vinyl (82876 592141)
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Tristan Prettyman while on tour with G.Love
[edit] Remixes and other versions
These are (official) remixes and other versions of "Toxic":
- Album Version 3:24
- Instrumental 3:24
- Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix 8:01
- Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Edit 6:44
- Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Radio Edit 4:29 - only available on B in the Mix: The Remixes Deluxe Edition
- Bloodshy & Avant's Intoxicated Remix 5:34
- Felix Da Housecat's Club Mix 7:12
- Felix Da Housecat Remix 7:01
- 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
- A Cappella 3:11 - Leaked, never officially released.
A mix by DJ Sat One featuring a rap by Bahamadia (who some confuse with Penelope Magnet, a writer and background vocalist on the In The Zone album) which is considered by some to be official; however, it's not a commissioned release and is in fact a bootleg.
DJ Yiannis completed a bootleg tribal mix of his own, as well.
There are a further two remixes, the first nicknamed "Toxic Rhythm" released in the UK on the club circuit, involving rap style lyrics. This is an unofficial remix produced by Edinburgh DJ John Marr and as such can only be found on P2P file-sharing networks. The official title for this remix is John Marr - Toxic Rhythm. The second was released on MTV Mash Up and is a mix of Usher's "Yeah" with Spears' "Toxic".
- "Toxic" is the second track on the U.S. version of Now That's What I Call Music! 15 and marks the singers return to the compilation series since its tenth volume. The song also debuts the "In The Zone" album to the series.
[edit] Public Use
- The song is used for a commercial for Chuck in Warner Channel Latin America. The song's chorus and a part of second verse can be heard.
- The song was used for the movie Knocked Up while Ben and Pete are driving to Las Vegas in their car.
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ "'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.
- ^ a b Sheet music for "Toxic". Hal Leonard Corporation. 2003.
- ^ List of most expensive music videos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- ^ "The TRL Archive - Debuts". ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
- ^ "The TRL Archive - Number Ones". ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
- ^ "The TRL Archive - Hall of Fame". ATRL. Retrieved June 19, 2007.
- ^ Pazz & Jop 2004
- ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/2000-04/singles/index.shtml
- ^ The Top 50 Singles: 2000-2005 - Article - Stylus Magazine
- ^ Acclaimed Music Forum
- ^ a b c UKBritney.tv Spears — Toxic (UK). Retrieved on May 27, 2007
- ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Britney beats Kylie to number one
- ^ Kylie Minogue turned down "Toxic" for her Body Language album:
- ^ Index
- ^ RIANZ
- ^ http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart_annual.asp
- ^ Top Latino's Year End Chart
- ^ Australia Certification
- ^ France Certification
- ^ Toxic chart positions around the world:
- Editors from Mariah-charts.com Chart Data: Britney Spears — Toxic Retrieved on June, 2004.
- Editors from acharts.us Toxic &mash; song performance 2004.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Toxic", various Singles Charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved March 29, 2008)
- ^ Editors from Billboard magazine. One-Time Aerobics Track Hits U.K. No. 1 Issue date: March 15, 2004.
- ^ German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved March 29, 2008)
- ^ Irish Singles Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved March 29, 2008)
- ^ a b c Editors from All Music Guide Billboard singles Billboard magazine
- ^ Jahreshitparade 2004 - austriancharts.at
- ^ aria.com
- ^ INFINITY CHARTS: German Top 20
- ^ Visatzītākās dziesmas Latvijā 2004. gadā / Latvian Airplay Chart, 2004
- ^ RIANZ
- ^ Swiss Year-End Charts 2004 - swisscharts.com
- ^ J-WAVE WEBSITE : TOKIO HOT100
- ^ The Oz Net Music Chart : Best of Billboard - 2004
- ^ The Oz Net Music Chart : Best of UK - 2004
- ^ [1]
- ^ NME: Hard-Fi: Our cover of 'Toxic will send Britney mad
