Information about Toxic (song)

"Toxic"
Single by Britney Spears
from the album In the Zone
Released	February 24, 2004 February 2, 2004 March 1, 2004
Format	CD, DVD
Recorded	2003
Genre	Dance-pop, Techno, electronica
Length	3:21
Label	Jive
Writer(s)	Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback
Producer(s)	Bloodshy & Avant
Certification	Platinum (Australia, Norway, United States) Gold (New Zealand, Sweden) Silver (France, U.K.)
Peak chart positions
1 (United World Chart, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Europe, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom) 2 (Sweden) 3 (France) 4 (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland) 5 (Austria, Spain) 6 (Latin America, Belgium) 9 (United States)
Britney Spears singles chronology
"Me against the Music" (2003) "Toxic" (2004) "Everytime" (2004) Alternate cover UK DVD Single
Audio sample
(Wikipedia:Media help:Image:ToxicSample.ogg)

"Toxic" is a dance-pop song written by Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, and Henrik Jonback for Britney Spears' fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). The song describes having an affair with a married man.^[1] It was released as the album's second single in early 2004 (see 2004 in music). "Toxic" enjoyed international success, topping many singles charts. 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.^[2]

It has been covered by The BossHoss, Local H, the Chapin Sisters, Juliet Turner, Nickel Creek, Hurra Torpedo, The Zoo, Mark Ronson and Hard-Fi. Marillion played it during their Marillion Weekend in February 2007 in the Netherlands, and their performance was released (in audio only) on the DVD version of the single "Thankyou Whoever You Are / Most Toys" in June 2007. Monsters From Mars has released an instrumental surf version. 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 144 beats per minute. Spears' vocal range spans nearly two octaves, from G₃ to F₅.^[3]

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.^[3]

Chart performance

"Toxic" became Spears' one of the 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".

"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 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 105,000 copies in its first week of release and debuting at number one,^[3] 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^[4]. Ironically, the song had originally been offered to Kylie for inclusion on her 9th studio album Body Language, but she turned it down ^[5]. "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 1 million copies and has been certified platinum. The single has sold worldwide 6.5 millions copies.^[3]

The single ended the year as the 26th most played song in Latin America.^[6].

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Joseph Kahn. It shows Spears as a flight attendant, 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 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 diamonds glued to her body, wearing only a g-string. It took nearly four hours for makeup artists to glue the diamonds to her body. During filming of the sequence, only director Joseph Kahn was there to shoot it; other crew members had to leave the room.

The music video debuted at number three on MTV's Total Request Live.^[7] It spent sixteen days at the top of the countdown^[8] and was retired after ten weeks on the program.^[9] The video was nominated in 4 categories at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video Of The Year, but didn't win any of them. Though "Toxic" was chosen as the Video of the year in MTV's TRL and others TV music countdown shows.

Remixes and other versions

These are (official) remixes and other versions of "Toxic"

• Album Version 3:21
• Instrumental 3:21
• Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix 8:01
• Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Edit 6:44
• Peter Rauhofer Reconstruction Mix Radio Edit 4:31 - only available on Deluxe Edition
• Bloodshy & Avant's Intoxicated Remix 5:35
• 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
• 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
• The Bitch Virus' Shit Mix 3:30

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 Rhythm" released in the UK on the club circuit and is still doing the rounds, which involves rap style lyrics. This is an unofficial remix produced by Edinburgh DJ John Marr [www.JOHNMARR.co.uk]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 John Marr - Toxic Rhythm. The second was released on MTV Mash Up and is a mix of Usher - Yeah with Britney Spears - Toxic

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 is on his album "Version"

Rapper Tony Yayo sampled Toxic for his song "Love My Style" from his album Thoughts of A Predicate Felon. Although in the album's liner notes the sample is not credited, if you listen closely to the beginning of the song, you can hear Tony Yayo say "this shit is Toxic."

Israeli singer Shiri Maimon has made her own version of this song in Hebrew, a video was also produced.

Cover versions

• 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".NME: Hard-Fi: Our cover of 'Toxic will send Britney mad
• Juliet Turner on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2.
• The Jerusalem-based indie rock band missFlag regularly cover the song in concert^[11]
• The song was covered by alternative rock band Local H and is available for free by clicking on the picture here
• The song was covered live by progressive rock band Marillion during their 2007 convention and is available as a b-side on their DVD-single Thankyou Whoever You Are/Most Toys.
• 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.
• Alternative bluegrass group Nickel Creek is known to cover the song in concert, with mandolinist Chris Thile imitating Spear's dance moves at select parts of the song.
• The song was covered by producer Mark Ronson on his second album Version.
• 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.

Trivia

• Toxic was voted number 100 in the Video Hits Australia Top 100 Video Clips of the past 20 years in 2006. ...Baby One More Time was also in the countdown at number 69.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Toxic".^[3]

UK CD Single (82876 602092) "Toxic" — 3:21 "Toxic" [Lenny Bertoldo Mix Show Edit] — 5:46 "Toxic" [Armand Van Helden Remix Edit] — 6:25 "Toxic" [Felix Da Housecat's Club Mix] — 7:09 "Toxic" [Instrumental] — 3:21 UK DVD Single (82876 603669) "Toxic" — 3:21 "Toxic" [Lenny Bertoldo Mix Show Mix Edit] — 5:46 "Toxic" [Video] "Britney Previews 'In The Zone'" Video Interview UK 12" Vinyl (82876 602091) Side A: "Toxic" — 3:21 "Toxic" [Felix Da Housecat's Club Mix] — 7:09 Side B: "Toxic" [Armand Van Helden Remix Edit] — 6:25 "Toxic" [Lenny Bertoldo Mix Show Mix Edit] — 5:46

Europe/Australia CD Single (82876 591732) "Toxic" — 3:21 "Toxic" [Instrumental] — 3:21 "Toxic" [Bloodshy And Avant Intoxicated Remix] — 5:35 "Toxic" [Armand Van Helden Mix Edit] — 6:25 Germany Pock-It CD (82876 611132) "Toxic" — 3:21 "Me Against The Music" (featuring Madonna) — 3:43 U.S. Promo CD (JDJ-591532) "Toxic" — 3:21 "Toxic" [Call-Out Research Hook] — 0:14 U.S. 12" Vinyl (82876 592141) Side A: "Toxic" [Armand Van Helden Remix] — 9:34 Side B: "Toxic" [Felix Da Housecat's Club Mix] — 7:09 "Toxic" [Lenny Bertoldo Mix Show Edit] — 5:46

Charts

Chart (2004)[13] Peak position United World Chart 1 Australian ARIA Singles Chart 1 Austrian Singles Chart 1 Belgian Singles Chart 1 Canadian Singles Chart 1 Danish Singles Chart 4 Dutch Top 40 4 European Singles Chart 1 French Singles Chart 3 German Singles Chart 4 Irish Singles Chart 1 Israeli Singles Chart 1 Italian Singles Chart 2 Latin America Top 40[14] 1 New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 2 Norwegian Singles Chart 1 Portuguese Airplay Chart 1 Spanish Singles Chart 1 Swedish Singles Chart 2 Swiss Singles Chart 4 UK Singles Chart 1 U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 9 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 1 U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 1

Notes

Preceded by "Milkshake" by Kelis	Irish Singles Chart number one single March 4 2004 - April 1 2004	Succeeded by "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris
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
Preceded by "Hey Ya!" by OutKast	Canadian Singles Chart number one single March 20 2004 - April 4 2004	Succeeded by "Solitaire" by Clay Aiken
Preceded by "Hey Ya!" by OutKast	United World Chart number one single March 20 2004 - April 17 2004	Succeeded by "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris

•  • [ e] Britney Spears
Studio albums	...Baby One More Time • Oops!... I Did It Again • Britney • In the Zone • TBA
Other albums	•
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" • "Anticipating" • "Boys" • "Me Against the Music" • "Toxic" • "Everytime" • "Outrageous" • "My Prerogative" • "Do Somethin'" • "Someday (I Will Understand)" • "And Then We Kiss" • "Gimme More"
Related topics	Discography • Awards • Music videos • Tours • Products • Kevin Federline • Jamie Lynn Spears • Crossroads • Jive Records • Max Martin