"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. 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 accompanied by breathy vocals and high-pitched strings, sampled from the 1981 Bollywood song "Tere Mere Beech Mein" by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. The lyrics of "Toxic" draw an extended metaphor of a lover as a dangerous and addictive drug.
"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 only 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 Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Writing and recording
"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. The song was written with American singer Janet Jackson in mind, but was initially offered to Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who turned it down. 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 Britney Spears: "It's like the fish that got away. You just have to accept it."
"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.
Composition
"Toxic" is a dance-pop and synth-pop song, featuring elements of South Asian music. It features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers, violins, and high-pitched strings. 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. 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. Spears' vocals on the song are breathy. Spears's vocal range spans from the low note of F<sub>3</sub> to the high note of G<sub>5</sub>. Lyrically, "Toxic" talks about being addicted to a lover. 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." Nick Southall of Stylus Magazine said the lyrics made Spears sound afraid of sex.
Critical reception
thumb|upright|Spears performing "Toxic" on [[the Circus Starring Britney Spears tour|alt=A blond female performer. She is standing on a moving jungle gym, wearing black and white clothes.]]
"Toxic" received acclaim. Heather Richels of The Paly Voice complimented its hook and catchiness while deeming it the most appealing song on In the Zone. While reviewing The Onyx Hotel Tour, Pamela Sitt of The Seattle Times called it the album's strongest single. Eric Olsen of Today stated the song could be the biggest hit off of its parent album while calling it "powerfully addicting." Caryn Ganz of Spin commented, "Spears hits pay dirt on 'Toxic'". Christy Lemire of Associated Press stated it was one of Spears' greatest hits and deemed it "insanely catchy", remarking that the chorus alone "makes you want to forgive the Alias wannabe video that accompanies the song." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it along with "Showdown", "irresistible ear candy in what is surely Britney's most ambitious, adventurous album to date". In a separate review of Spears' greatest hits album Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (2004), Erlewine selected it as one of the "track picks" and described it as "a delirious, intoxicating rush". Jeffrey Epstein of Out compared the innovative sound of "Toxic" to Madonna's "Vogue".
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said that "Toxic" and "(I Got That) Boom Boom", "find Britney dabbling in hip-hop, but it's clear her heart lies in the clubs." Jamie Gill of Yahoo! Music Radio commented, "In the name of fairness, it will be noted that 'Toxic' and 'Showdown' could well have been good pop songs in the hands of any other singer than Spears." Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe named it "a well-titled cascade of frantic, mechanized glissandos and dreadful canned strings that buries the album's coolest (only?) chorus under a joyless mass". The song was ranked at number five in the 2004 Pazz & Jop poll by The Village Voice. "Toxic" was nominated for Best Song at the 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards, but lost to Outkast's "Hey Ya!". However, it won Best Dance Recording at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2004, making it her first-ever won Grammy. It won Best Single at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Pitchfork named "Toxic" the third-best single of 2004, writing that "finally, [Spears] just acted like an adult, rather than constantly reminding us she wasn't a girl anymore".
Commercial performance
thumb|left|Spears performing "Toxic" at the [[Femme Fatale Tour]]
In December 2003, it was announced by MTV News that after trying to choose between "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to be the second single from In the Zone, Spears had selected "Toxic" instead. She described it as "an upbeat song. It's really different, that's why I like it so much."
"Toxic" entered at number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated January 31, 2004. It became the week's "Highest Debut". On March 27, 2004, it peaked at number nine; it was her fourth single to reach the top-ten and became her first single to reach the top ten since "Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000. "Toxic" also topped both the Pop Songs and Hot Dance Club Songs charts. As of July 2016, "Toxic" had sold 2.3 million digital downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It is her fifth best-selling digital single in the country. "Toxic" debuted at the top of the Australian charts on March 15, 2004, and stayed in the position for two weeks. The song received a gold certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments over 35,000 units.
In New Zealand, "Toxic" debuted at number 38 on the issue dated February 16, 2004, and peaked at number two on March 29, 2004. It stayed at the position the following week, held off from the top spot by Eamon's "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)". On March 7, 2004, "Toxic" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending date March 13, 2004, selling 102,576 copies in its first week, becoming her fourth number-one hit in the United Kingdom, her first since "Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000. In April 2004, it was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), with sales over 200,000 copies, and was the ninth best selling single in the U.K. in 2004. According to the Official Charts Company, the song has sold 426,000 copies there. "Toxic" also peaked inside the top-ten in every country it charted. The song topped the charts in Hungary and Norway; reached the top five in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden and Switzerland; and the top ten in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Finland, and the Netherlands. "Toxic" is Spears' most streamed single in the US, with over 448 million streams as of June 2020. In July 2023, the song crossed one billion streams on Spotify, making it Spears' first billion-streaming song on the service. By that, she also became a member of Spotify's "Billions Club".