Textual Analysis of Britney Spears - Toxic

Lyrics
The lyrics of 'Toxic' all have some sort of sexual reference to them, which represents Britney at the time of her life just starting to grow up into the 'adult' world. From the lyrics and the music video you are able to see that it is a very seductive song and it draws the viewers in as at that time of the song release date. The majority of Britney's fan base at that specific time were young people just moving into their teen years, so all of these lyrics would become an example of their explorations. Also after looking through the lyrics it shows there's quite a lot of drug allusions, which also proves that fact that she is growing up to an older, maturer age. An example of these drug allusions used by Britney are throughout the whole song:



"I need a hit, baby, give me it"




"Too high, can't come down,
Losing my head,
Spinning 'round and 'round,
Do you feel me now?"




[Chorus]
"With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride,
You're toxic, I'm slippin' under,
Taste of a poison paradise,
I'm addicted to you,
Don't you know that you're toxic?
And I love what you do,
Don't you know that you're toxic?"







Also, the music video to this song has a lot of seductive annotations to them. For example, Britney is mainly acting as a air-hostess, wearing a very short, blue uniform which at points shows her underwear in an act to seduce the viewers to make them continue watching the video. The point where Britney says "I'm addicted to you, don't you know that you're toxic?" on the music video it shows Britney in a toilet with a gentleman, acting in a sexual manner towards him; which is to show the sexual reference used in the lyrics.



Music
The music in this video has a mixture of fast and slow beats which is typical of the 'pop'  genre which is falls under. 'Toxic' is only one example of a typical Britney Spears song as she is well known for he high tempo, dance tracks. In this music video the up-beat tempo represents the fast editing used to make the music video a lot more exciting and more enjoyable to watch.



Mise-en-scene

As the song fits into the correct category of 'pop' it is essential for there to be a lot of movement and dance within the music video. There are several dance routines in this music video but are rather simple, the only main movement being when Britney pretends to escape from a laser trap by doing flexible moves which she had also became famous for. As Britney's target audience are young girls and teenagers, a viewer would expect there to be quite a bit of dancing. Not only would that influence viewers to try and learn the dance used, but it would satisfy their desires; making the song more of a success. Much like her previous song 'Baby One More Time' there is of similar indications of her wanting to express her sexuality. In 'Baby One More Time' she is dressed in a school uniform and is seen similarly giving out rather sexual references, much like 'Toxic'. Furthermore, in 'Toxic' she quite regularly is 'grinding' up older men, has perfect red nails and has a nude outfit that indicates a more mature nature.

Star Image/Brand

As above, I have already explained that the main image that Britney is putting across is of her sexual appeal from her body, her connection to her fan base (young people/early teenagers) and also the type of person that Britney Spears is growing to be.


Camerawork
As the whole of the music video is focusing on Britney it is essential that there are a variety of different shots to make the video more interesting. Throughout this video there are plenty of close-ups of Britney's legs and body to show off her sexual appeal and the shortness of the uniforms worn by Britney (e.g. the air hostess uniform). Also there are plenty of long shots used to show off her dancing skills and one other moment of when she is on the motorcycle to show the pleasure she gets from riding the motorcycle. Furthermore, the mix of close-ups and long shots is shown in the editing just to accentuate the fast beat of the song.

Throughout the music video Britney is seen wearing various different outfits, all of the costumes have a bit of relevance to them, thus increasing the sexual appeal within the video. Britney had been made famous for mainly her sex appeal and body movements to the public eye, not so much her singing voice. Right at the start of the video her air-hostess outfit is extremely short and at one point the viewers are able to see her pink underwear. Also throughout the video she constantly changes her hair colour from blond, to black and finally to red hair. The reason being so that it gives the video variety and gives more reason for the viewers not to get bored. 

Editing

During the whole of the music video the editing is very much the same throughout, meaning that there is not a lot to comment on the editing. With the song having a fast beat it is essential that the editing style would have to be very rapid and consistent for the viewers not to get bored of a single long shot.

Narrative/Performance
The main performance elements to 'Toxic' is to show of Britney's skills as a dancer and to show off her sex appeal. However, the main narrative of this music video is made out to be a female spy that uses her sexual appeal to take advantage of older men. Britney is made to express the stage of growing up in her life by acting for seductive to the older men. All of the costumes used to show the viewers of how much she has grown up and matured over the previous four years, which will instantly make the target audience want to do the same. The majority of 'pop' music videos use plenty of lip syncing of the main character and in this music video it is very much the same. Intertextuality
Much like the editing there is not much that can be said about the intertexuality of this music video. The only intertexuality shown is the inspiration of 'Toxic' could be The Holly Valance video for 'Kiss Kiss' for the dancing elements of the song. Her near nude suit that she wears are of similarity of The Holly Valance video.