Britney Spears 'Toxic' Music Video Analysis

Lyrics
Baby, can't you see
I'm calling
A guy like you
Should wear a warning
It's dangerous
I'm fallin'

There's no escape
I can't wait
I need a hit
Baby, give me it
You're dangerous
I'm lovin' it

Too high
Can't come down
Losing my head
Spinning 'round and 'round
Do you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of 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

It's getting late
To give you up
I took a sip
From my devil cup
Slowly
It's taking over me

Too high
Can't come down
It's in the air
And it's all around
Can you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of 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

Don't you know that you're toxic
Taste of my lips and having fun
With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of 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

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of 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

I'm intoxicated now
I think you'll love it now
I think I'm ready now
I think I'm ready now
I'm intoxicated now
I think you'll love it now
I think I'm ready now

Music
The music of toxic is the kind of fast-paced dance track that made Britney famous, which is reflected in the rapid editing of the video. The lyrics are more sexual than her previous music videos and have drug implications to them, for example "I'm addicted to you" and the word "Toxic" this could suggest that because she is getting older, she wants to try new things that are dangerous.

Mise en Scene
Being a pop song, the music video for Toxic is based around choreography and dance routines. The dancing is mostly simple, which appeals to the target audience of young girls and 'tweens' because they can learn the dances themselves with their friends. However, the dance routines are more sexual which could suggest that she is trying to expand her target audience to young women and young men. There are many props that she is using during the music video.

The plane is the one of the first props that the audience will see, this prop connects together with the first character that she is portraying which is an air hostess. This helps the fact that she is in that costume make sense and also gives a feel of luxury and difference to other music videos that were around at the time the music video was released.

Here the prop is a motor bike, like the picture above, this prop connects with her goth rock costume that she is wearing whilst on the motor bike. The bike is new for the time that the music video was set and its clearly expensive. Also its shows materialism and how she can have expensive things, furthermore there is colour coding again of red which suggests danger and passion.

 Here the characters are portraying 'hookers' in a shop window. This is again establishing the sexual theme and almost shows women as sexual objects that can be purchased.

 Here is the prop of a key to get into the place where she can get the "Toxic" that she wants. It is important to show that she has the key to what she wants in the palm of her hands. This prop shows danger because she is breaking into a volt to get the item that she needs.

Here is shows a close up of here collecting the prop that she needs. The prop is a small bottle is filled with a green liquid. The colour green is commonly associated with poison and it is green so the audience can identify that this is the poison that she needs.

 Here the black leather gloves are used to kill which stereotypically criminals use to kill their victims. This is the same for Britney as shows danger and power. She uses her sexuality to seduce her victim then uses the prop of the toxic bottle to kill him.












 Narrative

The song "Toxic" illustrates to the audience how Britney is changing into a woman and how her interests are changing as she gets older. There are more lyrics with sexual references than before and lyrics that have drug/sex/danger connotations to them. She is breaking out from her "hit me baby one more time" days and is showing how she has matured. Also it could be said that she is showing, through the characters within this music video, how she wants to escape and become different people and also how she has a split personality.

 Here Britney starts the music video as a air hostess but the costume that she is wearing is more "sexed" up than you would expect a real life air hostess to wear. When she walks down the isle in this costume the audience gets a glance of her underwear which shows how she is breaking out from a cute teenager to a mature woman. When the audience sees her underwear, the action is purposely there, despite the fact its subtle, and to force the audience into seeing her in a different way than they had before and this action carries sexual connotations.

 Here her costume has more of a goth rock feel to it, this suggests that she has many different styles and she even has red hair which could be colour coding and red symbolises danger or passion. In this particular scene she is on the back of a motor bike which stereotypically ties in with her costume.

 One of the last scenes in the music video is Britney climbing a huge building to seduce and poison the man inside. Here she has dark brown/black hair and has her stomach exposed and has black leather gloves on. This costume, again, has sexual connotations to them and is more of a dark and dangerous character that she is portraying.

In all of these photos, the audience will clearly see that Britney is playing women in different roles which all are powerful and use their sex to get what they want. Furthermore it could suggest that she has many personalities and likes to portray them in her music videos, additionally, she uses the theme of playing different types of women in music videos that she does after "Toxic". All of these character changes have a close up so the audience can identify that Britney is playing all the women within the music video.

Camera Shots
The Camera work that is used show many shots such as close ups, establishing shots, two shots, medium length shots, extreme close ups, long shots and montage.

Here we have an establishing shot, this shows the audience that Britney is on a plane and also shows that the plane doesn't look like regular planes that you would see in day to day life. This shows that the music video has mixes of reality and fantasy.

 Here is a med-length shot that shows Britney on the phone dressed as a air hostess which is the first character that the audience will see and also the last. The med-length shots helps the audience realise who the character is and what she is portraying.

 Here is a med shot of a character that also is playing a air hostess like Britney, also they are almost dancing whilst attending to the people who are on the plane. These characters only have a small part within the music video as the most part of the video is focused on Britney and the storyline which these characters help to illustrate.

Here is an extreme close up of Britney's face which shows how she has her make-up and also the look that she has in her eye which is important for the following scene when she sets her eyes on the man that has the key to the volt. This shot also helps the audience identify that the character is Britney and keeps the focus on her.

 Here there is a two shot of Britney and the man that she is seducing to get the key to the volt. This scene is electrified with sexual movements and actions which keeps the theme of sex.

Here is a long shot of Britney which shows what she is wearing and a character change. Also it shows the Eiffel Tower in the background which is a establishing shot because the Eiffel Tower is a famous land mark in Paris. This shows the viewer that she is now a different women and shows the look that she is going for within this particular scene.








Editing

There is rapid editing throughout the music video which keeps up with the fast pace of the song. The editing is in sync with the song lyrics, for example the first lyric is "baby can't you see I'm calling" and she is on the telephone whilst she is singing this lyric. This helps the audience understand the story that she is telling and makes the music video easier and more pleasurable to watch.