SONG OF THE DAY
“Toxic” by Yael Naim (Yael Naim, Tôt ou tard – France, Atlantic Records – USA, 2007). Written by Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback, Christian Karlsson, and Pontus Winnberg.
WHERE I HEARD IT
On So You Think You Can Dance, of course!
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Toxic” is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her fourth album, In the Zone.
– It was released on January 12, 2004, by Jive Records as the second single from the album.
– Co-written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, the song was initially offered to Kylie Minogue, but she rejected it. Minogue later commented, “I wasn’t at all angry when it worked for her. It’s like the fish that got away. You just have to accept it.”
– Spears has named “Toxic” as her favorite song from her career, and originally had to convince her record label to release it as a single.
– “Toxic” is a dance-pop song with influences of electropop and bhangra music, accompanied by high-pitched strings and breathy vocals. Its lyrics refer to being addicted to a lover.
– The song was well received by critics, who deemed it as the strongest track of In the Zone, while praising its hook and chorus.
– “Toxic” attained worldwide success, reaching the top-five in fifteen countries, while topping the charts in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Norway and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it became her first single to peak inside the top ten in almost four years.
– The accompanying music video for the song portrays Spears as a secret agent in the search of a vial of green liquid. After she steals it, she enters an apartment and poisons her unfaithful boyfriend. The video also includes interspersed scenes of Spears naked with diamonds over her body. After Janet Jackson’s Superbowl incident, the video was considered too racy for MTV and was moved to late-night programming.
– It was the opening number of The Onyx Hotel Tour (2004), where she sang atop of a bus wearing a black catsuit; Spears also performed the song on The Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), accompanied by her dancers and surrounded by green lightning.
– “Toxic” won Spears her first Grammy at the 2005 ceremony in the category of Best Dance Recording, while gaining her credibility amongst critics.
– The song has been included in numerous lists as one of the best songs of the decade, and has been noted for redefining the sound of dance-pop music.
– “Toxic” was recorded at Murlyn Studios in Stockholm, Sweden and Record Plant in Hollywood, California. The song was later mixed by Niklas Flyckt at Khabang Studios in Stockholm.
– The song was ranked at #5 in the 2004 Pazz & Jop poll by The Village Voice. It was nominated for Best Song at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2004, but lost to Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”. It won Best Single at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Pitchfork listed the song at number three on their Top 50 Singles of 2004 list.
– Northern Irish singer-songwriter Juliet Turner covered “Toxic” for the 2004 covers compilation, Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2.
– In 2005, American folk group Chapin Sisters recorded an acoustic cover of “Toxic”, which was featured on PerezHilton.com and became one of the most requested songs of the year in KCRW.
– American acoustic trio Nickel Creek covered “Toxic” at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music Festival.
– English producer Mark Ronson recorded a hip hop cover of the song, featuring American singer-songwriter Tiggers and a verse from American rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard. It was included in his second studio album, Version (2007).
– French singer-songwriter Yael Naim released a piano-driven version of the song in her eponymous debut album (2007).
– Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke did an opera-pop version of “Toxic” during a mobile phone launch in Sydney on August 2007. She dedicated it to Spears, adding, “She’s going through a bit of a hard time at the moment. […] This one’s for you, mate.”
– British electronic music group Metronomy’s cover was described as “something out of a “Weird Al” Yankovic polka medley, only not kidding”.
– Israeli pop singer Shiri Maimon recorded a version of “Toxic” in Hebrew.
– American comedy singer Richard Cheese recorded a cover for his eighth album, Viva la Vodka (2009).
– American post-hardcore band A Static Lullaby released a cover in the compilation album, Punk Goes Pop 2 (2009). A music video was released, which featured different Spears look-alikes wearing iconic outfits from various music videos, such as “…Baby One More Time” and “Womanizer”.
– A cover of the song by American singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman was included in an EP titled Sad Britney, released in November 9, 2009, along with covers of “…Baby One More Time”, “Gimme More” and “Radar”.
– American singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson covered “Toxic” regularly on her 2010 Everybody Tour. Michaelson’s version ends with her and the band doing a dance break set to Spears’s original song.
– The song was covered on the 2010 American series Glee episode “Britney/Brittany” by New Directions, in a Bob Fosse-inspired performance lead by the character of Will Schuester.
– Yael Naim is the self-titled second studio album by Yael Naim. It contains the single “New Soul”, which gained widespread popularity due to being featured in Apple’s MacBook Air video advertisement.
– Steve Jobs himself picked the song “New Soul” for the launch of the MacBook Air.
– In Naim’s birth country of France her self-titled album was released on October 22, 2007. On iTunes the album was available as a digital download world-wide but did not gain much popularity until February 2008 when Apple advertisements for the MacBook Air laptop which featured her song “New Soul” as the soundtrack began to be broadcast. In the United States and Canada the album was released in stores on March 18, 2008. Largely due to the popularity of the song “New Soul” being featured on the advertisement and receiving substantial play as its soundtrack, it debuted at #15 in Canada and #55 in the United States.
– Yael Naïm (born February 6, 1978 in Paris, France), is a French singer-songwriter.
– Yael Naïm was born in Paris, France to parents coming from Tunisia. At the age of four, she moved with her family to Ramat HaSharon, Israel, where she spent the rest of her childhood. She served in the Israel Defense Force as a soloist in the Israel Air Force Orchestra.
– Naïm joined with percussionist David Donatien, and over a period of two years they arranged and recorded thirteen of Naïm’s songs in a studio in Naïm’s apartment in Paris, and these were released as this her second album, Yael Naïm.
– The songs are in French, English, and Hebrew and received critical acclaim.
– Her style has been described as having a touch of folk and a touch of jazz, with mysterious and evocative words sung with a delicate and intentionally husky voice.