@@michaelprendergast1483 that’s doesn’t mean they are a man, they literally said “when I used to be a boy” in this video, they are non-binary, and use they/them pronouns, regardless of voice or anything that would deem them “male”, respect that they are non-binary please
I always thought Toxic would make a kickass metal song, not like Children of Bodom covering it as a metal song for laughs, literally played straight by a metal band. I could definitely hear like Corey Taylor delivering the line "I'm addicted to you" in a menacing growl before breaking into a roar for "BUT YOU KNOOOW THAT YOU'RE TOXIC". But I never really acknowledged the amount of weird stuff going on in the song.
As somebody who is in a metal band who covered Toxic and played it live as our encore I can tell you that not only does it work amazingly well (especially that chorus having that sweet 0321 motion that we also used as a basis for a breakdown we added to the song) but also once people recognize it they go wild.
Local H's cover is extremely good. I heard it in the early 2000's and didn't even know it was originally a Britney Spears song until a friend told me weeks later.
one of the best pop songs of the century, and proof that experimentation and catchiness are not mutually exclusive. would love to see today's top songwriters and producers take similar risks.
I agree. Today's pop songwriters and producers are too by the book. I love when music walks that fine line between being accessible and being experimental.
@@chantoya17 Keep your eye on Ms Billie Eilish and hyper pop eventually gaining mainstream appeal - the pop music zeitgeist is due for another face lift in a year or so.. I recommend Charles Cornell's analysis of Billie's music (especially the harmony+melodies in "my future") and MicTheSnare's Hyper Pop video.
I know I'm late to the party here, but I'm amazed you didn't touch on, what I consider to be, Toxic's most distinct musical identity: "Spy music". It's obviously a little nod to 007 and Spy Hunter. The chromatic line cliches and frantic strings are the first hint, but the tremolo-laden single coil neck-pickup guitar is straight out of a James Bond theme.
Agreed. Other common elements in James Bond movies (fast/cool cars, aerial maneuvers, and commando-style engagements) also fit really well. I always felt the instrumental would have made an awesome videogame OST for a desert level.
@@Alberto-ny7kf Yes Alberto? Jk I'm girl with a boys name but you're only the third person to bring it up in 27 years so it's a little more unisex in the places i've lived.
I love Britney. Her voice is so evocative. I remember the first time I ever heard her. I was filling out some forms at a reception desk, and the radio was playing. The music was utterly ignorable, then Hit me baby one more time started playing. It was so different from everything else, and her voice stood out with its emotional vibe; It caught my attention, and I said, “who is that?”
Dennis' demo is/was on YouToob somewhere... it was surprising how little (production/post-production stuff aside) was different from the Spears version. Not dissing Britney at all, her performance is pretty great, but as you say credit where it's due. Dennis' song is a great thing to work with.
Yeah for a composition breakdown like this it makes no sense to credit Britney. He's not doing a vocal analysis. He's talking about the song writing which was mainly done by Cathy Dennis
I suppose saying "Cathy Dennis used the Hendrix chord!" in a thumbnail is only likely to elicit the response "who the hell is Cathy Dennis?" from most people. Not me, of course - I'm one of the initiated.
I'd agree. I was a metalhead/punk growing up and Toxic came out when I was a teenager at the peak of my music elitist phase where everything that wasn't what I listened to was inferior. But I always loved Toxic. But I could never admit it at the time. So catchy and such an incredibly crafted pop song.
@@woofspider330 I've often wondered if the people who make songs mostly just slap together cool sounds that they like, then musical theorists run themselves in circles trying to interpret meaning that absolutely isn't there. Like an English teacher analyzing a book's meaning and the author tweets out "lol no, none of that meaning is there, it was just an interesting plot twist I threw in for fun."
@@WarrenGarabrandt Music theory is just a tool to help us understand music. It's useful but certainly not necessary. Song writers usually focus on 'does this sound good?' or 'does this convey the emotion that I want?'. Music theory is a way of explaining why music works or sounds good. Some musicians have a good understanding of theory but plenty of highly respected musicians that write complex songs admit they don't even know the names of the chords/scales that they use! I like to compare it to athletes who probably don't understand the physics of what they do so well.
Exactly, also from the soundtrack of a Hindi movie, which explains the exotic sounds. That being said, I think the sample was flipped in an amazing way, the original had a completely different mood
@@robertolanzone it got flipped really hard. Im a violinist and always thought it was a string synthesizer or something else because it just doesent sounds like a real violin to me but that would explain that. I schould mess with violin samples more often
@@yesitsvish most of it is definitely not reversed, and prob not gated, just chopped clips of audio. i can easily imagine whoever produced the track was messing around with chop order and length, and keeping the clips staccato was a fortunate discovery, for instance
@@repker ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AXXUodk-pVo.html This link is a detailed analysis of the sample. It is cut up, reordered and some sections are played both forward and reverse. Probably the most complicated 2 second sample ever.
@@P-YT-CH The song was originally sung by the composer. Some of the original recording vocal is still in the song. They don't really sound very similar so you can usually tell who's singing what.
That's very cool and definitely helps to explain both the tonal quality and why it has that eastern sound. I've always been interested in the second part of the main riff and why it sounds that way. I wonder if there's a modal analysis/explanation that would help with that as well.
such an unnerving melody, and such a sophisticated choice to match the song’s lyrics. if anyone hasn’t heard the slowed down string cover of this song from Promising Young Woman, I highly recommend. it’s terrifying
As a huge metal head who’s learning how to do death growls and plays bass in drop tunings, I am naturally so fucking pumped you made a video on this finally. I’ve always loved this song. And after watching the whole video I now know why a metal guy like me loves it. This is why I love theory
It's always worth remembering when watching these videos, music theory is being used as a tool to interpret why a song sounds the way it does, it's not reverse engineering the writing process of a song
I related strongly with the "I was a nine year old boy, of course I didn't listen to Britney! But now I'm not so it's ok" Plus, "added them in slowly" and you drew a burette over a conical flask. Looks like I've found a goldmine, gonna watch so many of your videos
I'm guessing I'm around the same age as you, and was a prog nerd metalhead who thought that Britney Spears was terrible, and even I never thought Toxic was anything but a masterpiece.
It's so interesting how every part of the song feeds the narrative of the song. Toxic is about obsessive love with a violent twist. I never thought this song was this complex
I'm really big on recognizing singer songwriters. Like Cathy Dennis, Richard Marx, Linda Ronstadt, etc. Specifically; Cathy Dennis also wrote "Can't Get You Out of my Head" for Kylie Minogue, "Toxic" for Britney, Co Wrote "I Kissed a Girl" for Katy Perry, "Before Your Love" for Kelly Clarkson, and a few songs for S Club 7. She absolutely deserved a mention for the composition of this particular song.
Always loved this song. Perfect catchy slightly weird pop song done right. I love the mix of genre elements...a bit Bollywood, a bit surf rock, a bit middle eastern, a bit James Bond theme, etc. Kinda feels akin to that great April March song "Chick Habit." Another very catchy deceptively simple piece of ear candy. Pop music, when done very very well, always makes me fall in love with music all over again. More of a spotlight should be shone on the actual writers behind the scenes. Then again, maybe they don't want the spotlight? For whatever reason, watching this breakdown of Toxic made me think of the Michael Bolton song "Time Love and Tenderness." It's SUCH a great piece of pop music. It's got a slight early 90s new jack swing sound....feels like it would fit on Michael Jackson's Dangerous album. Everything about that song, the chords, the melody, the timbre....is just perfect. Juuuust weird enough to be cool and interesting....but also supremely catchy and well crafted. Would love to see a 12 tone break down of THAT song. :)
I think it was about six months ago. I turn this exact song on, with headphones on, after a forever of not hearing it... and finally heard the first round of backing vocals you mentioned. For the first time in my life. Que me going "Hol up" and looping the track a few dozen times to see what else I missed. XD
One thing I love is when the words line up with what the music is doing. You mention the pre-chorus being the first place the notes jump up, but that's when she literally says "too high, can't come down", right as the notes take that perfect 5th jump up and minor 6th down. Love it!
This is only the second 12tone video I've watched, and I'm a bit mind-blown at the moment. I've never seen this done before. About halfway through I was laughing because of the sheer density of the information, and that it was making sense to me in spite of the speed of delivery. I've been playing piano/keys for about 4 years, and I just found a month's worth of study in this video. Thank you. Also, Toxic is a great tune even though I never wanted to like Britney Spears. Excellent work!
Had that realization a couple of years back that I was "incredibly wrong" in dismissing Pop music when I was 7 at that time (hey, we're about the same age), but the artists that did the trick for me were Aaliyah (her second and third albums are outstandingly good, specially from a producer's point of view) and TLC (Left Eye's death was the last punch to the socially aware, lyrically well written rap of the late 80s and 90s in my opinion)
I've always loved this song. I remember being a kid and hearing it playing from the house next door and getting as close as I could so I could hear it. I'd have the string riff stuck in my head for weeks.
As someone who never liked any of Spears' music, EXCEPT for this one song, I love seeing it broken down and explained. So many well used and actually intelligently creative little musical tricks in this tune.
ABSOLUTELY love the fact that you are taking Pop songs, which discarded by people as "Computer generated crap", and show how carefully crafted and rich these songs are.
I discovered how interesting this song was and posted an essay about it in an Instagram caption because I had to get it down. The essay was so long it maxed out the character count on the post and I had to post it in two parts. Fascinating piece of music
I've heard the original Bollywood track - Tere Mere Beech Mein - a few times. The high part is reversed but not the low part from memory. The use of the sample definitely adds an atmosphere to the song, but by chopping it up and reversing parts its very creative use of a sample
I'm in the same boat, I used to look down on Britney Spears for no real reason but have eventually had to acknowledge that her music is pretty good. Also #freebritney
I am a lifelong punk and hardcore musician, when I hit my 30's I got really into folk and pop, because of top 40 and living with my normal, well adjusted ex girlfriend and her daughter, so I got exposed to the radio for the first time since the late 90's, so I played catch up, as I had only been up to date on underground rock and hip-hop. Now I find myself transcribing Lady Gaga on a harmonica and acoustic guitar. It started when I got her daughter an acoustic and she wanted to learn Shake it Off, so I figured it out. Lol
One thing I didn't catch you mentioning is how the last bar of the string line doesn't always follow the same shape. In one instance, after the second verse when Spears sings "Slowly, it's taking over me", the strings slide up creating an otherworldly almost see saw feeling. We've become so accustomed to hearing that slide down that when the music comes to a near complete stop and plays the reverse shape it feels almost like a surprise gut punch. Like a disorienting punctuation to the previous line that really emphasizes the feeling of losing control.
I remember seeing articles back in the day about how Britney Spears' music is deceptively sophisticated, and didn't take them seriously. _I should have taken them seriously._
Strange, can’t stand Brittney but always loved Toxic. it was my guilty pleasure that caused rounds of incessant teasing from my friends and family. Thank you, now I know why it bloody rocks. I finally feel vindicated.
Ok so check it. The string riff that u hear is a flipped sample from an old Indian movie, they cut the main part and played it backwards in some parts, they also transposed it somewhat. I tried recreating it and got pretty close, there were just some parts that no matter what I did couldn’t get right. Some sample manipulation magic, truly incredible. I also found original stems for this track and can confirm that they support main string riff with another strings from vst. This record has been and still is the GOAT for me, the amount of simplicity and creativity in the instrumental is truly inspiring, and don’t even get me started on that bass line OMFG. 🔥🔥🔥
I like people like you, make me feel like I am learning something but since my knowledge of music is so small that it is just a fun r/whoosh Like I can understand the point is "Song crazy and all over the place but smartly and goodly"
I always did like this song, despite my sister teasing me for it. I had only just learned the Hendrix Chord when this song debuted, from a guitar magazine and primarily learned to play from accompany the radio or whatever was on MTV, at the time. I think that's why I liked it so much,.. it was effectively using a certain level of dissonance that I rarely heard outside of Hendrix at that point.
Thank you for writing it down and explaining what happens. I have close to perfect pitch and the song confused the hell out of me when trying to name the notes/what happens
@@DuoXCity She is great. And she has a lot of gems hidden in her discography actually. I recommend listening to both her Blackout and In The Zone albums :)
I kept seeing tritone substititions all around RU-vid music theory videos, this was the one that made me understand the concept, my head went booooom. Thanks for the awesome video
Ooooo good point. A lot of musicians don't write their songs and it would be interesting to find out what songs were written by the same people and what styles and techniques are common across the different artists who perform them.
I’m thinking it might be an awkward precedent. For some songs it might be cut and dry but for a lot of songs you might have half a dozen people credited on the writing, let alone the production, and then working out who’s responsible for any individual decision is already a mess without realising that there may well be session musicians, sound engineers, &c. who were uncredited but are actually responsible for things
Yeah I don't like the way he makes it sound like Brittany is the brain behind all of this great composing, when in reality she was just given the lyrics and melody to sing. The song has 4 writers and 2 producers though so I guess that could get cumbersome.
As always, awesome analysis of a classic. One thing i would like to note here, which i am certain you came across but didn't really find it necessary to include in the video, is that the starting brass (or whatever it is) intro that starts the song is actually a sample from a Bollywood song. At first it doesn't really contribute anything to this discussion but when you do a bit of research on Bollywood music you realize that what you talked about in the beginning on how weird the intro is, that's 80/90% of old classic Bollywood music. So the clashing ideas between the two harmonies (i am not the music theorist so i don't know if they are melodies or harmonies quite honestly) is a huge part of Bollywood music. They tend to do that a lot in the old days. Even today in some songs. Just thought I'd mention this cause i find it interesting to talk about and I'm guessing if you did the video might have veered off topic unnecessary. Again, thanks for the great analysis!
I'm pretty sure the string line is sampled from the Bollywood tune Tere Mere Beech Mein. I don't know anything about the lyrics, nor the narrative of the film(s) in which it was used, but I imagine there's a lyrical relationship between that song and Toxic.
love this track. used to be my favorite track of hers, but that was until she did 'slumber party'. such a deeply weird track, and i couldn't love it more. nothing about it should work, but it sure as fuck does.
I know it's a bit of an odd thing to suggest but I enjoy some underground metal, I'm probably not alone here since I do also enjoy older and more mainstream music too. However I do enjoy a metal band that is fairly popular. Sabaton. A Swedish power metal band. I have a song that I really love from them that also sounded so different to me. The song is Resist and Bite. Maybe I've grown numb to beats listening to so much metal that I'm just hearing copy pasted beats differently. Either way I love them and I love your channel.
I love these analysis'...and always interesting how different any one component in a piece can be interpreted. For ex. that G Hendrix chord....I sensed it more as an altered dominant (G7#9) being used to add tension to pull the listener back to home at Cm. Which would be a more traditional use of the chord in the jazz world compared to Hendrix's use. And that bass hitting that Db supports the altered dominant idea by implementing the b9, or just turning the sum of the parts into a big huge altered tritone sub of G7 as you say ...MOAR TENZSHUN!!! Of course I'm fairly recently acquainted with using altered dominants...so I'm prone to overuse it (and hear it everywhere)
Using a Hades reference to illustrate "Chaos" is definitely a killer choice ! Besides, great video, I too had a revelation a few years ago of how good this song actually is, but your analysis really highlighted elements I wouldn't even have suspected in there. Great work !
I’ve looked up the string riff that she was using, and it was taken from an Indian film from I guess the 50s. A lot of hip-hop and pop songs between 2000 and 2005 used indian samples. for instance, Contagious by Truth Hurts feat. Rokim used a really good sample from an indian song.
Man that first part of the video really hit hard. It was only due to the lockdowns i was able to listen to some old songs, and I was finally able to appreciate Britney's songs. Seriously, the bassline alone is simply too filthy, albeit in a good way, to be pass
Surprised there was no mention of the bass-womp in the breakdown. Coming from the underground electronic music scene myself, it was apparent when Toxic came out that it would be a turning point for pop music. Electronic music became accessible to the masses, and pop music shifted it's sound toward something harder and grittier. Of course, post dubstep we're left with EDM, so there's no accounting for taste. Toxic is still a bangin classic.
I think you might be simplifying the role of electronic music in pop music. The first time I consciously noticed electronic music having a major influence on pop was in the 90's, but my older sister noticed it in the 80s, and my parents noticed it in the 70s. It's taken root in a whole lot more places than dubstep and EDM.
