Music Video Analysis - Toxic, Britney Spears

Music Video Analysis - Toxic, Britney Spears 

The music video for Britney Spears' 'Toxic' was a music video that was discussed in class. 

Lyrics 

This song arguably marked Britney Spears' transition from popular child star to mature adult artiste. The lyrics explicitly feature more mature themes with direct reference to drugs/alcohol and sex. 

The mature themes mentioned suggest the Spears wanted a rapid shift in her demographic. After all, she was 21 at the time of the song's release and her original audience was growing up too. This drastic change in the type of lyrics and themes within the song could also be akin to the artiste's desires to explore a new and/or wider audience. Unlike her previous songs, the lyrics in 'Toxic' do not discreetly hide messages within, and this could be reference to her desires to have a more mature celebrity image. 

Music 

The music of the song has a high tempo which is ideal for dancing to; this is matching the popular music of the time, as well as Britney Spears' personal style. The music also features a lot of electronic sounds or auto-tuning used to distort singing voices which makes the song distinct and unique.

Genre / Mise-en-scene

This music video most definitely fits into the pop genre. As in the typical modern pop music video, the artiste features as a central part of the main plot in the narrative, as well as a part in the performance aspect of the video. In this video, seeing as Britney Spear's herself was in a transition phase with her music style and celebrity image, she is on an aeroplane acting as a stewardess. Connotations of sex (and voyeurism) are central to the song itself and the music video, so it is no surprise that the costume that the artiste is wearing is revealing and flamboyant, as to attract male attention (it is worth noting that all passengers on the aeroplane happen to be males). The costume that she wears as part of her performance sections are even more revealing; emphasised by the use of bright, cold lighting. 

The setting on the aeroplane is relevant to the lyrics in the bridge of the song, wherein it says "too high can't come down", which possibly metaphorically has dual meaning (the other, of course, referring to drugs). 

Camerawork

It is clear as a pop artiste that image is important, therefore there are many close-ups on Britney Spears to encourage the viewer to see much of the artiste, in detail, and deduce an image to be associated with the artiste from what they see. The use of close-ups also provide a sense of intimacy for the viewer; an element that the new Britney clearly wants to address. To portray the artiste in such ways with the use of this type of camera shot also helps the record label brand and sell the artiste and her voice via marketing. 

The common use of the mid-shot allows the viewer to clearly see the artiste as she is seemingly making eye contact with the camera (and her audience). This direct address could be seen as voyeuristic and intimidating for the viewers. 

There are also a lot of low-angle shots used on the aeroplane, which serve as a tool to make the artiste appear bigger, taller; powerful and more dominant and controlling. There are also many extreme close-ups of props such as the items on the side on the surface in the bathroom which are knocked over and the throttle of the aircraft being pushed forwards. All of these give off sexual connotations and could metaphorically reference what currently is not in the frame. Later on in the video, many objects are filmed with extreme close-ups in order to aid the narrative. For example, the breaking and entering sequence to retrieve the poison is sped up with the use of fast-paced editing and extreme close-ups of objects which are used in the process. 

Editing 

The editing is very fast-paced and matches to the beat of the music. The editing in the video is also used so that when the artiste sings the work "toxic" in the lyrics, the image shown on the screen reflects it. This is particularly noticeable. The fast pace of the editing also mirrors the fast-paced action of the narrative, in which Britney Spears acts as a superhero-like character on a quick mission. 

Intertextuality 

There are not overall many obvious intertextual references in the music video, however it could be argued that the motorbike sequence, which features a woman have her skirt blown around by the draught of the motorbike, could contain a subtle reference to the famous Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch". 

The choice of weapon of 'Superhero Britney' is also similar to the batarang: one of the weapons of Batman. The scene also takes place in the setting of a city, which is the common location for the action of superheroes such as Batman, Superman and Spiderman (among others). 

Narrative/Performance 

The 'Toxic' music video is a combination of a narrative and performance music video. The narrative also acts somewhat as a performance, with the artiste being the star role in every scene as to promote and reinforce her new brand. The narrative itself is a relatively complex one with lots of things happening in a short frame of time, and the narrative is made a lot more confusing with the use of the same actress (Britney Spears) in every sequence. The performance aspect of the video is a lot more simple and bright in colour and lighting in order to make the differences between the narrative and the performance more noticeable. The performance part is not very dynamic, whereas the narrative is in its extreme.     

Part of the performance section

Part of the narrative section