Released on 01/03/2004
Label: Jive

Listening to Britney gliding through this taut sophistopop nugget, it's hard to work out why she ever turned down "Sweet Dreams My LAX". "Toxic" surfs on the same shiny strand of the zeitgeist: it's strong but sultry, ultra modern but not swamped by r'n'b, catchy like a drive by. You can only imagine that she or, more likely, Her People listened to an early demo of "Sweet Dreams..." and decided, "nah, not Holly Valance enough".

In crude terms, then, "Toxic" is "Sweet Dreams My LAX" with some "Kiss Kiss" strings and vaguely risqué lyrics thrown in for good measure. She croons "I need a hit/baby give me it/your dangerous/I'm loving it" as if she's auditioning for Goldfrapp's next robot sex extravaganza, leaving the orchestration to swoop like it's the balmy Turkish summer of 2002 all over again. For an artist who's supposedly down the dumper, a surprisingly fine single.

    by Ian Watson