Composition
"Toxic" is a dance-pop song with elements of electropop and bhangra music. It features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers and high-pitched strings. It also contains surf guitar, that according to Caryn Ganz of Spin, "warps and struts like it’s been fed into the Matrix." The music was also compared to the soundtrack of the James Bond film series. The hook of "Toxic" samples a portion of "Tere Mere Beech Mein", from the soundtrack of the 1981 Hindi film Ek Duuje Ke Liye. However, it is not lifted verbatim from the score and mixes two different sections of the piece. Spears sings the song with breathy vocals.
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, "Toxic" is composed in the key of C minor, with a tempo of 143 beats per minute. Spears's vocal range spans from the low note of F3 to the high note of G5. Lyrically, "Toxic" talks about being addicted to a lover. Spears refers to her addiction in the lyrics, and sings lines such as "Too high / Can't come down / It's in my head spinning round and round" in a falsetto. A reviewer from Popdust called the verse "The most representative lyric of the song’s delirious, disorienting charm." "Toxic" ends with an outro in which Spears sings the lines, "Intoxicate me now / With your lovin' now / I think I'm ready now." Nick Southall of Stylus Magazine said the lyrics made Spears sound afraid of sex.
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