Textual analysis of a music video

Lyrics

Baby, can’t you see
I’m calling
A guy like you
Should wear a warning
It’s dangerous
I’m fallin’

There’s no escape
I can’t wait
I need a hit
Baby, give me it
You’re dangerous
I’m lovin’ it

Too high
Can’t come down
Losing my head
Spinning ‘round and ‘round
Do you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I’m on a ride
You're toxic I'm slipping under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I’m addicted to you
Don’t you know that you’re toxic
And I love what you do
Don’t you know that you’re toxic

It’s getting late
To give you up
I took a sip
From my devil's cup
Slowly
It’s taking over me

Too high
Can’t come down
It’s in the air
And it’s all around
Can you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I’m on a ride
You're toxic I'm slipping under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I’m addicted to you
Don’t you know that you’re toxic
And I love what you do
Don’t you know that you’re toxic

Don't you know that you're toxic

[x2]
With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic I'm slipping under
With a taste of a poison paradise
I'm addicted to you
Don't you know that you're toxicIntoxicate me now
With your lovin' now
I think I'm ready now
I think I'm ready now
Intoxicate me now
With your lovin' now
I think I'm ready now

Lyric Analysis

The lyrics to the song imply Britney Spears is ready to move into a more 'adult' role. This is proven within the lyrics. They are full of sexual and drug references, the lyrics suggests drugs have a link with desires.  This mirrors the fact Britney Spears is now a 21 year old woman, ready for the adult world. The majority of Spears' fans were moving onto their teens at the time, the lyrics then became a metaphor for their maturity development and the challenges they have to face.

Genre/mise en scene
Toxic is a high tempo dance/pop track. This genre attracts a fast paced edit for the video. There's also an emphasis on the choreography, the dance routines are mainly simple but become intricate when Spears pretends to escape from a trap by being flexible to show her skills off. This genre targets an audience of mainly young girls and teenagers, they would expect Spears to do some form of dance routine in her video. There is a sense that her dance highlights Spears' growing desire to express her sexuality. One of Spears' favourite moves seems to be 'grinding' older men in this video. Wearing a near nude outfit with red nails for the performance part of the video, show Spears' more mature side with the red representing a different side of her personality, and danger. 
       Spears has weaker vocals compared to rival singers targeting the same age group, which could be why she relies on her sexuality to attract her audience. The air hostess outfit is very revealing giving the video a voyeurism as she is seen as a sexual object to her audience, this continues throughout the video as the superhero costume disguise at the end of the video reveals Spears' midriff. The mixture of hair colour gives the video variety which keeps the audience entertained. Spears 'Toxic' video holds a running theme of freedom and escape.. 
      The opening shot of a plane and two birds symbolises the freedom Spears desires. From a young age Spears has had a career in the media industry and as her public breakdown showed the pressure of fame became too much. This video shows Spears' desire to escape, this is implied through her use of costume or just the basic desire to become an individual again. The different disguises Spears wears, including the motorbike and plane all enhance the sense of escape. Linking this to Spears' audience, teenagers also want to escape from places including school, which links to Britney's first big hit 'Hit Me Baby One MoreTime'.      

Camerawork
The obvious main focus of the music video is Britney Spears. The close-ups and mid-shots are always centred on Spears.  The long shots are used to illustrate some kind of triumph for Spears or show off her body which again links to the idea this video has a lot of voyeurism within it. Long shots are also used to show her dancing skills. By using a variety of different shots this keeps the audience interested in the music video, when the close ups are centred on Spears this could be due to narrative or performance elements of the video.  The other performers in the video are kept in the background so the audience can clearly see Spears showing she is the artist and the main feature of this video.

Editing
The editing in this video mirrors the up beat tempo of the song, the style of editing is then rapid and consistent. Most music videos in the genre of pop are usually very conventional and similar, therefore the variety of shots help make Spears video stand out from competition from other, similar artists.
 There is a lot of voyeurism within the music video as Britney Spears wears outfits that in effect 'show off' her body and good figure.  She is seen as an sexual object throughout the video, with the outfits changing but representing her personality (red outfit for danger) the famous white outfit as part of her narrative.

Intertexuality

- The Holly Valence video for 'Kiss Kiss' could be an inspiration for the near nude suit that Spears wears during this video.

- The very popular TV programme in 2003, Alias, stars a young woman who plays an international spy and dresses up in disguises to fulfil her job. The woman on the cover of the DVD is very similar to Britney Spears with her red hair. This could be seen as another influence.

- Another influence for the black haired Spears could be a female heroine from a manga comic strip.

Narrative/Performance

The narrative for this music video follows very closely to Steve Archer's definition of a music video. There are performance elements to the video so that Spears can show her skills off as a dancer, whereas the main narrative of a female spy who will go to any length to reach the object which marks Spears own desire to escape the confines of the music industry. The 'dressing up' element of the video is also shared by the target audience who has seen Spears grow and mature as they are eager to do the same. The close ups and lip syncing of Spears is the main performance of the video as well, this again is very popular within music videos.

Star Image/Brand
Britney Spears' main selling point is her body, connection to young people and her 'hidden' desire to escape. This music video clearly implies all these points about Spears' character.  It could represent the confusion of her younger, target audience also, showing them how they can escape to music during times when they may be under pressure, for example GCSE's.


Voyeurism/looking

Britney Spears is sexualised as an object to be looked at. The fact she wears a near nude suit and the camera mainly focuses on her legs and bum throughout the video highlights pop music's desire to sell sexuality to a young audience. What complicates this is the fact that Spears completely controls the narrative. She is not passive in the traditional sense and in many ways shes manipulates men for her own desire. She is the one who is a superhero and winks at the end to prove this complication.