Daeran’s Songbook – “Toxic” (cover by Stevie Ann)

Lyrics

In my incomplete music memory, this is one of the most impressive pop songs in the past decade. Originally performed, it was a beautifully layered hot mess of studio production. It set the standard for other billboard junkie producers to admire and emulate. Toxic was the absolute climax in Britney Spears’s career. Her songs progressed from standard radio-friendly “Hit me baby …” to over-produced “Stronger” to finally the pinnacle: the hyper-produced “Toxic.” Everything afterward was Rome’s decline.

What’s more impressive than the complexity of the production is what followed when the song moved off of the radio cycle. It was heavily covered, both seriously and comically. Famous folk group, Nickel Creek cover it in jest at their shows. Yael Naim, known as “the girl who sings the song from the Apple commercial” (New Soul), covered it in earnest on her album. Even an electronic/polka version is floating around, courtesy of Metronomy.

The version by Stevie Ann is by far my favorite version. The amount of soul and raw energy that this Dutch artist displays is just awesome. I can’t say anymore.

SIMILAR POSTS

• Kyle’s Songbook – “The Dark End of the Street” by James Carr at 12:00 am on July 31, 2009
• Daeran’s Songbook – “Trying to Get to You” by Elvis Presley at 12:11 am on July 6, 2009
• Anna’s Songbook – “Freaky Girl” by Shaggy at 12:00 am on September 28, 2009
• Dug’s Songbook – “July, July” by The Decemberists at 10:47 pm on July 17, 2009
• Christopher’s Songbook – “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals at 9:46 pm on June 17, 2009