20 years ago, britney spears released 'toxic':

released as the second single off her album 'in the zone', the song quickly became one of britney's signature songs after its music video release in early 2004

the song was written and produced with janet jackson in mind -and although it was not directly offered to her- it was indeed offered to kylie minogue, whose record label turned it down. kylie would later say: 'it's like the fish that got away. you just have to accept it."

'toxic' sampled the song 'tere mere beech mein' from the 1981 bollywood movie 'ek duuje ke liye'

to promote it, britney went on an extensive press tour from november 2003 to february 2004, from abc to on air with ryan seacrest

and altough the song was released during one of the darkest times in britney's life, she still has the song on a pedestal. saying in her book 'the woman in me': “toxic” was innovative as well as a massive success, and is still one of my favorites to perform.”

and one thing is certain, the success of the music video came along with the song, being referenced for the past 20 years:

the video was filmed during christmas week of 2003, here's a clip of britney rehearsing part of the choreo:

for these specific takes, britney had diamonds glued on her bare skin, and yes no real bodysuit was used.. this is her own skin

the video quickly made the song rise in music charts worldwide, peaking at number 1 in 11 countries and on mtv's trl.

however, by the time february 2004 came, the video was banned from daytime as mtv tried to censor itself after producing the superbowl halftime show that year, but that's a story for another day

'toxic' gave britney -to this day- her first and only grammy, insane to even think about it

and after 20 years its inclusion in mainstream media has only been growing, from it being used in 'promising young woman' to 'glee', to it also being used as a sample in beyoncé's 'renaissance' tour and the movie 'wild child'

thank you for reading the thread, and happy 20 years to 'toxic'!

An eternal classic 🤍

Pop music literally changed overnight

That song sounds like it could have came out last week🤌🏾 the impact

One of her many classics.

Waoo..beautiful song & acting

Alias had to be an inspiration for one of her looks

Love this song but I'm feeling old

This song and videoclip made me be a fan of Britney 😍

🎧🤺🤙🍓

@ms_manutd two whole decades 🤯 xx

Anthem

Had forgotten about Tyson Beckford. Guy's easy on the eyes.

Iconic 😍

13 year old me was gagged!

Pop perfection instrumental , slaps still , looks after looks , iconic legend Ms Britney Spears

Oreotina was black fishing 20 years ago

Last week Fargo had a cover of this song while John Hamm walked for 2 minutes straight.