Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ Was Initially Written For Janet Jackson, Songwriter Reveals

Britney Spears’ single “Toxic” was an undeniable smash hit when it was released in 2003. But songwriter Cathy Dennis has revealed she originally penned the Grammy-award winning song for Jatn Jackson.

In a recent interview, Cathy Dennis said the song was:

“written in Sweden with Bloodshy & Avant [Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg] and Henrik Jonback.”

She continued:

“I went over there to write with Janet Jackson in mind. I was there for about ten days in total. I’d had a meeting with Janet, I think in London, but it may have been in New York. I thought I’d have a go at writing something that would work for her and it didn’t come out at the time. We did have this song Toxic, though. It was started on day one of seven… then took part of day two to try to finish it.”
She added:

“And because I couldn’t quite finish it, I said: ‘Look, let’s start on something else.’ So we wrote another three songs that week and in my spare time while I was in my hotel room I was very busy editing my lyrics on Toxic. Eventually on day seven, which was the day I was flying back to England, I had run out of time. I knew that it was D-Day and I had to sing and that was what I came up with after a lot of editing.”

The song was eventually given to Britney Spears and won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2005.

Ciara, Britney Spears

That’s not the only time Britney Spears was involved in a song switch.

Ciara’s 2004 breakout hit “Goodies” was just the beginning of her superstar career. But she recently revealed that it was almost going to be a song for the pop singer. The mom of 3 said that while she helped the write the song, she had to audition to be the voice behind it.

“I had to reaudition again, to be picked up and to be made a priority on the label. I did that, had a showcase, rocked it. Okay, boom, check.”
But little did she know there was chatter to possibly give the song to Britney Spears.

“Not knowing that behind the scenes, there was a conversation about this song being potentially taken from me and given to an artist like Britney Spears, who was on the same roster as me. I knew that it was a very, very special record.”

That proved to be true as the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for weeks after its release.  Ciara continued and said had she known what was going on behind the scenes, she would’ve “fought tooth and nail” to secure the song for herself.

“It was because it’s a record that I actually was a part of creating.”

“This was my very first song that I put out into the universe. My first song, and by God’s grace, it also was a number one song, and it lasted on the Billboard charts for eight weeks. It was just kind of surreal to see that my dream was coming true.”

Could you imagine “Toxic” going to Janet Jackson? Comment and let us know!