This article examines a range of perspectives and cluster of discourses that are informed by the reading of one single video, Toxic, performed by pop icon Britney Spears. In our investigation, we seek new directions for audiovisual analysis and attempt to explore the music text alongside symbolic meanings mediated by a video. Of particular interest are the intersection of characters played by the star with constructions of personal narrative, issues of exoticism in music, queering strategies, race and sexuality, audiovisual genealogies, and the relationship of the singing voice to song structure and meaning. We conclude that the musical interpretation of pop videos calls for a mode of analysis that reflects the multivalent and allusive nature of this audiovisual form.