<\/p>\n Around halfway through, she started mixing up a Basil Smash (that\u2019s gin, lemon juice and some \u201csimple syrup\u201d, in case you were wondering), a drink that Lipa first had at the festival that she and her family host every year in Kosovo, a place that they have strong ties to.<\/p>\n Article continues below <\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This, reckons Lipa, is a cocktail that makes you feel \u201cvery excited, silly, giggly and fun,\u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s where Britney hit from 2003 comes in.<\/p>\n \u201cI need to hear Toxic at the end of every single night when I’m feeling like that,\u201d says Lipa. \u201cIt’s one of my favourite songs. I think it’s one of the greatest pop songs ever made. It makes me feel nostalgic, but also at the same time, if it came out yesterday, it would be an absolute smash.\u201d<\/p>\n Britney Spears – Toxic (Official HD Video) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n She\u2019s not wrong – Toxic sounds as good today as it did when it was released, more than 20 years ago \u2013 but its writing process was anything but straightforward. In fact, according to co-writer Christian Karlsson, its various parts might never have coalesced into a song at all.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore Toxic became a song, basically, it was, like, 10 beats I was working on on just one given day,\u201d he told Music Week<\/a> in 2018. \u201cI had the strings on a loop, and then I left it to think about it. The next day I came back and I listened to it and I was like, \u2018This is impossible to make a song out of, but I love it!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Luckily, Karlsson persevered: \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to make it a song but I wanted to try, so I immediately looked to get some acoustic guitar<\/a> in there,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was all piece by piece \u2013 it was all about trying to make that freaking string thing work in a song without making me nuts. I\u2019m happy we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n Cathy Dennis, another of the song\u2019s writers, also struggled with it, later telling Songwriting Magazine<\/a> that the process was \u201csheer torture\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI beat myself up for seven days, not sleeping,\u201d she admitted. \u201cThe melody came first, then I had this puzzle of trying to fit words to the right number of syllables. It was really weird. I kept writing and then re-editing myself again, and again, and again.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n
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