Franz Ferdinand have shared their orchestral rendition of Britney Spears‘ ‘Toxic’, marking the second time they have covered one of the pop icon’s tracks.
- READ MORE: Franz Ferdinand – ‘The Human Fear’ review: art-rock icons prove they can still take you out
While appearing as the latest guest on BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room at Maida Vale Studios in London, the ‘Take Me Out’ hitmakers covered Spears’ 2003 hit track with an orchestral section adding a theatrical element to the classic pop track.
It comes roughly 16 years after Franz Ferdinand took on her track ‘Womanizer’ for BBC Radio 1 as part of their Live Lounge series.
Speaking to Stereogum about their approach to taking on a cover, frontman Alex Kapranos said: “I like a good song. It’s that simple. I don’t care if the song is 60 years old or six days old — a good song is a good song. That Chappell Roan song is brilliant. I think she’s really cool as well. She’s got many, many good songs, and I like her attitude.
“But that Radio 2 thing was with Jo Whiley, and she’s a fantastic DJ. One of the first sessions we ever did for the BBC was for her on Radio 1 and we had to do a cover of a contemporary pop song at the time for that as well. We did a Britney Spears song, ‘Womanizer’. And then later on we did Gwen Stefani’s ‘What You Waiting For?’ And it was the same criteria for all those covers: We were asked to do a cover and we just chose a song that we’d all been enjoying as a band.
He continued: “There’s loads of things that we’ve covered, and we always enjoy it. And I particularly enjoy it when the cover ends up sounding a bit like a Franz Ferdinand song. That always feels like a small victory.”
The band have previously covered The Beatles‘ ‘It Won’t Be Long’, Pulp‘s ‘Mis-Shapes’, Air‘s ‘Sexy Boy’ and more recently Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe’.
Elsewhere, Franz Ferdinand’s most recent release was 2025’s ‘The Human Fear‘. In a four-star review of the LP, NME shared: “In uncertain and scary times, where do you find confidence? On the spiked post-punk closer ‘The Birds’, Kapranos asks: “Is that what we want? To be with others who know, who understand who we are and what we’ve done?” This album is the answer to that question.
“On the vivacious ‘Night Or Day’, he declares: “I’ll never get bored of you, or the thing you do”. It’s a love letter to the idea of this band. Still shamelessly livin’ it up, with an eyebrow cocked and high kicks galore, ‘The Human Fear’ is – as promised – Franz-y as fuck. You do you, hun; you do it so well.”
Speaking to NME about their return at a time when there seemed to be a hunger for a band with the energy and legacy like theirs, Kapranos shared: “Of course things go in and out of fashion, don’t they? At the moment there seems to be a hunger for good band that can play; that have a rawness and complexity to them. It’s the human energy that you only get from a set of people standing on stage and exchanging that between them.
“A very good example of that are English Teacher – who obviously just won the Mercury Prize. I saw them play a couple of months ago and I absolutely fucking loved them. Fontaines D.C. are another great band. Sprints had that when I saw them as well: they’re so much more than the sum of their parts. Something magical is happening when those people play together. No matter how sophisticated your pop production on Ableton is, you’re never going to quite capture that special thing that happens when people play together.
He continued: “A lot of great stuff has happened in pop over the last 10 or 15 years or so, but it’s getting a bit stale. People are feeling that. I feel there’s a genuine desire for the rawness and the depth you can only get from a band.”
In other news, The band will tour the UK in March before heading out to North America. Find any remaining tickets for the UK show here, and US ones here. See the list of UK and US gigs below.
MARCH
05 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
06 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
07 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
24 – Showbox, Sodo – Seattle, WA
25 – Commodore – Vancouver, BC
28 – Warfield – San Francisco, CA
31 – Complex – The Grand – Salt Lake City, UT
APRIL
03 – Midland – Kansas City, MO
04 – The Fillmore – Minneapolis, MN
07 – Anthem – Washington, DC
08 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
10 – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, NY
12 – Orpheum – Boston, MA
14 – M Telus – Montreal, QB
The post Watch Franz Ferdinand deliver another classic Britney Spears cover – this time an orchestral take on ‘Toxic’ appeared first on NME.
