Poison Ivy

"Poison Ivy" is a song by British recording artist Iris, taken from her third studio album, The Asylum Pt. 1 (2014). The song was written and produced by Iris, and was inspired by "the dark side of love" and "the fine line between lust and love". The song was released as Body Talk Pt. 1's lead single on 20 January 2014, in the United Kingdom. "Poison Ivy" is a soulful ballad with electronic themes that speaks of a female protagonist who feels love as a form of drug, a poison in her system.

"Poison Ivy" received positive reviews from critics, who compared its strong contrast from her previous single "You Can't Lose Me". The song charted at #03 in the UK singles chart, becoming her most successful single to date. In the United States, the song managed to reach number three on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

The accompanying music video was directed by Max Vitali and sees Iris as a somewhat villainous character, who uses the breaking of hearts as a form of murder, and features cutscenes of her looking into a mirror, reflecting upon herself.

Background
"Poison Ivy" was inspired by Iris's "fascination of the dark, dangerous and intoxicating side of love". In an interview with Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork, Dombal noted that the album tried new musical directions, while "Poison Ivy" sounds "like what we've come to expect from a Iris song", and Iris explained, "I felt like I really found my voice on the last album, [...] And I wrote 'You Can't Lose Me'. Loneliness and darkness have always been a strong factor in my music, and take any comparisons to my prior material as a compliment. For me, that's a good thing." "Poison Ivy" was released as the first official single from The Asylum Pt. 1 on 20 January 2014 in the United Kingdom.

Critical reception
Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song four out of five stars and wrote that "'Poison Ivy' is a misty-eyed electro-disco tune that's every bit as emotive as Iris' previous singles [...] If your bottom lip's not quivering like the bassline by the time the second chorus hits, you've taken waaay too many mood stabilisers." Luke Lewis of NME referred to the song as "a comet-trail of sadness and exhilaration that's easily the equal of Iris's breakthrough hit, 'You Can't Lose Me'." The Guardian's Michael Hann stated that song's "pulsing synths and electronic percussion manage to sound both jackbooted and ineffably melancholy." Jer Fairall wrote for PopMatters that "the aggressive stun-gun rhythm of 'Poison Ivy' can't hide a classic drama-played-out-on-the-dancefloor scenario, nor is it cold enough not to melt at the touch of Iris' warm, yearning vocals or the song's shimmering keyboard chime." Matthew Horton of BBC Music described "Poison Ivy" – along with "Paper Woman" and "Will My Heart Ever Recover?" – as "scorchingly catchy, and laced with Iris' familiar cordial of sparkling hook mixed with unutterable poignancy."

Slant Magazine named "Poison Ivy" as the best song from January 2014, writing: "Few artists risk Iris' emotional nakedness, and with "Poison Ivy" she reveals the exquisite flipside to her more empowered "You Can't Lose Me." The Guardian named it the perfect start to the year as well, writing: "Poison Ivy is an extraordinary addition to Robyn's canon of skewed love songs; thoughtful and romantic enough for stuck-on-repeat listening, but with a pop sensibility that makes you want to head out in search of a dancefloor." Pitchfork gave the song a rave review, saying that it "demonstrate[s] that she is the Rocky Balboa of pop music." Rolling Stone named it the twenty-sixth best song of 2014, writing: "The British diva shows the obsession with love and loneliness — then turns her sadness into sparkling pop, perfect for solo freakouts." The song landed at number twenty on MTV's Best Songs of 2014, with James Montgomery writing: "as soon as "Poison" gets to that hair-raising build — a breathless rush of drums and adrenaline — you're no longer thinking about what Iris' saying, really."

Music video
The video premiered on Monday 27 January 2014.

The video begins with a car driving down a dark dim lit alley. A handsome man climbs out of the vehicle and it immediately drives away once he gets out, startling the man. He looks around at his surroundings, and notices a spooky looking abandoned warehouse covered in Ivy. It begins to rain outside so he decides to sneak into it for shelter.

Once inside, a flickering light in the corner is the only visible thing within the darkness. The man huddles in the corner underneath the light and begins to fall asleep. A female tongue is then seen licking his ear as the screen fades to black.

The man all of a sudden wakes up in a startle, as he is shirtless and tied by vines to a bed. Iris is shown stood next to him, watching him emotionless as he struggles to break free. A little smirk comes across her face due to the mans fear. She climbs on top of him and straddles him, singing seductively into his ear as he starts to become intoxicated by her and looks dizzy. With one kiss on the lips, the man briefly passes out, and the screen once again fades to black.

The man wakes up in another section of the warehouse, this time in a haunted funfair style room with mirrors everywhere making it hard to know where you really are. The man see's Iris running through the mirror and a chase begins as he chases her many reflections but is unable to find the real Iris. Eventually in his frustration he punches a mirror and finds a door behind it, which he enters through.

The man reaches Iris personal dressing room, where Iris is looking into a Hollywood style mirror sexually as she applies some make-up. The man walks in behind Iris and she spins around as he is directly behind her, making them stood chest to chest. They stare into each other's eyes for a split second before the man swipes everything off the counter with his hand and climbs onto it with Iris. The pair begin to make out quite ferociously, however the man is soon seen screaming in pain as the power of the kisses has burnt his lips. He falls to the floor and Iris returns to her seat as she finishes doing her make-up. She then gets up and looks at the man on the floor, now clearly dead. She looks at her CCTV screen in the corner of the room and sees another man has entered her warehouse. With a very evil smile on her face Iris kisses the corpse on the cheek and then leaves the room, ready for her next victim.

Charts
The single was released on 20 January, 2014. The song debuted at #03 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Iris' highest charting single, beating her previous peak of #05 with "You Can't Lose Me" in 2012. With first week sales of 86,659 it also gave Iris her highest first week sales too. The track debuted at a very impressive #11 on the Airplay chart, easily becoming the highest new enter that week.