Songfacts®:

• BoyWithUke is a masked singer-songwriter from Massachusetts who performs his songs on a ukulele. He made his name when this song went viral on TikTok.
• On "Toxic," BoyWithUke skews his friends who did him wrong. He accuses them of toxicity, lack of ambition, rudeness, negativity, and not showing up when he needed help. BoyWithUke ponders whether he'd be better off on his own, but that would leave him feeling lonely. The other alternative is to make new friends, which is easier said than done. Depressed by the state of affairs, BoyWithUke resorts to alcohol to dull his pain.
• BoyWithUke wrote the song because his unsupportive friends were taking up so much of his headspace. "This was during a time where I was going through some personal issues with friends and stuff," he told Billboard. "There were just a lot of toxic things about the relationships I had at the time."
• During this period, BoyWithUke penned his tunes from ideas his TikTok followers gave him. The masked Massachusetts singer had a second TikTok account, which he used to comment on his main TikTok. He left himself the suggestion, "Oh, you should make a song about toxic friends," then BoyWithUke responded, "Oh look, one of my followers commented that. I'll just make a song about that."
• BoyWithUke wrote and produced "Toxic" on his iPad in GarageBand.
• After BoyWithUke dropped the song on September 10, 2021, it went viral and charted all over Europe. Its success earned him a deal with Republic Records.
• "Toxic" topped the Alternative Airplay chart in the US, earning BoyWithUke his first #1 on a Billboard listing.