Tones And I at St Jerome's Laneway Festival on Feb. 1, 2020 in Brisbane, Australia.
Tones And I’s 2019 wasn’t so much a breakthrough year. Or a "meteoric rise." Because, well, meteors do tend to burn up on entry.
Truth be told, it was a dream run. The stuff you couldn’t make up.
The Aussie artist turned her back on busking, and became a global star with her hit “Dance Monkey,” which went on to smash several records and generate billions of streams.
On the eve of the 2019 ARIA Awards, where Tones (real name Toni Watson) scooped four trophies, including best female artist, the singer and songwriter became the first Australian added to YouTube's Artist on the Rise program.
Tones' story from the streets to the top of the charts is told in a new video, released on her YouTube channel.
In the short film, Tones opens up on her love of basketball (we see her shoot hoops), the buzz from the breakthrough of her first release “Johnny Run Away,” we see her meeting with her “idol” Macklemore and, of course, she walks us through the origins and the nutty success of “Dance Monkey.”
"Dance Monkey" climbed to the top of the charts in at least 30 countries, went top 5 in the U.S., it's recognized as the most-“Shazamed” song of all time and it enjoyed the longest-ever run at No. 1 on the Spotify global chart.
In her homeland, the tune ruled the ARIA Singles Chart for 24 weeks, an all-time record, and “Dance Monkey” enjoyed 11 weeks at No. 1 in the U.K., a high-mark for a solo female artist.
In less than nine months, its music video has racked up nearly 900 million views on YouTube.
“I still have things every day that I want to do in music and people I want to meet and dreams I want to achieve,” she explains in the new clip. “Right now, I’m just trying to be happy and be healthy, and laugh and love and inspire and be inspired and play shows and really enjoy this crazy thing that my life has turned into.”
Watch the Artist on the Rise video below.
Last week, Tones premiered the music video for her fourth single, “Bad Child.” The visual was created by co-directors Nick Kozakis and Liam Kelly of Visible Studios, the Melbourne-based production house behind the ARIA Award-nominated “Dance Monkey” clip.
The double A-side "Bad Child" and "Can't Be Happy All The Time" dropped in early April and are Tones' first new cuts since her The Kids Are Coming EP from 2019.
Watch below.