words: Brittany Long
Tones and I is the artist’s name on everyone’s lips. Originally hailing from Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, Toni Watson of stage name Tones and I is quickly becoming a household name among the Australian and Worldwide music scene.
After journeying to Byron Bay in early 2018, she took her chance busking, where after a successful first day which saw crowds spilling onto the streets, she made the bold move to quit her job in retail and made Byron Bay her new home. She lived out of her van for a year, spending her time busking and writing music.
Releasing her debut single Johnny Run Away on March 1st of this year she quickly amassed thousands of streams, and after uploading the track to Triple J Unearthed she quickly became a featured artist.
Since the release of Johnny Run Away, Tones & I has been added to high rotation on triple j and was named the station’s Unearthed Feature Artist. But it was her debut single Dance Monkey, off her EP The Kids Are Coming which blew up almost overnight and has amassed hundreds of millions of streams!
At just 19 years old she has broken nearly every ARIA record you can think of and made global Spotify number one! She currently holds the record for the longest consecutive #1 for an Australian Artist on the ARIA Singles chart and has been noted by ARIA themselves as the Australian female artist who has spent the second most amount of time at #1 over her entire career. a career which spans less than a year! She is sitting pretty atop the ARIA chats as #1 for her 14th consecutive week with her global smash- hit single Dance Monkey. A 14 week reign accolade which sees her equal that of established artist Delta Goodrem. Becoming the longest #1 for 2019 and the second longest for this entire decade. If she retains top position for just one more week she will match that title held by Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You which held the number one spot for 15 weeks in 2017, although not consecutively.
Tones and I has gone from busking in Byron Bay to topping the global charts in a mere matter of months and playing the main stage at Splendour and hello? Tash Sultana anyone? Dance Monkey has amassed more than 250 million streams globally to date, with 175 million of those in October alone.
Dance Monkey has now hit the #1 position in 13 countries and is accredited Platinum in Ireland and New Zealand, plus Gold in both Denmark and Sweden.
Tones And I said: “I am so thankful to Australia for all the support, this song was written for my friends at the Byron Bay backpackers, little did I know the whole country would be dancing to it, wow!”
Off the back of her debut single tour and an unforgettable performance on Australia’s AFL Grand final day match, alongside an All Australian lineup with music icons Paul Kelly and Dean Lewis, Tones and I is currently headlining across Europe. Let’s not forget that absolutely insane MainStage performance at Byron Bay’s Splendour festival either aka the biggest crowd singalong Triple j have ever seen for a Splendour In The Grass opener!
Her Worldwide tour aptly named The Kids Are Coming, sees her perform 50 dates and spans across five months. Kicking off with a festival appearance at Shepparton’s Land of Plenty in Australia then hitting Berlin. The tour is broken up between November 2019 to April 2020, and finishes up in Canada. With multiple festival appearances among the European and American Shows.
Tones and I Australian/ New Zealand Dates:
Australian fans can catch her performing tracks off her 2019 EP including the award winning Dance Monkey and Johnny Run Away at upcoming sold-out Australian festival Spilt Milk. This will be your last chance to see her in Australia for 2019:
November 23 2019 Spilt Milk Festival Canberra
November 30 2019 Spilt Milk Festival Ballarat, Victoria
2020 sees her kick off New Year’s in Style with New Zealand’s Bay Dreams Festival and also sees her perform at all of the Australian dates for Laneway Festival:
January 02, 2020 Bay Dreams Tauranga, New Zealand
January 04, 2020 Bay Dreams Nelson, New Zealand
February 01, 2020 Laneway Festival Brisbane, QLD, Australia
February 02, 2020 Laneway Festival Sydney, NSW, Australia
February 07, 2020 Laneway Festival Adelaide, SA, Australia
February 08, 2020 Laneway Festival Melbourne, VIC, Australia
February 09, 2020 Laneway Festival Fremantle, WA, Australia
Please note tickets to Spilt Milk Festival and Bay Dreams Tauranga are SOLD OUT!
Purchase tickets to Bay Dreams in Nelson here
Purchase tickets to Laneway Festival here
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