“Dance Monkey” is the hit single from Australian singer Tones And I (real name Toni Watson) and her debut EP “The Kids Are Coming”, which was released in August 2019.
In an interview with DJ Smallzy in July 2019 on Australian radio show Nova FM, Tones explained the story behind “Dance Monkey”: “I wrote this song when I was busking, and [about] the pressure that I felt to always be entertaining people on the street. And if they didn’t like it, when they looked at their phones they could just click something else; … we are all so used to being entertained at the click of a button.
“So when you’re [busking] on the street, .. to command [your] attention, people would be like: ‘again! again!’ .. ‘more! more!’ .. or they would just leave. So if you replace [the lyric]: ‘dance for me, dance for me’ with ‘sing for me, sing for me,’ it’s pretty literal”. Tones also spoke to Billboard about the track: “It’s a song about a moment where I felt frustrated about how people had no patience anymore. […] If you replace the word ‘dance’ with ‘sing,’ it’s pretty self-explanatory. I’ve literally turned quotes that people say to me into lyrics – they’re all very real. […] It was one night where people just wouldn’t let me be. I’d been busking for seven or eight hours, and I had done six encores. So many people get inspired in the moment and just make up bullshit to try to give you hope. Every person swears black and blue on their kids’ lives that they’re someone and they can help me and they never do.”
The music video for “Dance Monkey” was directed by Liam Kelly and Nick Kozakis and produced by Visible Studios. It was uploaded to Tones And I YouTube channel on the 24th June 2019. It features Tones dressed as an elderly man “Mr. Tones” who sneaks out of his home to have a dance party at a golf course with other senior citizens. As of December 2019, the video has over 368 million views and almost 4 million likes.
Release Date: 10th May 2019
Songwriter: Toni Watson
Producer/s: Konstantin Kersting & Toni Watson
Label/s: Bad Batch & Elektra
Music Video Release Date: 24th June 2019
Music Video Director/s: Liam Kelly & Nick Kozakis
Chart Rankings, Certifications & Awards: In its year of release, “Dance Monkey” hit #1 in the charts of the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK. It also charted in many other counties and their top 10 charts, such as Spain, Slovenia, Singapore and Lebanon. “Dance Monkey” is certified Gold in Portugal and Spain; Platinum in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany and the UK; 2x Platinum in Austria, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland; 3x Platinum in Italy; 7x Platinum in Australia, and Diamond in France. The song was nominated for seven awards at the ARIA Music Awards 2019, and won three: “Best Female Artist”, “Best Pop Release” and “Breakthrough Artist”.
The lyrics to “Dance Monkey” can be viewed here: LINK
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