Australian singer-songwriter Tones And I has revealed plans to kiss her career as a live performer goodbye after a whirlwind few years of global recognition.
Tones And I’s hit ‘Dance Monkey’ topped the official singles charts in more than 30 countries. When it hit number four in the US, it became the first top five hit written solely by a woman in more than eight years. That’s a pretty big feat for someone in their mid-20s.
Now, at 27 years old, Tones And I tells Gawndy & Maz she plans to step away from the stage to give her mental health a rest.
But that doesn’t mean she’ll be bowing out of the music world completely.
“I don't know how much longer I'm going to be Tones And I for. . . I mean, realistically, I'm going to give myself another four years [of performing] and then I want to be a songwriter,” she told Gawndy & Maz.
Tones And I began busking in Byron Bay in 2017. In her first year of being famous, the performer says self-doubt and anxiety tried to get the better of her, telling Carrie & Tommy that portions of the huge amounts of people following her after the success of ‘Dance Monkey’ suddenly made her feel as though she should hate herself.
“I thought, "No, you shouldn't think like that, don't be stupid. Don't throw away your integrity. Don't change anything about yourself’. But it was a long time and I don't think anyone is prepared for that. I was really caught off guard.
“Not being able to go to the grocery store on your own because I get super bad anxiety. Not being able to go busking, which was my ultimate goal at the start.
“Things I can't do that people think you can, because I have anxiety.”
So it looks like we can expect a few more years of performances from Tones And I, but don’t be surprised if you see her name cropping up on the credits of others artists’ music soon enough!
