By | January 19, 2020

I first listened to this song after one of Indonesia’s Idol Junior winners, Anneth, sang this song. Shortly after, I saw Tones and I appear on one of the popular TV shows in the US, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. I also searched for this song on Youtube and it turns out this song has been watched more than 500 million times since it was released June 25, 2019, then.

The Achievement

Courtesy:www.pedestrian.tv

“Dance Monkey”, the title of the song has occupied the number 1 position on the charts in more than 30 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten in many other countries, including the United States, at number seven. This is the second single released by Australian singer, Tones and I. Previously, he had released the song “Johnny Run Away” in February 2019.

According to Wikipedia, Upon reaching its tenth week at the top of the Australian Singles Chart, “Dance Monkey” broke the record for the most weeks at number one on the chart by an Australian act, previously held by Justice Crew’s 2014 song “Que Sera”. With its sixteenth week at number one, in November, it broke the record for the most weeks at number one in Australia’s ARIA chart history (1983–present), previously held by Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” (2017). “Dance Monkey” also holds the record for the longest time at number one in the modern rock era in Australia (1955–present), with 24 weeks.

The Awards

At The Aria Music Award Of 2019, Tones and I was nominated for eight awards, winning four. Tones won Aria Award for Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist, while “Dance Monkey” won Best Pop Release and The Kids Are Coming EP won Best Independent Release.

Lyrics

Courtesy:www.abc.net.au

When interviewed by DJ Smallzy in July 2019 on Australian radio station Nova FM, Tones explained that the song is about the relationship she had with her audience when she was busking on the streets of Australia:

“I wrote this song when I was busking, and 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,” she said