Tones And I Opens Up About Her Humble Beginnings And The Moment She Knew...

If we had to name one celebrity that has remained incredibly humble after making it big in the music biz, we’d without a doubt say our homegrown girl Tones and I.

After releasing her hit single ‘Dance Monkey’ Tones was quickly breaking records and actually became the longest-running #1 on the ARIA charts since the charts were created in 1988, staying in the top spot for 16 consecutive weeks.

And now people all around not only know her name, but know the lyrics to her catchy songs.

But it wasn’t always this way. Tones and I actually started out as a busker and was living in a van in Byron Bay before she rose to the top of the music charts.

But her recent success hasn’t changed her one bit, and not only is she still incredibly humble about her work, but she still seems shocked by the fact that she’s actually made it in one of the toughest industries to break into.

Speaking on the Kyle and Jackie O show this morning, Tones told us that she never thought Dance Monkey would be a hit.

“Honestly I didn’t even think it would get radio play in Australia, I thought it would just be a song that when I played live people would like, and that’s honestly what I thought,” Tones and I told us.

Not only did it get radio play here, but it soon hit radio waves in the US! So boy, oh boy was she wrong about that!

Following the success of Dance Monkey, it was a few months later that Tones realised that her life probably wouldn’t be the same ever again.

Tones was opening up at the Splendour in the Grass festival last year and didn’t expect anyone to even show up to watch her. But when they did, this is the moment she finally accepted that she had made it.

“When I opened up Splendour… That moment when I obviously just released ‘Never Seen The Rain’ like a day before, ‘Dance Monkey’ had been out for a month or two and I didn’t expect anyone to show up,” she admitted.

“And all of a sudden like 30,000 people [showed up]… My friends were messaging me saying, ‘Oh they won’t let us in. The gates aren’t open but there’s people waiting’ and I thought maybe 200 people… and then all of a sudden 30,000 people come running down and then after me they’re gone.

“And I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. I cannot believe the amount of people that are here for my first proper festival thing.”

After that, Tones joked that she would have to start acting like Mariah Carey and get people to carry her down stairs and what not!

From here, things just kept going up and at the start of this year Tones was finally able to purchase her very own home, after spending years living in a van.

But despite her hard work finally paying off, Tones said that she would always be thankful for the way that she started out.

“The life that I had before is, some of it was the best time of my life,” Tones told us. “You work so hard to get out of that position that you’re in that you don’t like growing up and create a life for yourself doing what you love, but I never expected this to happen.

“I just wanted to busk forever and I was happy enough. I didn’t need anything and then all of a sudden you have the opportunity to get yourself a place or be somewhere where you can be proud of and you can hang your achievements up on the wall and you can have your friends over.

“You can be comfortable and feel like you have a home that’s full of love,” she added.

We told you, HUMBLE! And it’s so refreshing to see in an artist!

If you’re wondering when you might be able to hear more Tones and I music, she did tell us that an album is coming VERY SOON!

Hear more from our chat with Tones and I in the podcast below!