Tones and I releases new single called Charlie, named after her labrador

Australian pop superstar Tones and I feared her global career had been permanently derailed. Here’s what happened next.

Exclusive: Australian pop superstar Tones and I feared her global career had been permanently derailed by the pandemic.

The shutdown of touring destroyed her plans to promote her 2021 debut album Welcome to the Madhouse and she wasn’t booked for the marquee festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury when they returned this year.

Even as her hits Dance Monkey and Fly Away continued to generate hundreds of millions of streams, Tones and I faced an uphill slog to reignite her presence on the global pop scene.

But the rapturous reception for her current start-from-scratch UK and US tour is not only proving the fans have stayed loyal but has reignited excitement for the Australian pop phenomenon.

Tones and I performed at the Southside Festival in Germany in June. Picture: Redferns.

“After having the No. 1 song in the world for two years, the festivals just didn’t rebook me; but these other festivals did,” she said from her tour bus.

“I wasn’t so sure about overseas and it was a big part of my anxiety coming into this tour.

“I just had no idea how crazy it would be … now already I’ve been booked for next year at a later slot.”

New best pop buddies Macklemore And Tones and I have released CHANT together. Picture: Getty.

Just a couple of weeks after releasing her first collaborative single, CHANT with American rapper Macklemore, Tones and I premiered her surprise new track Charlie with a coveted slot on the influential Jimmy Kimmel Live! show this week.

“I can’t believe I’m debuting Charlie on Jimmy Kimmel. I’ll take Triple J play any day, but this is the new one for me.”

The song is a sonic shift for the pop artist who won hearts as a busker and then conquered the world with her keyboard jams.

Charlie, titled after her much-loved chocolate labrador pet who she misses terribly while on the road, is a bass-heavy disco funk track reflecting that genre’s return to the charts via songs by Beyonce, Drake and Lizzo.

After two years of being unable to share her new music live, Tones and I will be able to give Charlie its big moment on stage as she joins her new best bud Macklemore on his American tour before returning home for festival spots later this year.

She also hopes to give her debut album – wholly written and recorded by her which is rare in the modern pop world where credits can stretch to a dozen names – its due in Australia with a revamped Welcome to the Madhouse tour next year.

Charlie is out now.