Tones and I’s Toni Watson opens on death threats, bullying and depression
Just three days after taking out four awards at this week’s ARIAs, Australian singer-of-the-moment Tones and I has opened up about her battle with mental health.
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Just three days after taking out four prizes at this week’s ARIA Awards, Australian singer-of-the-moment Tones and I has opened up about her battle with mental health.
The 26-year-old, whose real name is Toni Watson, shared a photograph of herself on Facebook alongside a caption which revealed she was going through the best and worst time in her life.
The moving and lengthy post began with Watson writing, “People always say ‘Tones, how does it feel? It must feel great, what are you feeling? You must be over the moon’”.
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“It does and I don’t want to take anything away from my well-deserved achievements, and to my fans I love you unconditionally, but I have been hiding a big black hole for a while now.
“[I] feel if I hide it, like most artists do, then how are we going to help the next generation of young artists to come... truth is (and we have all seen it), with success comes judgment and opinions.”
She went on to reveal she often receives death threats and “harsh judgment from strangers I have never met.”
“I make music, I have chosen to follow my passion in life and stick to it until it stuck to me,” she said.
“I am a very open, honest, caring and good person, and in the dark times of death threats and very harsh judgment from strangers I have never met, I have decided to push past it and show any artist that you can get through it and maintain your sense of self.”
Tones, who released debut EP ‘The Kids Are Coming’ earlier this year, ended the post on a positive note telling her fans and followers “we are in this together.”
“Even though I don’t see an end in sight, this is how I will live my life now. I am Toni Watson, a female artist from Australia. I am going through the best and worst time in my life. And today I am OK.”
Tones and I led the night on Wednesday, taking home four Awards on the evening – Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release, Best independent Release and Breakthrough Artist.
Her vulnerable acceptance speech won her a legion of new fans.
“Sometimes I don’t think that I’m the most relatable female artist,” she said.
“I’m not into make-up or dresses, or typically girly things. But, to me, those things don’t really define what it is to be a female artist in this industry anymore,” she commented after receiving the award.”
Watson started out in the music industry by busking on the streets of Byron Bay, before meeting her manager, prompting her to move to the Gold Coast.
Her hit single, Dance Monkey, put her on the map in the Australian music industry.