Tones And I reveals how she outsmarted Donald Trump trolls

As she moves into a new era, and a new image, Tones And I reveals the impact Donald Trump trolls had on her.

Tones and I has revealed she has dropped her trademark cap after being trolled by Trump fans.

The chart-topping Melbourne musician had seen people online photoshopping the infamous red Make America Great Again cap onto her head.

“I just don’t want to be associated with that person,” Tones, aka Toni Watson, said of Donald Trump.

“I had to lose the cap. I won’t wear a cap out of principle. I’ll go back to it, I just don’t want it to define my image. I used to wear red caps which is even worse. I have a lot of American followers and the Americans can be way tougher on social media than Australians. I’m usually good with that stuff, but there was an election going on and I was posting pictures of myself in caps and I didn’t want people to think I was sending any messages. So you’ll see my forehead for a bit, I’ve got nothing to hide!”

Australian singer/songwriter Tones And I has dropped the cap – briefly. Picture: Supplied

The forehead has been revealed on the video for Tones’ new single Fly Away, which has already had two million YouTube views since being released a week ago.

Written in lockdown, Watson said the track was originally written as a ballad, before she transformed it into a euphoric pop song.

“I had this vision of Avicii’s Wake Me Up, which has that hard beat but it could be a ballad because the lyrics tell a story. It has that moment in the chorus where you can look up at the stars and sing along to it at a festival. I always wanted to write a song like that. I thought this could be the song, so I sped up the BPMs and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to, which never happens.”

Her hit Dance Monkey was this week revealed as the most Shazam’d song of all time and is now the highest-selling single in ARIA history.

Tones and I with G Flip, Adrian Eagle and The Pierce Brothers on The Sound. Picture: MCH

However Watson no longer looks at charts, streaming figures or YouTube views to avoid the pressures others put on her.

“I haven’t looked at how Fly Away has been going once, that can be dangerous to your mental health. Pressure is the worst thing. People ask ‘Are you nervous you won’t be able to follow Dance Monkey?’ Don’t put that kind of pressure on me. That song was a fluke, it was weird, I wasn’t trying to compare it with anything or compete with anyone, that’s probably why it got so big.”

With her first album due “as early in February as possible” Watson is also about to launch an app.

“I was meant to release my album in August, the lockdown has given me so much more time to do everything. So I’ve created an app, it hasn’t launched yet but it’s all Australian small businesses, who have been struggling through the pandemic. It’s like Uber Eats but all Aussie businesses, all Australian owned, I want to help give back to small businesses.”

Tones and I will perform Fly Away with her friends G Flip, The Pierce Brothers and Adrian Eagle on The Sound on the ABC this Sunday at 6pm.

She filmed the song in an empty Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday and has a COVID-safe gig in Newcastle next week as well as the ARIA Awards.

“I just wanted to jump around and have fun, we had 80 people in one room dancing which is something we haven’t been able to do for a while. I just wore what I had on that morning, I had my normal hair which is half-regrowth because it’s breaking and I’m trying to get it nice again, I didn’t have any make up. This does feel like a new phase.”

MORE NEWS

How to create the perfect summer playlist

Delta Goodrem’s surprise new role

Aussie stars given huge honour

Guns N’Roses to play Aussie stadiums in 2021