Tones And I Used Her ‘Like A Version’ Spot To Take The Piss Out Of Her Trolls

Ever since immensely popular one-hit wonder Tones and I — real name Toni Watson — burst onto the scene, there have been curious discussions and memes about her age.

See, if you type the ‘Dance Monkey’ singer’s name into Google, it’ll pop up and tell you that she was born in 2000. That’d make her 19 years old. Which is impressive, given that she’s probably one of the biggest artists on the planet right now. In fact, that age is what a number of key outlets have run with, couching the singer’s considerable international success in terms of her considerable youth.

Only, there’s no way that Watson is 19. As Nick Bond of news.com.au has laid out in a lengthy article, Watson’s probably more like 26 — a deep dive into her Instagram makes it clear that the timeline offered by Google just doesn’t add up.

Just discovered there's an ambiguous age situation going on with Tones and I…apparently she's either 19 or 26?? Slight difference there (believe me, I know). Can anyone confirm either, because it's bugging me even though I shouldn't give a crap.

— Jaz (@EurovisionByJaz) November 24, 2019

Only making things more confusing is Watson’s decision to edit all of her past Instagram captions after Bond’s article went live to remove references to her age. Who knows what was going on there. It was either: A) an attempt to obscure her true age, or B) a complicated, ironic addition to the meme.

Anyway, understandably, the whole thing’s now a mess of memes, jokes, and punters desperately demanding to know what’s going on.

It’s crazy to think that only last year, Tones and I was a 29 year old busker, and now she’s a 19 year old award winning artist

— ??✨Patrick Lenton✨?? (@PatrickLenton) November 28, 2019

you know what? If tones and I wants to be 19 that’s great for her lol get to the bag girl

— DJ SARA T ?✨?? (@sararaofficial) November 28, 2019

can’t criticise Tones and I as I’ve also made a career out of people eternally assuming I’m 19 and actively not denying it

— Travis Cook (@officialtravis) November 27, 2019

But rather than put this complicated meme to bed, it looks like Tones and I has decided to keep it going…

…By performing a rendition of ‘Forever Young’ on Like A Version. Geddit?

The song has been in her live catalogue for a while now, so this isn’t exactly a new trick. But still, it’s some next level-trolling. And it’s already been picked by some on the internet, who are responding to the singer’s hat-tip with a mix of shock and awed respect.

fucking lmao https://t.co/kTp8nfzPrB

— jackson langford (@jacksonlangford) December 5, 2019

The cover itself is pretty middling — but hey, ya gotta respect a musician playing this heavily into a meme, I reckon.

Watch the song in full here: