Dance Monkey v the NRL: did Tones and I really turn down $90,000 a minute because she hates her own song?

For the first time in recent history there’ll be no pre-game entertainment at the NRL grand final. But everyone has a different story about what actually went down Emma, the NRL and Tones and I seem to be at war – but I can’t make sense of what’s going on. I’ll try to catch you up. The Dance Monkey singer made headlines this week after it was leaked she’d turned down an offer to perform at next weekend’s NRL grand final. The rugby league boss Peter V’landys said negotiations broke down due to “artistic differences”, and some claimed it was because the Aria award-winning artist didn’t want to play her biggest hit. Instead, the grand final will go ahead without pre-game entertainment, and V’landys has put $1m towards junior rugby league – an idea he’d been toying with for a while, he said. “Rather than giving a performer $90,000 a minute, we would prefer to give it to grassroots,” he said on Tuesday . “When you look at it realistically for 11 minutes, it’s not worth it.” Wait – she turned down maybe $90k a minute because she hates her own song? I don’t love it either, but that’s a lot of money. We don’t know exactly how much she would have been paid – but it’s definitely true that Tones and I, whose real name is Toni Watson, isn’t a fan of Dance Monkey , her ubiquitous megahit that spent 24 weeks at No 1 on the Aria charts.

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