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Tones And I

The Kids Are Coming

The title track of Tones And I's 2019 debut EP, written by Toni Watson and produced by Konstantin Kersting: a generational anthem of horns, finger snaps and a spoken-word elder that split critics between rallying cry and empty gesture.

By korczis 3 min read
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Review

Genre and Mood

Tones And I’s The Kids Are Coming is pop with an indie edge, a defiant, rebellious song that plays its protest as theatre. Micah Van Dijk of The Banner heard anger oozing from the horns and vocals while driving beats urge action; Alfred Soto of The Singles Jukebox heard theatrical harmonies and finger snaps.

Song Summary

The song is about young people shaping the future, an anthem meant, in Van Dijk’s words, to unite the younger generation against an oppressive and unresponsive older one. Toni Watson wrote it alone and Konstantin Kersting produced it, like every song on her debut EP. Its title is believed to come from the hashtag and working title “The kids are coming” used by Neil Goss for a 2015 book.

Musical Breakdown

No source maps the track section by section, so this follows the parts reviewers singled out, not necessarily in the order they occur.

Main Section

Horns, finger snaps and harmonies over a sparse beat. Kayla Beardslee found the horns nice but the production thin; Katherine St Asaph thought it sounded great, more relentless and thwacking than it needed to be.

Spoken Passage

A spoken-word elder enters, with what St Asaph called an olde-radio affect. In the song’s story, she noted, the old end up locked in the basement.

The Drop

Beardslee heard the song teasing a drop it withholds, and Scott Mildenhall felt that the loudest noise, when it comes, lands with a thud.

Concepts in Focus

Spoken word is a voice that talks rather than sings. Here it belongs to a second character, an older voice set against Watson’s, so the generational conflict is acted out in the sound itself, not only described in the lyric.

The music video, directed by Alan Del Rio Ortiz and produced by Reprobates, was released on 25 September 2019, two days before the single reached radio. For the Billie Eilish record several critics measured it against, see Billie Eilish – bury a friend.

Artistic Context

The Kids Are Coming opens Watson’s debut EP of the same name, released on 30 August 2019 by Bad Batch and Sony Australia. It followed Tones And I – Dance Monkey, the EP’s second track and her breakthrough hit, and became the EP’s fourth single on 27 September 2019. The next day she performed it with Dance Monkey at the AFL Grand Final.

Impact and Reception

The single reached number 65 in Australia and went gold there. Critics split: Zoë Radas of Stack heard less a call to arms than an assurance of imminent arrival, and compared Watson’s delivery to Sia’s, while most of The Singles Jukebox’s panel scored it low, Jonathan Bradley writing that it hopes to speak boldly without saying anything bold. The EP itself won the ARIA Award for Best Independent Release. Listen and decide which side you are on.

Learn from this track

Introductory

What you will learn

  • Describe how a protest anthem is built from a slogan-like chorus, horns and a spoken voice, and why critics disagreed about whether it works.
  • Explain what a spoken-word passage adds to a sung pop song.
  • Compare a song's message with the symbols on its cover art and in its video.

Listening guide

  1. the arrangement Horns and finger snaps over a sparse beat; one critic heard theatrical harmonies, another a production thin on purpose or by haste.
  2. the spoken passage The elder's voice that Katherine St Asaph of The Singles Jukebox heard as olde-radio, more Silent Generation than baby boomer.
  3. the chorus The generational slogan Micah Van Dijk called an anthem meant to unite the young against an unresponsive older generation.
  4. the build What Kayla Beardslee described as teasing a drop: listen for whether the release you expect arrives.

Concepts in this track

music video

144 tracks

A short film made to accompany a song. Since MTV it has shaped how songs are remembered, and on YouTube it is often the main way a song is heard.

spoken word

12 tracks

A vocal delivered as speech rather than song: talked, recited or half-sung with little or no melody. In electronic and post-punk music a flat, deadpan spoken voice over a beat can sound cool, ironic or confrontational.

Listen next, and why

Questions for discussion

  1. A Stack reviewer called the song less a call to arms than an assurance of imminent arrival. Which reading fits what you hear?
  2. Several critics compared it to Billie Eilish. Is sounding like the moment a weakness for a protest song, or the point?
  3. The cover art carries a rainbow flag, an anti-gun symbol and a vegan sign. Should a song name its causes in its words as well?

References

  1. Wikipedia. The Kids Are Coming (song). Encyclopedia
  2. Wikipedia. The Kids Are Coming (EP). Encyclopedia
  3. The Singles Jukebox. Tones and I – The Kids Are Coming. Review
  4. The Banner. The Kids Are Coming (2019). Review

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