How Did A 2017 Aussie Tune Become One Of The Biggest Tracks Of This Year?

In late 2017, a Melbourne duo by the name of SHOUSE recorded a fun house tune by the name of Love Tonight, and released it via Melbourne label Hell Beach (a sub imprint of Australia's ubiquitous dance-music crew ONELOVE). 

However, at the time it didn’t go far beyond that, despite featuring a massive choir of local underground artists. It would do well in the local scene and make an impact in European clubland, but fair to say it wasn’t an overnight sensation. Consequently, the duo of Ed Service and Jack Madin would continue to create music while also working their day jobs: Service as an arts community manager in Melbourne’s inner north, and Madin as a primary school music teacher.

Fast forward to May of this year, and Love Tonight is charting in over 50 different countries’ Viral 50, a Spotify list that tracks streaming successes the world over. The tune has made it to the likes of the UK, USA, Mexico, Germany, France, Israel and beyond. It is currently #18 on the Global Shazam Chart and placed firmly in Spotify’s Top 200 streaming chart.

So what the hell’s going on here? Why has a three and a half year old track from a couple of indie Aussie mates suddenly gone gangbusters?

“I first saw SHOUSE perform Love Tonight live in 2016 and knew I was witnessing something magical,” head of A&R at Onelove, Ant Celestino explains of his relationship with the track. 

“Over the next year, every time I saw it I was more blown away. The act gathered a bunch of close friends to record and we released it in late 2017. There had never been anything quite like Love Tonight so we focused on the edgier forefronts: enlisting a little known DJ Seinfeld - who we’d just toured - and legendary New Jersey underground DJ Mike Simonetti for a remix vinyl, and seeded it to tastemaker DJs. 

"We took that initial support and kept pushing back to more DJs and saw it start to resonate in other scenes: Eastern Europe in 2018, Burning Man in 2019 - it was definitely a slow process! In 2020, we collaborated with SHOUSE on a concept for how it could become an anthem of unity during COVID lockdowns. 

"The idea of being there for one another was in the DNA of the track, and was a message already baked in for us - we wouldn’t ever give up on this act or this song. At the start of 2021, we made a huge effort on working new remixes to help cement it as the soundtrack to dancefloors reopening around the world.”

Celestino goes on, “By May 2021, we had a true underground anthem with over 2 million total Shazams, and did it all under the ‘majors’ noses. They weren't sleeping on it - we had tried literally giving it to them multiple times over the years - they just didn’t hear the magic in it. And I'd previously seen that rolling your sleeves up over the long haul for something you actually believe is not part of their business model. 

"Of course, they want to get involved now," he laughs. "Instead we put together our own international team and got to work even harder. To date, we’ve accomplished everything they said we couldn’t do by ourselves. But there’s still a lot of work to be done!”

Celestino also says that while the newfound fame of the track is welcome, there is some subsequent misconception regarding just how this came to be. 

“People think Love Tonight is a ‘viral’ hit, but that's only half true. It didn’t come overnight via TikTok or influencers or music biz ‘buzz.’ It’s just a great song that made deep connections in real-time over the span of four years, pushed along by passion. Every time we found a DJ supporting or tiny engaged audience anywhere, we doubled down our efforts to grow that vibe. 

"Before anyone had currently noticed, the track had stacked great numbers built on a genuine fanbase of people playing the song repeatedly. It spoke to them in all these little corners of the world - they heard it’s message and sang it with their friends.”

International DJ and house music legend David Guetta has even jumped on the bandwagon; taking to his own TikTok to give fans a behind the scenes look at how he crafted his own remix of the track. 

He says of the tune, “there’s a big buzz around it - I think it’s going to become really big,” - which is more self-fulfilling prophecy than blind prediction. 

“After 4 years of being super underground it was cool to try things in the opposite direction,” Celestino recalls of hearing the Guetta mix for the first time. 

“I never imagined we’d hear a David Guetta remix of SHOUSE talked about for 10 minutes on Breakfast radio on Melbourne’s RRR, but here we are!”

“We’re really proud of the song and the work, and backing an act we love, and being able to work closer with Ed and Jack on new music and bigger plans," he adds.

"As for Love Tonight, no matter what happens now it will always be the song that people danced to when they awoke from lockdowns in 2021, or partied to in Europe in 2018, or lost themselves in at Burning Man in 2019! As long as people feel that joy and are healed in the moment by this amazing song, it'll be a hit in my book.”

Service and Madin sum it up in a statement on their site: “Love Tonight has become so many things for so many people. A declaration of love during a time of isolation. A demonstration of solidarity. A cry of collective strength. No matter what obstacles we face, we can all come together to help each other out, to sing each other's songs, show each other love and pull each other up when we’re down. That is all we need.”