#67

#67. Peking Duk (feat Nicole Millar) - High (#2, 2014)

10th of 2014

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One last chance to get this out of the way before I try and move on from it. Back in August 2025, ARIA made a post on their social media about how Keli Holiday's "Dancing2" had debuted on the ARIA Australian Singles chart. The song had just come out but it was fairly well promoted so it was on the charts from the jump. On Instagram, there were dozens of comments cheering it on (I'm just linking it because I'll never find it again otherwise), just the one tucked away at the bottom calling it trash. On Facebook however, there's a big contrast because there were literally zero comments on it, for a while, at least. Three months later, the ARIA Awards happen and suddenly there about 80 comments, all of them roughly around the same week and not a single one since then. This post that might have had a few thousand views at the time now has over 100,000, all because everyone needs to chime in with their baffled two cents. This is a pattern that Keli Holiday now exhibits everywhere. Just the mere glance of that curly head hair or curly chest hair is enough to start a riot. ARIA have started regularly pre-emptively closing comment sections for him, something they only otherwise tend to do with First Nations artists.

I mention this for two reasons, firstly to highlight just how mindless the whole thing feels. When you see a months old post driving activity for a short stretch of time and only that, it's absolutely an algorithm at work just in complete control of everyone's periphery. Every befuddled comment just reeks of someone in an endless doomscroll that needs to regulate themselves. If not for that reason, then for the fact that if they really, genuinely don't like the song, then making a derisive comment is probably the worst thing you can do. I know from experience that for every person you might dissuade with your witty takedowns, there's all the more chance that you'll inadvertently put far more people onto it. All those derailed posts about Keli Holiday tend to have another thing in common, which is that consensus or not, there are in fact hundreds, if not thousands of likes on the post. Given that most ARIA posts tend to struggle cracking double digits, that's an incredible amount of attention given firstly on the forefront, but then subsequently as the whole thing becomes a controversial talking point. The only way to make something seriously fall short is to ignore it, the same way these people successfully manage for most other Australian artists who get their moment in a tiny little hole with sunlight poking through between 5:05pm and 5:08pm. Unless the message here is that people need an adversary and thus it's justified, but now you're the ones being performative, you dumb pricks. In conclusion, social media is a land of contrasts.

"Dancing2" is actually moderately more relevant here than the obvious surface level thing. It has another aspect in common with "High" which is that it also finished at #2 in the Hottest 100. This is an almost unique affliction for Keli Holiday as the only other artist who has made it to #2 twice is Ben Lee. It comes with a remarkable gap of 11 years though, not far off of Silverchair's entire career which is also bookended by near misses. I don't know how many voters contributed to both in this case, but given the sheer consistency of the Duk over the years, I can imagine some volume stuck around. "High" also strikes me as a song that was a near miss for the top spot, as it was leading projections over "Talk Is Cheap" (#862), making it something of a toss-up, or at least not likely to be a runaway victory. I find myself wondering what a reversed result might do. I think I may have said something before (though I can't find it) to the effect that this result may have paid dividends for Peking Duk, who never had to be the face of the elevated standards that the #1 finish provides. Anyway I probably made that comment over a year ago and it hasn't aged well.

Has "High" aged well though? It's interesting to look back on it. One of the most peculiar things about it is that it very immediately entered the charts and slowly climbed its way up, becoming a top 5 hit, before settling back out. Obviously it's very strange by today's standards, but it was even a little weird then. Peking Duk just had no established hitmaking presence at that point and it's the kind of thing you'd at least expect would take a little longer to spread around. Like, this song caught on faster than "Royals" (#134), its predecessor in the runner up status. Electro-pop is generally an easier sell, but to me this felt like a song that commercial radio would've been hesitant to jump on board with. Actually I have the stats to back it up, and the song took 6-7 weeks to crack the airplay chart, and despite the mandated law that Australian music must be played, it actually lagged a decent way behind its sales performance on the radio. I just don't think they're very down with a song whose big hook goes the better part of almost 50 seconds with very few words uttered at all.

Undeniably though, it stands out. When you're in a competition to evoke the strongest reaction, then letting it all out on the table is one way to manage it. It just sounds enormous, like the audio only equivalent of fireworks. I compare it to their previous single "Feels Like" and on the surface it's operating on a similar level, but it never reaches the same heights. I can never remember how it goes but I could awkwardly vocalise every single instrumental moment of "High". The only thing that really lets it down is the repeating synth that runs through most of the song, which lands a little on the side of farty sounds. The drums also swing in and out of being a bit too compressed which is a shame because when they get it right, it sounds terrific. Fortunately it's very rarely the centre of attention as Nicole Millar is here to steady the ship.

It's easy to forget in all of this that for a very long period of time, Nicole Millar wasn't even credited on this song. Perhaps another one of those marketing decisions for a clean credit sheet, or maybe it's just something they never thought would take off like this and need it. I can't remember when exactly the change was made, but I'm also writing this not long after The Chemical Brothers finally credited the vocalist on "Go" (#203). I'm still not going to do it yet but they had their opportunity to open a new suit early for me. Something that helps factor here is that Nicole Millar has had something of a solo career since the song came out, but I don't think she had any music out before "High". I'm somehow only just now learning that she was born in Canada, which makes her the equal highest landing artist born in Canada in the Hottest 100, tied with Justin Bieber (#669). The main thing I just want to say about this is that "Gimme A Break" is a pop banger that doesn't get enough love. Cut from a similar cloth to Dua Lipa's "Be The One". She comes through to fix that song's one weakness of having an underwritten bridge. In general though I don't feel the need to move my hands up and down to weigh my options because the benefits far outweigh my minor squabbles.