Keli Holiday’s victory lap continues. Fresh off a knockout ARIAs performance and a win for Best Video, the solo project of Peking Duk’s Adam Hyde has dropped his viral Like A Version cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” — the one that racked up over a million views within its first day online and had fans begging for release.
Taking on Springsteen was personal. “The Boss is The Boss for a reason,” Holiday says. “I was quite a late bloomer to this fact of life. Maybe four years ago I was on a plane and I listened to this song and I had to run it back because it grabbed me right by the jewels and held me close. It’s very powerful in its simplicity.”
Part of that power, Holiday explains, comes from Springsteen’s ability to write a banger. “There ain’t too many out there that can nail it like Brucey boy did on this, so it’s just a belter of a song,” he says. “He’s a really, really fucking good songwriter. You go through his catalogue and it’s like, “Oh, the dude’s un-fuck-with-able.” His pen game is nuts. He knows how to put a song together and deliver it right.”
He didn’t mess with the song’s bones, just fleshed it out a little, with some extra Holiday flair. With a full band, saxophone, strings and Baker Boy on the yidaki, Holiday found his own spark in the classic. “There’s a moment where Baker Boy was playing the didge and I thought, ‘Oh man, this is what it’s all about,’” he says. “The love for this cover I’ve been getting from people on the street has been blowing me away. It seems to have brought joy and emotion to quite a few people which I’m happy to be the facilitator of.”
Holiday doesn’t overstate his place in the Springsteen canon — but he’d shoot his shot, given the chance. “That guy has had a lot of his songs covered by a lot of people, so I could just be another drop in the pond,” he says. “But if on the off chance that I’m not, let’s have a beer, Bruce. Let’s have a beer.”
It’s been a landmark year for Holiday. He opened the ARIA Awards with a star-studded take on his breakout hit “Dancing2” — the ARIA No. 1 single that’s dominated TikTok with more than 84,000 creations in the last four months. He then took home the trophy for its now-award-winning video, before bringing “Dancing2” to the TikTok Awards in Sydney with some unexpected extras: members of The Wiggles, and girlfriend Abbie Chatfield — the muse for the track — taking part in the performance.
All of this is building toward the next chapter: Capital Fiction, his second full-length studio album, arrives February 6th next year. “It feels like the first Keli Holiday offering that is true to who I am,” he says. “It explores themes of longing for more, finding love in a crowded room, and the union of sex. I’ve spent the majority of my days since the birth of Keli Holiday focusing on what I want to say, how I want to say it, and what I want it to sound like. Capital Fiction captures the essence of who Keli Holiday truly is.”
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
He’ll take that vision on the road next year for his biggest headline tour yet, kicking off in March 2026. Between the album’s mix of broken heart ballads, viral love songs and unserious pop — including latest single “Ecstasy” — Holiday fans have a lot to look forward to over the coming months.
Keli Holiday’s “I’m On Fire (triple j Like A Version)” is out now.
