‘F*ck Cringe’: Keli Holiday On His Social Media Presence
"F*ck cringe, forget about that, people are so hung up on their perception of other people."
Keli Holiday (Credit: Mitch Lowe)
Keli Holiday – aka Adam Hyde of Peking Duk fame – appeared in conversation as part of the TikTok Home conference at SXSW Sydney yesterday (16 October).
During the chat with TikTok’s Ollie Wards, the singer, now making waves on the radio, charts, and TikTok alike with his exuberant single Dancing2, reflected on his beginnings on TikTok and where he’s at on the app now.
Outlining the differences between the beginnings of Peking Duk’s rise to fame, where streaming services weren’t so prevalent, let alone video-sharing apps like TikTok, Hyde found himself in an interesting place when it came to promoting his new project as Keli Holiday.
“With Peking Duk, we came up in a different era, you know, streaming wasn’t even really banging like that when we first came in, and TikTok certainly wasn’t,” he explained.
With the launch of his Keli Holiday project, Hyde realised that he had to build a social media presence. Luckily, with a “great crew,” he was able to begin building a presence that represents who he is.
Adding that he “got quite nonchalant with Peking Duk,” Hyde launched something new for Keli Holiday. “With Keli, it was like, I felt cringe at first, dancing in front of a camera, setting up a camera, talking to a camera.”
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With his first-ever TikTok video shared on the screen (“I didn’t sign up for this shit,” Hyde quipped), punters in attendance saw a different kind of social media post from the star, which included fishing and grilling.
Discussing lessons he’s learned along the way when it comes to social media, Hyde cited freedom and just going with the flow.
“I threw up a video yesterday about midday of a woman shaking her ass at soundcheck in Brisbane, and that's got like ten million views now, it's going insane,” he revealed. “And that was an off-the-cuff thing. SZA likes it, so you know it’s good.”
@keliholiday she’s got horsepower #ontour #newmusic
♬ original sound - keli holiday
He continued, “What I've learned most is to let go… don't be afraid; the word cringe gets thrown around a lot, fuck cringe, forget about that, you know, people are so hung up on their perception of other people.
“Just do what you wanna do and do it off the cuff, do it calculated if you want, but any way is better than no way.
“And through that process of doing more and more, you find that you kind of get into a groove of like, ‘Oh, that works, maybe I'll try that.’
“I think the preservation of a sacred post, like, ‘Oh, it's gotta be just right,’ nah, it doesn't at all, just run it and see what happens. If it feels good to you, stand by it, don't look back.”
You can watch footage of the conversation below.
Next month, Keli Holiday will perform two intimate shows in Australia, taking over venues in Melbourne and Sydney.
Announcing the shows in September, he commented, “I got a fever for the flavour I tasted after the recent run of shows in Aotearoa. Let’s share some joy together and let’s sweat.”
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