Sometimes the best collabs are the ones you don’t see coming. Around U has landed, bringing together Peking Duk, Drax Project and Kita Alexander for a single that’s less about labels and more about energy. The result? A high-shine, festival-ready anthem that leans into joy and connection, and proves the cross-Tasman music scene is on fire right now.
On paper, it’s an unusual line-up. Peking Duk have made their name off pounding electronic drops and sweaty dancefloor moments. Drax Project are all smooth grooves and polished instrumentation. And Kita Alexander has a knack for soaring, hook-heavy pop songs. Put them together and you get something that could’ve easily been messy, but instead it feels seamless. Around U takes the best bits of each act and fuses them into a track that’s instantly addictive.
The single arrives through Coke Studio, which has been quietly building a reputation for curating surprising collaborations. The concept is simple: mix genres, mix artists, and spark something fresh. For Around U, the “collision” really does feel like the right word. You can hear it in the layers, Kita’s vocals cutting through Adam and Reuben’s electronic beats, while Drax slide in with warm grooves that stop the song from tipping too far into club territory. It’s sharp and slick but still feels playful.
There’s a sense of regional pride here too. It’s not often you see big-name Australian and New Zealand acts sharing the same credit line, and it makes Around U feel bigger than just a one-off. It’s celebratory, the kind of song that feels just as natural blasting out of a festival speaker as it does on a late-night drive with your friends yelling the chorus out the window.
And fans don’t just get to stream it, they’ll get the live experience too. The three acts are performing Around U together for the first time on 9th October at Sydney’s National Art School, a one-night-only show that already feels like a collectors’ item. For everyone else, the moment will be documented across Coke Studio’s socials, because of course a collab like this needs to be witnessed.
Peking Duk called the collab “pure magic,” and you can hear that in the finished track. It’s a reminder of how good it feels when artists stop worrying about genre boxes and just make music that feels fun. Around U doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s not designed to, but that’s exactly why it lands.
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