At first, Nicole Millar didn't realise her life had changed. Three years ago the singer and songwriter was just beginning to flex her talents, working at a juice bar on Crown St in Surry Hills while collaborating with fellow musicians.

At one session the Canadian-born and Cronulla-raised Millar wrote two songs with Canberra electronic duo Peking Duk, one of which was High, a hit single that dominated 2014 playlists and sold more than 200,000 copies.

By January 2015, when the track's reverie-to-rave progression had reached No. 2 on the triple J Hottest 100, Millar had the opportunity to build a solo career and the music industry was clamouring for her signature. Everything was moving fast. Maybe too fast.

"My manager said that I should take some time off to write and find my sound and I was like, 'what do you mean? I want to put out more stuff'," Millar says. "I'm so grateful that he told me to wait because I was writing some terrible songs – I had one called Soy Latte that I was convinced would be the next best thing."

Jump forward to 2018 and Millar is literally having her (lemon) cake and eating it too as she tastes a slice from a 25th birthday cake presented by her record company.