"Woke Up Late" is a song by New Zealand band Drax Project, originally released in November 2017. It reached number 15 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and was included on their 2018 EP Noon.
In September 2019, Drax Project re-recorded the song for Waiata / Anthems, a collection of re-recorded New Zealand pop songs to promote te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week). The new version, retitled "I Moeroa / Woke Up Late", featured lyrics reinterpreted by scholar Tīmoti Kāretu.[1] This version reached number six on the New Zealand artists' singles chart.[2] On April 25, 2025, a third version was released featuring Malaysian-Australian singer Che'Nelle as part of the band's promotion tour in Japan.[3]
The band said that it "cross[ed] our minds while writing it as to how it might work as a duet -- with a female voice telling her side", and so they reached out to Steinfeld as they liked her songs "Starving" and "Let Me Go".[15] The collaboration happened after Drax Project toured with singer Camila Cabello. A member of Cabello's team was good friends with Steinfeld, and after showing her the song, she loved it and asked the band to be a featured vocalist on the track.[16]iHeartRadio noted how the song "tells the story of sleeping in after a wild night out, realizing you're at someone else's house".[17]
In March 2019, the version featuring Hailee Steinfeld was featured in an episode of CBS'sMacGyver.[18] In May 2019, a remix of the song by Sam Feldt was released.[19]
Chart performance
The duet version peaked at number 29 on the Mainstream Top 40,[20] 18 in the Australia[21] and 35 in New Zealand.[22]
Billboard called the song a "fizzy pop track" and complimented both the band and Steinfield's "sweet falsettos".[15]Idolator labelled the song a "hit" and an "anthem", and said Steinfeld's feature "adds another perspective to the ode to a developing relationship".[24] The Official Charts Company named Drax Project "one to watch" and said the track "gives a pretty good impression of their overall sound", which it described as a "healthy mix of pop, dance and hip-hop".[25]
