After months of teasing song clips alternative artist Dominic Fike finally released his new long-awaited album on Aug. 22.
Known to keep his personal life out of the public light, Fike recently shared his son, Rocket, during Lollapalooza. Many fans speculated the existence of the singer’s son after the release of “Love Hangover,” Dominic Fike and K-pop singer JENNIE’s collaboration, where he made mention of being a father in one of the verses.
Fike’s new album, named “Rocket” after his son, is a 26-minute, 12-track mixtape that opens up a new chapter in the singer’s life.
Unlike his previous albums, Fike takes a different approach with his usual upbeat style. Starting off strong, “All Hands On Deck” perfectly embodies the struggle that comes with fatherhood. He is faced with the challenging reality of his situation: “So try your hardest you stale and starving dying artist, you mailman hotel front desk working that same job, hoping that same job pays off but it don’t make no difference. So make your living make your missus happy.” He’s seems to realize he must be either all in or not, hence ‘all hands on deck.’ The slow chord progression and bassline along with the lyrics makes it seem more personal, like a one-on-one conversation with himself.
“Aftermath,” much like “Smile” and “Still Feel It,” leans into a bittersweet nostalgia that comes with accepting how things are while remembering the way things used to be: “I only think about you half the time, we get to bringing up the past, I be running out of laughs and I have to cry/ ha ha ha.”
“$500 Fine,” “Quite the Opposite,” and “Epilogue,” on the other hand, dive deep into self-reflection. Fike acknowledges the effects of his actions with lyrics like “Thought I moved forward but it just goes in circles. What you said back then, fell out the back of my head. Oh, whatever.” Fike finds himself falling back into a routine, backtracking from all the progress he had made.
Shifting through different variations of a similar theme, “Sandman,” “Great Pretender,” and “One Glass,” all focus more on the love aspects of his relationship. He romanticizes his situationship and hopes he’s able to make something more of it: “Baby, if the coastline swallows up the ocean, if you’re not my girlfriend by the time the world ends, and if it ever comes back around, yeah, I’ll stop this song right now.”
In contrast, “Upset & Aggressive” and “David Lyons” highlight the insecurities he carries throughout the duration of his relationship in addition to pointing the blame at his lover: “There were signs that came later on, and showed up out the blue, but they all came out of you, yeah. […] At a standstill and I’m still tryin’ and it’s futile.”
Out of the five albums he has released, “Rocket” is by far the most underrated mixtape, excluding the “What Could Possibly Go Wrong” album, which I highly recommend giving a listen to if you’re into indie rock. Overall, whilst being known to have an interchangeable genre, Fike outdid himself with this album. It’s definitely unique and hits home with its deeply unfiltered and raw lyricism; it deserves more recognition than it’s given.
