The road to Dominic Fike’s second album plays out like one of the dramas in which the actor, singer-songwriter, features. The world’s first brush with the alt-pop act was through a collection of Soundcloud demos he recorded at home while on house arrest. He subsequently released those songs while serving time in County Jail for breaking said house arrest, and the six-track EP sparked a bidding war between labels, with Fike reportedly getting scooped up by Columbia Records for a cool $4 million. A co-sign from fellow wunderkind Billie Eilish, collabs with the likes of Halsey, Paul McCartney, Omar Apollo and more, followed with a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Alternative song charts thanks to his swaggering, emo-pop track ‘3 Nights’ validating the hype.
- READ MORE: Dominic Fike: “My music is crazy – it blends, it’s weird and it’s all different types of shit”
In 2020, he dropped his first LP aptly titled ‘What Could Possibly Go Wrong’, further proving the scope of his pop aptitude, as he effortlessly interpolated R&B vocals, dance arrangments, and rap delivery into a quick, sharp and delightful debut. Next on Fike’s rise was a starring role in the second season of HBO’s high-school fever fantasy, Euphoria where he played a degenerate songwriting addict, telling press at the time, “I don’t have to do much acting, he’s exactly like me”. But in the gap following the meteoric rise, one dotted with a move to California and stints in rehab, Fike decided to shift his attention to the backdrop and birthplace that moulded him into who his now: the scorching, unruly and at times obscene South Florida.
‘Sunburn’ is a hypnotic memoir, chasing Fike through different moments of his life as he sifts through disorienting memories, time-stained family photographs and pays zero allegiance to genres. In ‘Ant Pile’, Fike gets romantic, telling the story of first love over a blistering, distorted guitar. The story shifts from first-grade playground antics to high school makeouts, all with the backing of post-punk production. ‘What Kind Of Woman’ lasers in on Fike’s vocals, highlighting the depth of his vibrato before he hits soulful high notes with only an acoustic guitar backing him.
‘Sunburn’’s title track shows off Fike’s apt for rap, as he spits verses on his mom’s stint in jail and the symbolic and literal heat of being raised under sweltering conditions. In ‘Think Fast’, which features California indie mainstay, Weezer, he leans into his penchant for pop rock, delivering the lines “I’m born, I cry, I sing, I leave / This place, this place was bad for me” with the exact articulation of Rivers Cuomo on the track, ‘Undone – The Sweater Song’.
On ‘Dancing In The Courthouse’, a co-production with Fike’s friend and frequent collaborator Kenny Beats, the Floridian laughs in the face of obstacles and argues for dancing in front of judges as cathartic, rising walls of sound reiterate his optimistic assertion that “We make the love that keeps our world spinnin’ / We make the gods our friends by cursin’ em”. The album’s sonic tone contrasts the subject-matter, hinting that despite the past, the future looks bright Fike. As a memoir to his life, it feels fitting.
“There’s something free and sexy about Florida and the sun, like tan lines and everyone’s just got barely any clothes on and we’re all running around just screaming profanities that the world probably wouldn’t be ready for,” Fike recently told Apple Music, noting the inspiration behind ‘Sunburn’. But it’s not just the chaotic liberation of the Sunshine State the 14 tracks revel in, it’s the heartbreak, addiction and disarray that trailed behind his time there. ‘Sunburn’ still acts as a love letter to the place he was raised in, however, allowing Fike to return home not only to the relentless humid state but to himself.
Details
- Release date: July 7, 2023
- Record label: Columbia Records