April 4, 2024
By: Christian Gleser
Dominic Fike is a musically versatile artist, who made his initial breakthrough around 2017. As a young teen, Dom was involved in music, some of which was in Naples, Florida. His raps that he posted on SoundCloud started to gain some traction ahead of the release of his demos. When Fike was in jail, he posted some demos to SoundCloud, which blew up quickly. Once he started receiving offers for record deals, he removed these tracks to build up hype and anticipation. After signing with Columbia Records, these demos were re-released. Many are aware of his childhood and incarceration, so there is no need to dwell on that in this article.
“Success is not just about making money, but about making a difference.”
~ Dominic Fike
I have been a fan for 5-6 years now, so I have definitely seen positive growth in Dominic’s music and career. In the past year, I have seen him on four different occasions, and even in such a short period, I have noticed growth. One thing that has always drawn me towards Dominic’s music is his ability to produce music of all different genres. His versatility extends beyond genres, he is also vocally diverse. I love that he is not afraid to use both vocal modulation and raw, cut-back sounds. One thing I especially noticed about Dom this past year is that his presence has gotten way more intentional. Something I love about Dominic live is that no two shows are alike. Whether it is because of the live modulation he uses from his Kaoss pad or the different ways he changes the song, it is always an individual experience.
“I’ll take my time to make you smile ‘Cause I know just how you feel when you’re alone”
~ “King of Everything” Dominic Fike
I first saw Dom at Day in Day Out, a small music festival in Seattle. Although this was a part of his “Don’t Stare at the Sun” tour, since the show was also part of a festival, it was set up a little differently. It was going to be a shorter set than usual. He was the second to last person to play that day, which I preferred because we got to experience his set from dusk to dark. Since I had been a fan for so long, this night was surreal to me. Before the festival, I hadn’t listened much to Sunburn, his most recent album that dropped five weeks before DIDO, so his set was also one of the first times I heard some of these new songs. This only added to the experience. It was truly perfect. However, because set times were limited, there were a couple of songs from his setlist that we didn’t get to hear. He had to limit how much he engaged with the crowd to fit all of it in one hour. Also, this show was on his mom’s birthday, so it made it special that he chose to spend it with us.
“I’ll lay down, you stayed ’round the whole time But it wasn’t for yourself”
~ “Superstar Sh*t” Dominic Fike
The second time I saw him, a different factor affected the show. Unfortunately, he was slightly under the weather, but he still came and delivered the best performance he could. A lot was happening at this show, though, aside from Dom. First, there was an issue with the lines to get in, because they didn’t determine until the last minute, which was GA and VIP. Then, once we were in, we all saw that he posted on his Instagram story hooked up to an IV, which left many people worried about how the show would go. It was a headlining show this time, so he had an opener.
The opening act was Hether, and I enjoyed their set a lot. The crowd around me was dead during it, but I thought they were great, so I went to listen to them after the show. One Hether song I specifically enjoy is “Smoke Rings,” because it has a very vintage, eerie feel to it that I think is very interesting and different.
Once Dom came out, you could tell he wasn’t feeling his best, but that did not stop him from giving his all. Something I particularly enjoyed about this show was hearing “Pasture Child” live. Something else that stood out to me was the stage design; the stage was lined with sheets and exposed lights. This raw, unconventional design complimented the aesthetics of the tour and the music.
“’Cause I’m blessed to charm your best… Those bloody tears, rain down my chest”
~ Hether “dirty claws”
I unexpectedly ended up attending Camp Flog Gnaw, which was quickly one of the best weekends of my life. Dom’s set definitely added to that. This set was slightly different from the others I have seen before. The stage was set differently from the other shows; this seemed to be set up more like his Coachella stage with a large construction-esque light and interesting camera angles, giving it a multi-media feel to it. One song live that has always been my favorite is “Westcoast Collective” off of the demos. There is something about the edge and rock he adds to it, and particularly the chorus, that stands out the most to me. Overall, I think his set was great; however, the crowd was not as great. As expected at a festival, many people around us were waiting for the bigger artists to play, so they were annoyed by the few of us singing in the crowd. That said, I feel like Dom had pretty good crowd engagement, especially since it was a relatively large crowd. It seemed that he made some commentary about every two songs, which I appreciated, as well as jumping down to interact with some fans.
~Dominic Fike “Dark”
Lastly, one of my favorite and most recent experiences was seeing his set at M3F Fest in Phoenix, Arizona. Something in particular that stuck out to me at this show was Fike’s energy. From the moment he came on to the moment he left, He and his team were high energy. Once again, the stage design was different. This time around, it features different photos displayed like posters of magazine covers, as well as the use of some different lighting. However, he still incorporated the sheets and exposed light beams from his previous set design. As a nice change of pace, he performed covers as interludes between some of his favorites. These included Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood,” The Strokes’ “Last Nite,” and finally Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s “Can’t Stop.” I thought all of these covers were done perfectly; paying homage to the originals but still mixing it with his sound and music. Also, as a fan of all these artists, especially RHCP, I was pretty psyched when these came on. It was a very good setlist. I really enjoyed the return of “She Wants My Money” because I love the guitar in this song, and it wasn’t on the flog gnaw setlist. As I said before, he had very high energy, which was very much appreciated, considering his set was the last one of the night, starting at 10. He was giggling, dancing all over the stage, and, overall, having a good time. Once again, he came down to interact with fans! Because of this, it became one of my favorite shows of his. I am excited to see what he will bring us next.
~ Dominic Fike (Apple Music)
Dominic’s latest project, Sunburn, is a versatile collection of songs. This album was probably one of my favorite drops over the summer. One thing I noticed about this album was how diverse it is musically. It ranges from fun, danceable songs, like “Sick” or “How Much Is Weed” to more vulnerable songs like “Dark” and “4×4”. Another highlight of note in this album was his vocal progression. This album demonstrates more of Fike’s vocal range and quality of voice than his other released projects have. For example, on one of my favorite tracks from the album “What Kinda Woman,” we see Fike effectively using a higher register. I think this only further shows his abilities and growth as an artist.
Another thing I’m not sure many noticed in the composition of these songs is all the layers within them. When stripped down, many of these songs have interesting ad-libs, samples, and stacked harmonic vocals done by Fike himself. Next time you get the chance, listen a little bit closer to “How Much is Weed.”, around thirty-nine seconds in, you may encounter something you didn’t hear prior. This album contains, as Fike said, many songs that were about 3-4 years old. This could be noticed in the initial release of the song “Frisky.” One of the verses was written slightly differently before getting changed to what it is now. At the initial release of Sunburn, “Frisky” originally in the second verse says, “I never did get the way she used to quiet down when I asked her ‘what’d you do to make it here and what you wanna do after?’ ‘be quiet’ she said ‘shut up’ now lift up and let your glasses touch” but then was later changed to pay homage to “Scar Tissue” by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. However, there has been a long history with “Frisky” prior to the release of Sunburn. He played it on his Out of Order Tour, but it sounded very different; one of the main components that made this version so different was it was played on a Fender Strat rather than an acoustic guitar. In addition, the tempo of the song changed in the verse to what it is now. Overall, this album has been a long time coming and perfectly conveyed the vibes it was supposed to.
“And when they locked me up She never listened to her friend They told her ‘move on, movin’ on’”
~ Dominic Fike “Açai Bowl”
Overall I think that Dominic has something special that makes him stand out! By not following any predefined genres, it allows Fike to reach a larger audience and explore all his musical abilities. Currently, Fike is on a festival tour, and, by end of June, I will have the privilege of attending two of them. If you end up at one of these many festivals, consider stopping by his set. You may be surprised, even if you don’t know his music or have only heard his hits and maybe thought it wasn’t the type of music you enjoy. I encourage you to give some of his other songs a chance. Since he is so vocally diverse and non-genre-conforming, there are many different types of songs. Something I would love to see from Dom in the future is a further exploration of his whole vocal range, like something similar to his Fender sessions. I look forward to seeing what he does in the future in his music career.