"I am a happy guy these days," says Dominic Fike confidently. "I feel like I got what I wanted. It feels weirdly like it's all about to be ripped away because it's too good. Life's too good right now... real stability, a house, a kid, a soulmate, my family; they're safe and happy. I still have stress, and then I'll have to remind myself, 'Bro, you're good, you're not homeless.' Every morning, I have to literally check in with my body to tell it that I'm good, but it's been easier these days, and having the lack of noise and hustle and bustle, it's helped me to be able to slow down and be grateful for everything. Because man, I got a lot of shit together, and I just don't slow down and look at it that way."
Fike's new mixtape, 'Rocket', spans the past seven years of his life - from 'Epilogue' ("It appears I only lеarn when I crash and burn / When I crash, I take the whole cast of characters / Massive error creates work for therapists"), to the more recent 'Aftermath (Edit)' ("I like to think about the aftermath / When everybody in the world walks just like this / Man, you have to laugh") - and the metamorphosis is clear.
Celebrating his hard-won personal growth, the reclusive Dominic Fike recently invited Coup De Main to his hideaway Los Angeles home, to discuss being a comfort artist for both himself and fans, denouncing all thought around existing, and getting out of the rat race...
COUP DE MAIN: In 'All Hands On Deck' you say: "I want your germs / Sick is a word / Death is a state of mind / Like time / But I'm not, I'm real." Why did you decide on that for the opening statement of this mixtape?
DOMINIC FIKE: When I wrote it, it wasn't the opening statement for the mixtape. My friend Sam [Homaee] and I were in his studio, and I was a bit antsy, so I wanted to leave pretty quickly. So I was like, 'I'm not gonna write anything, I'm just gonna talk stream of consciousness.' And I kept not writing, and then kept making random words rhyme, and then suddenly it had turned into that verse, and it was done in like all of five or ten minutes.
CDM: What do you mean by "but I'm not, I'm real"?
DOMINIC: "Sick is a word / Death is a state of mind / Like time..." I was reading all this Alan Watts stuff, and people talk about death being an energy change, or how we're all just a part of one working organism. There's the Vedanta, and that text and that approach to life, I had just been reading a lot of that sort of stuff. But then you can get into all this psychoanalytic bullshit, and you can also denounce God easily with all the psychoanalytic bullshit. For me, it was sort of like denouncing all the thought around existing, and I was just kind of like, 'I don't know what anything means, but it feels real - I feel like I'm real.' Because people are like, 'It's all a dream, it's a simulation,' but I don't think I'm a simulation. <laughs>
CDM: What was running through your mind while writing: "I wanna help with your breathing / I wanna inhabit your safe zone"?
DOMINIC: I was just thinking of this girl I really love so much. And when you love someone, you want to be with them and want them to be okay - I want to be part of your three close people, I want to be your emergency contact, and help with anxiety, help with your breathing, stuff like that. I want to be that person for you, that's what I was saying.
CDM: Why did you decide to name this mixtape after your son?
DOMINIC: It was more the other way around. I was talking to [my manager] Reed when I was in jail, and he was like, 'What do you want to name this mixtape? Or the demos?' We called them 'Don't Forget About Me, Demos', but I initially told him I wanted to name them 'Rocket'. And then [the album] 'What Could Possibly Go Wrong', they asked me what I wanted to name it, and I said 'Rocket', but it never happened. Selena, the mother of my child, asked me what I wanted to name the kid one day, and I texted her 'Rocket', randomly. She was like, 'Okay,' and then when the mixtape was coming out, 'Rocket' just seemed right, you know? I didn't want to make it about my son, I've always thought of it as a separate thing - it's not a mixtape named after my son, even though it kind of is, but to me it wasn't initially, so it still isn't really. It may be to fans, but it's never really been that way to me.
CDM: What is it about the name 'Rocket' that's just really stuck with you all these years?
DOMINIC: I always thought of it as like those Evergreen shipping containers that are on the semi-trucks. I always liked them, and I always liked how they travelled everywhere, and I've always wanted to sneak onto one and travel a state in them. And then when I was in jail, I was like, 'Damn, that would be a good way to escape jail, in one of those little shipping crates.' I always pictured solid text on those shipping crates, and I would be in jail just thinking of shit, like images, and then 'Rocket' kept looking cool on an orange shipping crate, that I would always picture it on.
CDM: Is there a specific situation you were thinking about when you say in 'Aftermath' that: "I like to think about the aftermath / When everybody in the world walks just like this / Man, you have to laugh"?
DOMINIC: This album that I'm making, that's kind of the sentiment of it - I've always felt a little bit off--
CDM: The new album that you're making? DF #3?
DOMINIC: Yeah. I mean, I've always felt a little offbeat in comparison to all my peers, like, just a little bit never super accepted.
CDM: Really?
DOMINIC: Yeah, they hang out with each other, we don't really hang - it's fine. In a good way, I've always felt musically, kind of apart from them, in a different sort of category - I don't spend all the time listening to the shit that they do, and I've never felt up to date on the fashion of all my peers, or whatever the fuck they're into. And so yeah, I sort of am constantly feeling like I'm always trying to catch up to the cool kids or whatever - like trying to match the timing / match life phases with them. But it never really works out. I'm constantly left, and it's kind of a funny feeling too because you spend all this time trying to hang out with these people that you realise you probably don't even like, and so it kind of always leaves you with this feeling of exhaustion. And that's funny, so that was the sentiment of 'Aftermath' - it's just hilarious. You can spend ten years trying to do the same thing and connect with the same people, only to find out that you're not even supposed to.
CDM: Is that also what you were referencing in 'Quite The Opposite' when you mention not being invited to any Grammy parties?
DOMINIC: That's literally what I'm talking about. I'm referring to stuff like that.
CDM: That's just petty jealousy - there's a certain kind of person who always wants to be the main character, and they don't like it when--
DOMINIC: Somebody threatens that.
CDM: Exactly.
DOMINIC: Of course, and I try to give them more credit, but it could be that.
CDM: That's totally not at all what I thought 'Aftermath' was about - I originally felt like it was a grown-up brother to 'Wurli', but clearly I got it wrong.
DOMINIC: Really?
CDM: Yes, but hearing your explanation now makes more sense.
DOMINIC: "And when I think about you, bless your heart," it's pity for this person who's constantly trying to make music. This song is about the music industry in a way, too. "And when I think about you, bless your heart / With everybody on your back, tryna tell you how to act, so you dress the part," that's a part. That's something I constantly feel for upcoming artists because I've been there, and I'm always like, 'Damn, I know how it feels for everybody to be tossing their opinions on you and wanting you to dress how they dress, and wanting to be the one that told the guy that this day they put you in this thing, and that's why you're dressed like that when you're on stage... Hey, those are my shoes you're wearing!' Shit like that. I know that hunger and that thirst from all sides, and I pity it, seriously - god damn, that sucks because I know it, and I'm glad that I'm out of this rat race. I'm sort of disillusioned with all this bullshit that's keeping you on a fucking treadmill. 'Aftermath' is kind of a letter to all this and somebody you kind of feel for. And you can grow out of that. You can eventually shed that. And once you prove yourself with your art, you can kind of stop taking opinions and shit from people, but yeah, I think every artist has to go through that - just being subjected to people's fucking bullshit and their wants and ulterior motives. That's just what happens. And if your art is good enough, or you're mentally strong enough, you make it through it. If not, it kind of weeds out the shitty artists anyway.
CDM: How does it feel looking back on 'Sandman' and the lyrics: "Come be my drifter / My lonely listener / Make it come true / My only wish, to be on your list / Please make it come true"?
DOMINIC: It sounds like I'm asking for streams, doesn't it?
CDM: A little bit.
DOMINIC: "Come listen to my music!"
CDM: You're subliminally messaging your fans. Have you seen the film 'Josie and the Pussycats'? It's a satirical take on the music industry, with record label villains who are advertising products to teenagers in pop music using subliminal messaging, so when fans hear a song, they'll want to go to Target or McDonald's - that's you!
DOMINIC: That's hilarious.
CDM: At this point in your life and career, how does it feel to navigate your normal life versus the life of Dominic Fike The Celebrity?
DOMINIC: I'm trying to mesh 'em. I'm getting closer. It's always been a struggle to try and denounce professionalism but also be taken seriously.
CDM: What do you find hard about it?
DOMINIC: It takes a while. You have to first gain a large amount of fans, and then you have to show them your personality - because sometimes they'll think, 'This person should have been more professional in this circumstance.' But no, I was trying to show you who I am for a second. And sometimes, in order to mesh those, you have to do it enough times, and there has to be enough struggle and backlash for people to get it - like, 'Oh, maybe this is him.' It's been a struggle to try to prove to people that I'm not playing a character, and I write all the stuff, and I'm out there talking to you when I'm doing it. But yeah, I think it's just time. It just takes time. People have to live with you for a long enough time. Like Kanye - we lived with Kanye for a while, and eventually people were like, 'Is he sweet? Or is he an asshole? Or is he a genius?' And then at the end... well, probably maybe all the things, and then also Nazi. He added that onto the old résumé. But you know what I mean, you've got to really live with the audience in order for them to completely understand the scope of things, and you have to already have an established audience for when new people come in, that can explain where you were when the Internet wasn't documenting this facet/side of your personality - because sometimes you only get information about an artist via word of mouth. Like when I first started getting into Earl Sweatshirt, or some of the Florida rappers, it really helped to know some people from Florida, and they would tell me certain shit that wasn't on the internet or that you didn't get to hear from TikTok, and then your respect for them would grow. The more lore that you get that feels exclusive, the deeper you feel into the fanbase, and the more connected and a part of something you feel, and then that music is a part of feeling connected. That's all it takes - is one second, and then, boom, it's a lifelong obsession.
CDM: I find the parasocial relationship that fans have with celebrities kind of troubling. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like you've noticeably taken a step back from being online - you're not on Instagram much and you deleted your Twitter. Was that a deliberate decision from you?
DOMINIC: Yeah, just because it gets to the point where you can limit Instagram and stuff like that, you can be like 'I'm gonna do an hour a day,' but it just always gets back to the point where every time you pick up your phone, your thumb gravitates toward it. And I'm such an addictive guy, you know, I was just like, 'I gotta delete it.' There's no other option. It's like, if I had a little bit of cocaine in the house and I was like, 'I just do a little bit on Sundays.' It's not going to last long.
CDM: Do you wish there was a way that you could still communicate with fans in a direct way without having to go through--
DOMINIC: There is! It's music. And that's what I always say to myself: 'Why do I even care about all the other stuff?' Ask any of my friends, I have a hard enough time making it out to hang out with my actual friends.
CDM: I was also wondering specifically about what it feels like when people recognise you in public. Does it make you feel less human when you know people are asking you for a photo just for clout?
DOMINIC: Yeah, I don't like photos, and I don't like taking photos anymore. I think in the beginning, when we all had the disposables, you would go to a monument with your parents and they'd get a couple, and you wouldn't even get the film developed, maybe you'd see 'em a year later and you'd maybe have a feeling of, 'Oh man, I'm kind of glad they took this picture.'
CDM: It's a tangible moment.
DOMINIC: Yeah, and it's brief and fleeting, and the only time you see 'em is when you're back for Thanksgiving, and your friends are waiting for you to go get fucked up with them, and you see the pic, and you're like, 'Oh, this is me, I remember home.' But now, it's like, oh man... I had these girls over here one night, and they were in the basement. This girl just starts taking videos in the studio. We're all drinking, and there's all this shit happening, and I'm like, 'Yo, put your phone away, what the fuck are you doing?' And she's like, 'I want to remember my nights.' I was like, 'What the fuck is this girl talking about?' The other girls are like, 'She just does that, she videotapes everything, she wants to remember it.' And I'm like, 'What the fuck are you talking about?' Of course, in an hour it's on Instagram. Of course! But do people even look at their photos anymore? I know people with thousands and thousands and thousands of photos, and I've never seen them - they don't send them to me, or break them out. I don't know what they post them for, but I remember every photo because they're so sparse, and it has to be really special because chances are I'm just trying to enjoy the fucking thing that's happening.
CDM: I don't understand people who go to concerts and watch the entire thing through their phone camera.
DOMINIC: Oh god, fucking kill me. Yeah, and for what reason? Are you gonna watch it as you're going to bed? Or in the car? You gonna play it on aux? You gonna show it to your friends?
CDM: It ruins the magic of everything - I hate the way that some people move through the world, turning everything into content. It wasn't about going to the show just for the experience; it was about going to the show to post a picture on Instagram, to post a TikTok video, to make other people jealous of your perfectly curated life.
DOMINIC: To make a person that you have in mind feel a certain way, typically, right? It's like a crush or an ex!
CDM: Like a sub-story or sub-tweet.
DOMINIC: Yes! Oh, it's exhausting. I'm kind of just completely disenchanted with cameras. The idea of being a photographer these days... I'm like, 'Damn, that's rough.'
CDM: Poor Reed.
DOMINIC: Reed does a lot. I mean, really, though, poor Reed, because I don't know what the fuck AI and shit's gonna do to that career field. I mean, fuck me. It's already kind of knocking at music's door, but not really. Fuck it.
CDM: What was the creation process for '$500 Fine' like?
DOMINIC: We were doing Coachella, and in between Coachella Weekend 1 and 2, we had stayed in the house that we had rented, just decided to spend the week in Palm Springs, and we were making that song. The reason why it's so short is because we got a motherfucking noise complaint. And you can't get a noise complaint in Palm Springs. You immediately have to pay the fine. So we had to pay this dude 500 fucking bucks and stop making the song - that's why it's so short and why it's called that.
CDM: Is "if you’re not my girlfriend by the time the world ends" in 'One Glass' directed at any special someone in particular?
DOMINIC: Yeah.
CDM: Do they know? And were they happy to hear the song?
DOMINIC: Yeah, we're good. I got 'em. I locked 'em in.
CDM: Good job. In 'Quite The Opposite' you say: "I don't know why I made a sorry song / When you never wanted one." How would you feel if someone made you a sorry song?
DOMINIC: I used to think it was the most honest and beautiful form of flattery. When I was dating someone, Diana [Silvers], actually, she would tell me, 'I hate sorry songs.' Maybe it was a friend of hers that had a boyfriend cheat on her, and the boyfriend made the girl a sorry song, and all the girls were like, 'Oh, what a fucking dweeb.' I think his music also sucked. But all of the girls were like, 'Ugh, that's so annoying when a guy does that.' I'm like, 'Oh shit, I got like ten of them loaded up on the album right now.' <laughs> So yeah, I wrote that song for her, and that line especially.
CDM: What was the writing process for 'Quite The Opposite' like?
DOMINIC: I was alone in Westlake studio, the same studio that I created the Paul McCartney song. It's such an easy, small room, and there's nothing to do. It's a dark room, black carpet, black walls, only a board. So literally, you can look at other shit, but there's nothing, so you're just like, 'Okay, back to the computer.' The song was done in two hours - I think that I was trying to leave the studio to go do something, so it's one of those. Every time I'm trying to do something after the studio, I make a banger. Whenever I'm trying to go get some shit, I'm like, 'Oh, I could do the studio for a couple hours, but I gotta get my nails done, song's gonna be a banger.'
CDM: You're good under pressure! What were you feeling when writing the lyric, "I can't tell if this shit a comedy, tragedy, parody," in 'Upset & Aggressive'?
DOMINIC: This was just talking about that very exhausting point in a relationship, which I think I had actually reached - this song is mimicking a time in my life. I think I just reached a point in the relationship where you're so tired - have you ever been in a relationship where it's like the person will say something and you get mad at them? Or them breathing? Or just being around them? UGH.
CDM: Time to break up.
DOMINIC: Yeah! <laughs> Sometimes it would get there. I think I just was in a point of relationship where I was like, 'I don't even know what's going on.' I found myself laughing hysterically in the middle of the day because I'm so exhausted, crying because I don't want to be with this person, angry at this person's presence, but also, weirdly comforted by them. I think it's just about the intensity that you feel at the end of a relationship, that line.
CDM: Why did you want to sample the film, 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' - starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor - in your song 'David Lyons'?
DOMINIC: I don't even know 'cuz I had never seen the movie, but I was really into Richard Pryor at the time. I think I just wanted talking.
CDM: Have you seen the film now?
DOMINIC: Yeah. Sometimes, when I want to sample, I'll just go to YouTube and type "people talking" and I'll get it. I think I just typed in "talking scene" or something. Maybe it was "Richard Pryor scene". Sometimes I'll be racist with it, like "Asian guy talking" or "black guy talking" or "black girl talking". I think I just came up with Richard Pryor, and you know what the cool thing was? What I really liked was that he went <sings> "do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do" - you know, that part of the song, and then I mimicked it with the piano, and I went <sings piano part> which I thought was sick. I'm a genius and just had to keep it in there.
CDM: And so humble.
DOMINIC: Thanks. <laughs>
CDM: Is there a reason behind the Ryan Reynolds shout-out in 'David Lyons'?
DOMINIC: Oh, did you get it?
CDM: No.
DOMINIC: "There was signs and signals / Lies and fibs / In everything..." That means I sensed a lie in every single thing that you said. Like Ryan Reynolds, he's in every fucking movie. For a second, he was in every fucking movie. Do you remember this? In everything, it was him or Chris Pratt, so I just thought that was funny.
CDM: There's an annotation on Genius for this part that says: "I cannot for the love of god fathom what he wants to say here."
DOMINIC: Really?! I thought it was good. That's a good line! "In everything like Ryan Reynolds...." I thought that they would be like, 'Oh, dude's cold.'
CDM: You're so misunderstood.
DOMINIC: I know.
CDM: In 'David Lyons', you argue against therapy-speak being used to define you. Do you think therapy-speak has helped or hindered the way that people talk about their feelings?
DOMINIC: Helped tremendously. Like anything, it comes to a halt when you start to gain traction so fast. Like, eventually everybody's gonna be doing the same thing, and it has to shift. Keywords like trauma, they got people so far, and they got people like dads who had never used them, but a lot of it's introductory talk - you can't just explain the shit that you're feeling with the word 'trauma'. A lot of the concepts and things that we have grasped as a nation are still pretty introductory, and I like the fact that we're catching everybody up, but yeah, there's a reason we're not all healed yet. We just learned the words, but we're expecting to be like doctors when we just picked up the text. Therapy speak is great. It's good. I needed it. Who's making leeway in the psychology field? Malcolm Gladwell? Who's the next Freud? Who's the new--
CDM: Could be you.
DOMINIC: Could be me; doubt it!
CDM: What do you mean by "you're so honest but in a bad way" in 'David Lyons'?
DOMINIC: "You're so honest but in a bad way" because I know before you tell me - that means your eyes give it away, or your body language is too honest, like you're honest without even speaking. "You're so honest but in a bad way," like you don't mean to be this way, or even when you talk, your lies give it away - you're not good at lying, it's to your disadvantage, you're so honest to your disadvantage, you give it away.
CDM: Lyrically, which song from 'Rocket' are you connected to with most at this current period in your life?
DOMINIC: That's a good question. 'One Glass'. Wait, no, that's wrong... 'Smile' because I am a happy guy these days. I feel like I got what I wanted. It feels weirdly like it's all about to be ripped away because it's too good. Life's too good right now.
CDM: What were the things that you wanted that you now have?
DOMINIC: I was thinking about that... real stability, a house, a kid, a soulmate, my family; they're safe and happy. I still have stress, and then I'll have to remind myself, 'Bro, you're good, you're not homeless.' Every morning, I have to literally check in with my body to tell it that I'm good, but it's been easier these days, and obviously, living here and having the lack of noise and hustle and bustle, it's helped me to be able to slow down and be grateful for everything. Because man, I got a lot of shit together, and I just don't slow down and look at it that way, which is why I was like, "Yeah, I could do the 'White Keys' verse and listen to the internet, but I want to go to dinner and eat a shrimpy. I want to eat a little shrimpy!"
CDM: What are the oldest and newest songs on 'Rocket'?
DOMINIC: That's a good question. 'David Lyons' is pretty old. 'Smile' is so old; 'Quite The Opposite' is older than 'Smile'. Newest, I would say, is something like 'Great Pretender' and 'Aftermath'. Oldest would have to be 'Smile', 'Quite The Opposite'... what's another one on there? 'One Glass' is pretty new too. 'Epilogue' is the oldest by far - like, fucking seven years old. And there are so many versions of 'Epilogue' that I can't count. There might be over 50 versions of 'Epilogue'. The fans that were complaining about the versions, I won't even fight you, you're probably right, that the one I released was wrong. There's like 50 of them.
CDM: The website for the release of 'Rocket' was really fun and interactive - how important was that for you to create something to bring fans together and create some suspense?
DOMINIC: That was all Reed and Clay[borne Bujorian]. I always think it's cool when an artist can... I love it that Tyler does that. I'm not young enough to where my artists were doing shit like that, or maybe they were, I just wasn't as involved in their lives, I suppose, but I love that for kids. And kids spend a lot of time on the internet, and there's only so many clicks you can do. They seem really horny all the time, clicking around, and I'm like, 'Well, here's something that you can click on.' They spend a lot of time on there, so it's good to give them something to do on there because I'm so against it all the time. Apple, my sister, is always like, "Can you buy me the Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite add-ons?" I'm just like, "Why don't we fucking go hiking?" You can fight them, but maybe try to get down to their level for a second. 'I used to play video games, so let me just try to level with you, and talk to you about it for a little bit,' and then you find it's similar. So with that, I kind of felt like I was meeting them halfway - I hate phones and shit, but here's a computer game, here's a flash game, like how we used to do it, back in our day.
CDM: "Massive error creates work for therapists" in 'Epilogue' is another great lyric. Do lyric ideas just pop into your head? Or is there a process you go through when writing a song?
DOMINIC: Sometimes they do pop in. Sometimes they rhyme. Sometimes I find the therapist line and then a "massive error", and then I'll hear "massive error creates". And then in the error, I'll go 'thera', and I'll hear that, and I'll be like, how does massive error and therapist join? A lot of the times, it's playing, you'll set up things, and it'll feel like segments of words, and then you just put them together.
CDM: I'm interested to know what it sounds like in your brain because one of my favourite Dominic Fike lore things is the lore of when you were in jail and you heard a C major note from a dripping sink and then used the sink to help you write music. I find that so interesting because I'm not a person who has random sounds in my head.
DOMINIC: Yeah, that's not a good thing. You should get it checked out if you have that. It's interesting, I suppose. I don't know because it's always the same to me - it's always been that way. But people tell me that they don't have the same experiences internally as well. I can hear songs without them playing, so I think I can just hear the song pretty vividly. It's not that I'm hearing every infinite option, it's just when I do hear something, I can hear it a bit louder than maybe other people and a bit more clear, so it's not as difficult to put a word to it because in my mind, I'll hear the word going like <sings> and I'll hear that, and then it sounds like "and she never wants to go again" and because the sound is so loud in my head, I can easily put words to it.
CDM: That's cooler than people who can hear music as colours.
DOMINIC: That shit is so lame. Everybody's got that, don't they? Eh! All y'all motherfuckers, HA, they giving that shit out these days, that's crazy.
CDM: I love the cinematic feeling of the line "here's how our universe goes" in 'Epilogue'. What does your universe look like to you?
DOMINIC: Well, it's small, my universe. And I think the sentiment in that song is like, every time I think about getting a girlfriend or spending those days with the person you really love, it's always in a small space. I think that's why all my spaces are small. I use small studios, I like low ceilings, I like to be close to somebody. And when I say our universe, I mean the room, like when I watch a movie with a girl, there's just the room - and then if there's the rain, great. "Here's how our universe goes..." It sounds big, and it opens up, but it's like <sings> "Here's how our universe"-- it sounds like it opens up, but really it's meant to confine the song. The song's supposed to get small there.
CDM: Why did you want to end the mixtape with 'Still Feel It'?
DOMINIC: Because the freaking fans always get their way, don't they? No matter what. Reed's always liked it, and Reed listens to the fans more than they think.
CDM: Which is sad because they're so mean to him online.
DOMINIC: I know! They think that I'm the one that's being held prisoner, but really, it's me telling Reed "no" from my cave. Reed's like: "How about you go outside?" And I'm like: "Noooo!"
CDM: Reed's the fall guy.
DOMINIC: He is! He's always been that.
CDM: It's cool that song finally made it out into the world - after you first teased it back in 2021 on your Instagram story - but it sounds like that's more thanks to Reed than you?
DOMINIC: Yes. I was like, 'It's already out.' There's a song right now out called 'White Keys', they leaked it all, the fans. And they're like, 'Release the full! Release the song!' I'm like, 'What do you think you're listening to? Motherfucker, that's the song.' They're like, 'I love this song, wish he would release it.' That's like people saying: 'We need to go to space.' We're already in space.
CDM: Is there anything else you want to talk about relating to these mixtape songs?
DOMINIC: I just want people to know that the point of this mixtape was that the stakes aren't really high with me. It's not some Frank Ocean or Adele thing, where every five years I'm asked to drop a masterpiece and reinvent myself. I want people to know that I can also just be comfortable with you. I want to be that artist you grow with for 20 to 40 years - just always there evolving, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, maybe sometimes not there, but sometimes present for you. I want to be more stable in my fans' lives, like on some stepdad shit - I want to be a more stable presence. And with the mixtape, we're trying to do that; it doesn't have to be this huge thing. This is something I enjoy. Music is something I like to do. It's not something that every time we come at it, it has to be like, "AHHHH!!!" It doesn't have to be competitive.
CDM: It's like a time capsule.
DOMINIC: Yeah, and we like doing it. Sometimes we're gonna do it for fun. Sometimes it's gonna be super high stakes. But the mixtape is... I just want people to know that I can be a comfort artist too. And I want to be that for myself. I don't want this whole pressure on my body and mind of every five years having to change my entire life, or else I'm going back to being broke. Like, every five years, I have to reinvent my music or else I'm going to be broke. That's whack. I want you to know, some of them might be a miss, like you might hate 'David Lyons', you might hate everything on 'Rocket', but you love the demos. Maybe I haven't come out with something you like since the demos. That's fine. I'm gonna make way more albums. So just know, I'm gonna keep doing it. I don't want people to give up on me. I'll meet you somewhere because I'm taking this journey seriously, and I'm taking it everywhere.
CDM: I love that throughout your work there's that through line of it being a constant conversation with your fans.
DOMINIC: Yeah, it is kind of a constant thing, huh? Do I always come back to that? We always talk about that?
CDM: I think so.
DOMINIC: Yeah, I know! Oh man.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Creative Direction & Photography by: Reed Bennett
Design by: Lola Jacob
All other Instax photos by: Shahlin Graves
Styling by: Clayborne Bujorian
Grooming by: Leticia Llesmin
Dominic Fike's mixtape 'Rocket' is out now.
Watch the 'All Hands On Deck' music video below...
Dominic Fike