Dominic Fike is Shooting for the Stars in Rocket

When it comes to criminally short projects that have you grasping at their last notes, Dominic Fike is a repeat offender. His last release before his most recent mixtape, Rocket, was his 14 minutes project –  a compilation of eight songs adding up to “14 minutes of music that almost didn’t see the light of day,” as stated by Fike on his Instagram. More than a year after this surprise release and little to no social media presence, he announced himself as part of the duo Geezer alongside long-time collaborator and friend, Kevin Abstract, who was previously a part of Brockhampton. Named after his son, whom he introduced at his Lollapalooza set back in August, “Rocket” explores themes of personal growth, fatherhood, and touches on past struggles and mistakes. 

Gearing Up for Take-off 

Fike has been teasing this mixtape since January, when he posted a video of himself under running water, with what we now know as “One Glass” playing over the top, the seventh track on the mixtape. Before giving us the full work, he released “Geezer” and  “Doggy” with Kevin Abstract, featuring on the latter’s Blush album under the duo’s name Geezer listed as a feature. Revealed back in May, Abstract explained Blush as a group with no finalized members, no set identity, but as an entity that “brings focus back to the product and the music,” “disrupts,” and “challenges the norm.”

Only eight months after the January teaser did Fike announce the release of his mixtape, starting by releasing the first three tracks as a separate EP. Under a post of the album cover, he clearly stated that “Rocket is not an album.” Perhaps the categorization of a mixtape allows for more of a free-flowing, unstructured, and raw form compared to a professional and ordered studio album. 

A Closer Look at the Spaceship 

The opening song, “All Hands on Deck,” meshes all of the themes to follow. Following a simple beat and resonating like a pep-talk to himself is a vulnerable way of opening the work. Addressing the perils of stardom while attempting to keep it lighthearted by dropping an unexpected “hawk tuah,” the accelerating rhythm throughout throws different aspects of his life at us: he has a “son,” a “dyin’ artist,” and a “bad lover.” 

Dominic Fike fans are well aware that he hasn’t been the best boyfriend in the past, and it seems that he’s been reflecting on this in songs such as “Great Pretender,” which some speculate is about Hunter Schafer due to references to (North) Carolina and “two Capricorns,” their joint astrological sign. “Great Pretender” is also the one other song that got a music video besides “All Hands on Deck.” The video stars The Summer I Turned Pretty actress Rain Spencer and references “Sandman” in the literal sense, as Fike is covered in dust and dirt. 

Plenty more songs, whether somber like “One Glass” or more upbeat like “$500 Fine,” are about Fike lamenting over his past lover, who’s the muse of the mixtape and tied to all the emotions portrayed:

I get the feeling that I, I, I (I, I, I)
I could have made it work out, out, out (I, I, I)
If I didn't fuck it up the first time, or the third time
If I paid attention to your work hours
And was there for your worst hours

–  Chorus and first verse of “$500 Fine”

Echoing sounds of his sophomore album Sunburn, Rocket also holds similar ideas that offer a more intimate approach to Dominic Fike. Different from the tunes that gave him virality, such as “3 Nights,” “Phone Numbers,” or “Babydoll,” it still stays true to the running streak of Fike’s short titles. With most of his songs being under three minutes, there’s some sort of ephemerality to it all, like twinkling stars almost hard to see, but that are there nevertheless. 

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