It’s been nine months since musician Dominic Fike released his second studio album Sunburn and it is safe to say this album boasts some of the singer’s best music. The album consists of 14 tracks ranging from more rap-dominant songs such as “Frisky” and “Mona Lisa” to songs like “Dancing in The Courthouse” and “Sunburn” which showcase his singing ability. Fike is a trailblazer in the music industry due to his ways of combining rap, pop, and rock to make genreless music which many consider to be the future of music.
Fike rose to popularity when he released his first studio album “What Could Go Wrong” in 2020. But this popularity also brought light to the troubles he has faced in his life. From a difficult upbringing to drug and alcohol abuse to jail time, Fike has seen the worst that life can throw at you.
Fike grew up in a house where both his parents were heroin addicts. This caused him and his siblings to have to grow up independently without the help and support of their parents. This also caused Fike to turn to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. In an interview with The Guardian, Fike said “Whatever drug I would do, I’d do too much of it — to [the point of] a near-death, surreal experience. I just kind of thought that was how you did drugs – to go all the way there without dying,” he said.
What started as a coping mechanism quickly turned into a huge problem for Fike, resulting in jail time. In 2016, while under house arrest, Fike assaulted a police officer after failing a drug test and received a one-year jail sentence. During his jail time, Fike struggled with not being able to release music but around six months into his sentence, his manager released a six-track EP Fike recorded before going to jail titled “Don’t Forget About Me, Demos”. One of the songs on the track titled “3 Nights” went viral. This recognition and popularity shot Fike into the spotlight with many major labels seeking his signature. This was exactly what Fike needed to keep himself together throughout his time in jail.
When Fike finally got out of jail, he continued to struggle but as a result of taking the music world by storm, soon an opportunity like no other arose. Fike was cast as Elliot in the popular TV series Euphoria. This role was not too hard for Fike to immerse himself in because, in many ways, the character he played was exactly like Fike in real life. In the show, Elliot is a drug-addicted musician who struggles with substance abuse and the many issues that can be caused by it. While Fike excelled at his role on-screen, off-screen was a whole different story. Fike was kicked off the show due to being under the influence for the majority of the time he would be on set filming.
The issues that Fike has struggled with in his personal life are a prime example of how the glitz and glam of celebrities in the music industry can heavily overshadow the trials and tribulations they face in their lives. While Fike has continued to struggle with substance abuse and a variety of other subsequent issues, he has also grown a lot as a person and a huge part of this is his music career and the peace and security it has brought him.
