5/10
Dominic Fike released his debut EP under house arrest in 2018, after serving eight months in a Florida jail for battery of a police officer. The project, Don’t Forget About Me, Demos, has multiple songs with over a billion Spotify listens. What followed was a major-label bidding war and projects What Could Possibly Go Wrong, Sunburn, 14 minutes, and Rocket all in the next decade. Recently, Fike’s 2025 single “White Keys” went viral and became one of his biggest hits. This made anticipating HOW TO QUIT SMOKING, his third studio album, a no-brainer. But, after a listen, it’s clear Fike has lost his spark.
The rollout started promisingly, with singles “WALLFLOWER,” “SMALL TOWN,” and “PANGEA,” which are by far the most unique, artistically driven tracks on the album. But the album quickly becomes repetitive and underwhelming.
“WALLFLOWER” touches on emotional detachment, hesitation, and the frustration of dealing with someone who chooses safety over vulnerability in a relationship. “If I could fly off of the floor, would you let me? / If I could die and come forth, would you let me?” Fike sings, egging on the person not giving him their all. Fike combines synthesizer, textured guitar, and inventive drums to create a classic Dominic Fike track that really features his imaginative outlook, and versatile genrebending. His piano work is distinct, laying a foundation for the drums to sneak in with a simple yet quick-witted beat.
Another impressive single is “SMALL TOWN,” which addresses Fike’s high-profile past relationships and the feeling that he’s being haunted by someone he can’t quite shake. “What goes up must go left / at least one time / So don’t have no regrets,” he sings. He reminisces about past connections, where he exhausts his past partner, leaving them both drained. This song deceives listeners in the first few seconds with a melodic rhythm paired with electric guitar, until the acoustic guitar shifts the melody to a grittier, unclean feel. It’s by far the most complex track on the whole album.
On the album, however, a clear highlight is “CASTING CALL.” Fike’s layering of vocal tracks is different from any other song on the album, but the combination of electronic drums and guitar overshadows the shallow, repeated lyrics. “I’m not gon’ sit back and watch this movie / with you kickin’ off, no defense in the studio / and pre-sets because you looking for the pretext,” he sings, about a toxic relationship. While its instrumental depth makes it one of the best new songs on the album,, it lacks consistency and is dramatically lightweight compared to other lyrically and dynamically complex songs.
The most daring track on HOW TO QUIT SMOKING is “HONEYLOVE” featuring indie musician Grace Ives. Instead of sticking to his own roots, Fike morphs into Ives’ indie pop musical style. Ives even sings the first lines: “Baby, bring it on home to me / I can be your world entirely.” While the song embraces pop music, the lyrics are too superficial and simplistic. After the first few minutes, the song completely changes from this mediocre love song into a Beatles-sounding jam. Still, the jaunty piano overshadows the complete change in genre and tempo. “HONEYLOVE” is complicated in all the wrong ways.
The fan-favorite “WHITE KEYS,” released almost a year before the album, has to be the most honest song on the whole record. “The world is movin’, we were never meant to stay / But I was working on the world / I guess I thought that if I gave you what I had / I guess I thought that it would work,” Fike sings, touching on a teenage relationship from the beginning of his music career. “WHITE KEYES” is Fike’s bittersweet reminiscence of what he lost to get to where he is, and his skilled mixing of instruments reflects that feeling of nostalgia. “I made a point to be intact and you don’t even keep it wholesome with me / You were singin’ old songs with me,” Fike sings.
While “SQUEEZE” and “RENO” are near-opposites in tone, they ultimately suffer from the same underlying flaw. “SQUEEZE” is upbeat, and repetitive, whereas “RENO” pulls the listener into a sad, deeply wistful atmosphere. Yet, despite operating on completely different ends of the emotional spectrum, neither song manages to leave a lasting impression.
HOW TO QUIT SMOKING has more collaborators than Fike’s ever brought in. The album features singer Emma Ogier and rapper Jorjiana, among others. On “CITY OF STEEL,” with Jorjiana, Fike leads the track, singing “My back knows the wall like the other side of my palm / My wrists know these cuffs don’t come off / and these doors locked from the hall.” It’s a call back to Fike’s time in jail, but it taps at new vulnerabilities we haven’t seen from Fike. That’s all forgotten once Jorjiana starts rapping, “You can’t build a b*tch, you Bob The Builder / I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T as f*ck.” Her lyrics are superficial and lack emotional value. The song shifts from honest to irritating real quick.
The last song on the album is a very unprecedented track. “SPOTLIGHT / INNER CHILD” is almost like a song and podcast meshed together. The first half, “SPOTLIGHT,” sounds like every other song on HOW TO QUIT SMOKING, it’s catchy but uninteresting. The second half, “INNER CHILD,” is a recorded call between Fike and rapper Tay-K, who is currently in jail for a convicted murder. “No matter what, what I would say is just stay connected to your inner child. When I am going through all these dark times I am going through. I try to hold on to that youthful connection in life,” Tay-K says. Including a rapper who murdered two people is a very bold choice, but it connects back to Fike’s time in jail, a common theme on the album. The song itself is underwhelming, but hearing the two musicians reflect honestly about their lives is profound.
Fike is clearly passionate about creating complex, atypical songs, but many of the tracks on HOW TO QUIT SMOKING are boring and shallow. Overall, it’s a drag.
