Dominic Fike’s sophomore album “Sunburn,” released July 7, is a collection of summery and upbeat songs that captures teenagers’ attention, though it may not be everyone’s taste.

TikTok Travel Music

Fike built an audience on SoundCloud, with his casual rap style that blurs in and out of intelligibility. Mixed with alternative rock and a distinct ‘90s sound, it lives up to the stereotypes conjured therein. Perhaps the most important factor in Fike’s rise to fame was his role as the guitar playing, drug-abusing Elliot in the second season of “Euphoria.” It is typically naïve to assume an actor will be anything like the characters they play on screen, but after listening to “Sunburn,” it’s hard to envision Fike as anything but Elliot.

The album is very 2019 “Booksmart” soundtrack, neo-Justin Bieber, “my boyfriend is a skater”-core. It borders on the better end of the music that blares out of the speakers at H&M while you’re struggling into a top you’re convinced is trendy but will only wear once. It’s the type of music I used to refer to as movie music — meaning it’s perfectly enjoyable but forgettable enough that you won’t be distracted from everything else, which is inherently more important. I can see these songs being used in vacation TikToks over some “blue-ass water.” It’s music that would work for “Euphoria.” It’s really not bad at all, it just doesn’t stay with you.

A Collection of Catchy Cliches

With a 15-song track list, “Sunburn” comes in at just under 40 minutes, with most of the songs hovering around the two-minute mark. It’s a fast album, but the repetitive motifs of girls, drugs, summer and high school make up majority of the lyrics, which made me feel the same way Fike’s awkwardly long song in “Euphoria” did. Maybe we can move on now.

“Mona Lisa,” one of the three singles from “Sunburn,” was featured on the soundtrack for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” along with artists like Swae Lee, A$AP Rocky and Lil Uzi Vert. One of the better songs on the album, “Mona Lisa” does feel like a collection of clichés set to acoustic guitar and electronic beats. With lyrics like, “love is when you try to place it out your mind” and “but you can’t turn the radio down / and you can’t think of anyone else,” the song feels a bit juvenile. However, it’s cute and catchy and fits perfectly into the “Spider-Verse” soundtrack.

My Teenage Sister Loved It

Nonetheless, “Sunburn” is an album for the same audience as “Euphoria” and “Across the Spider-Verse.” It’s fun, it’s well-composed, but it’s not anything experimental or even particularly indie. It seems clear however, that Fike is someone to keep an eye on as an actor and musician. 

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