An album out of habit: ‘HOW TO QUIT SMOKING’

Dominic Fike’s “HOW TO QUIT SMOKING” has standout singles, interesting features and themes of addiction and fatherhood. The album was made in hotel rooms and on tour buses, and the chaos can be heard. (Graphic made in Canva by Kate Sanders) Originally scheduled for Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, Dominic Fike ’s “ HOW TO QUIT SMOKING ” was highly anticipated by its release on Friday, Oct.

30 2026. Fike announced the album’s delay while on tour, expressing that he and his collaborators needed more time to complete the work. Whether or not the album met listeners’ expectations is a wash.

Despite some genre bending and experimentation with sound, the album is sonically exhausted. As the album continues, it feels repetitive and rushed. Individually, there are impressive songs or moments within a song, but in a full album listen, the audience may get tired.

Fike succeeded in exploring his concepts and themes in self-growth, discussing fatherhood, tour experience and addictions. With focused attention to the lyrics, listeners can empathize with Fike’s experience and connect more deeply to the music through the story. “HOW TO QUIT SMOKING” was recorded in hotel rooms and tour buses while he was on the road for his Comedy Tragedy Parody tour.

This living room style production is less polished making listeners feel like they’re in the room, which does well for the sound and story. While the album was still being finalized, Fike released three singles, “ WALLFLOWER ,” “ SMALL TOWN ” and “ PANGEA .” He also teased the album with his song “GO HEAVY,” which did not appear on the album, but was played live on tour and shown as a demo on Fike’s alternative Instagram account .

The song is expected to be on an anticipated deluxe version of the album. Opening the album, “WALLFLOWER” and “PANGEA” are some of the most catchy lyrically and in sound, aligning with the typical choices for singles. They are both true to fit in with the rest of Fike’s discography as alt-rock, bedroom pop songs that fans can’t get out of their heads.

They are similar to Fike’s 2023 album “ Sunburn ,” especially to the songs “ Ant Pile ” and “ Think Fast .” “SMALL TOWN” has the same kind of catchy hooks and melodies, but is the best of the singles. The song is carried by a solid second verse as well as features from Gabriel Jacoby and Emma Ogier .

Their voices blend perfectly together with Fikes through Ogier’s acoustic background and Jacoby’s R&B sound. RELATED: An ‘Angel’ is heard on Lizzy McAlpine’s newest album The album is very feature heavy, with several other features such as Jorjiana , Love Spells , Danny Brown , Tay-K , Hether and Reggie .

Some of the features worked well like in “SMALL TOWN,” while others, like Jorjana’s on “ CITY OF STEEL ,” felt messy. The amount of voices was an opportunity for something impressive, but seemed to create chaos on the album. Track seven, “ WHITE KEYS ,” came out as a single originally on Friday, Nov.

14, 2025, and is already established as a well-liked song, currently listed as second in his “popular songs” on Spotify . A good song on its own but the studio production risked the rest of the album’s on-the-road feel. A notable track is “ HONEYLOVE ” with another feature, Grace Ives .

The contrast of the artists make the song stand out, but it feels more like Ives’ song, featuring Fike. The experimental aspects of sound are admirable, but the style choices may call for an acquired taste, compared to the singles that are more digestible for a pop audience. The album finishes off strong with two of the album’s standouts.

“ WAR MACHINE ” is a bit softer in vocals than the rest of this album, but maintains the upbeat background. “ SPOTLIGHT / INNER CHILD ” featuring Tay-K, is an over four minute song that includes a conversational interlude naming the significance and process of the album for Fike. Through this conclusion of the album, audiences can better understand Fike as an artist, father and young person handling the spotlight and bad habits.

The album has good singles, but as a whole won’t exceed expectations or surprise listeners. It is an impressive project to have made while touring, and can be seen as a capsule of his travels. The best way to listen to this album is broken up, paying attention to lyrics and allowing yourself to be on the move with Fike.

A full listen front to back can be overstimulating and repetitive. Rating: 6/10 $990 $2,500 Contributed Our Goal Your donation will support the student journalists of Sacramento State University. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

We recently reset our donation goal, find out more here: https://statehornet.com/2025/12/resetting-donation-counter/ About the Contributor (she/her) Kate Sanders is a fourth-year English and women’s and gender studies double major and philosophy minor. This is her second semester with The State Hornet and first in an editorial role, previously an A&E staffer.

She spends her time copy editing, writing poetry, drinking coffee, laughing, going to concerts and running; as a member of the cross country and track and field teams at Sac State.