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Their new album, “What Could Possfully Go Wrong”, released last week. See how he got a record multi-million dollar contract in a new Times documentary about FX and Hulu.
Transcription
[MUSIC PLAY] DOMINIC FIKE: I didn’t expect to make a signal with a big label or a pop star. MAN: Dominic Fike is amazing. People knew he was a career artist in the game. You’re on a treadmill. I just feel that pressure, you know? Then you have to do it right. I take care of other people’s rents and take care of other people. I hope other people don’t think I’m a fraud to check the depth. REPORTER: Then you have 3 weeks before the tour. Are you going to be ready? [MUSIC IN COURSE]
Producer/Director Alexandra Garcia, Coach Joe Coscarelli
See Friday, August 7 at 10 p.m. FX and transmission in Hulu.
Dominic Fike had just been released when he won a record multi-million dollar contract.
He didn’t have an album, not even a bachelor who could be heard, however, some mysterious demo tracks posted on the Internet were enough to launch a frantic bidding war by an artist whose idea of record executives would be his next star.
“He was ugly and competitive as he was, cool and old,” said Imran Majid, executive vice president/co-chair of A-R at Columbia Records, who eventually signed with Fike, then 22.
It was a big bet for an artist without music that no one had heard, and Fike’s open appeal led some critics to speculate that he was a music industry factory, imagined through marketing executives.
“I hope other people don’t think I’m a fraud to check the depth,” Fike said. He spent two years reviewing to refine his sound while he found his voice. The result is “What Could Possfully Go Wrong”, Fike’s debut album released last week.
The making of the album – and Fike as an artist – a winding self-discovery procedure at the same time as the music industry seeks to be placed in a market position remodeled through streaming, travel and social media.
See how it all spread in our new documentary, which follows Fike’s adventure from Naples, Florida, on his first world tour. “It’s the beginning,” he says.
Transcription
There was a pop song that everyone knew was a hit. [MUSIC – DOMINIC FIKE, “3 NIGHTS”] Three nights at the motel under the streetlights of palm town – “I just went and recorded this [BLEEPS] instantly. But I think I knocked him unconscious for maybe for the first time. It’s [BLEEPS] crazy. I love that song. We play it now. I’m kidding. Actually, we don’t. [MUSIC – DOMINIC FIKE, ‘3 NIGHTS’] I was MIA for 3 nights at the motel — ‘3 Nights’ wasn’t the song I thought would create it all.’
Director of Photography Victor Tadashi Suarez Video Editors Sean Frechette, Geoff O’Brien, Seth Skundrick Editors Dan Barry, Liz O. Baylen, Liz Day Associate Producers Brennan Cusack, Wesley Harris, Valerie Schenkman
The New York Times Presents is a series of documentaries describing the unmatched journalism and perception of The New York Times, bringing the audience closer to the stories of our time.
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