Teddy Swims: 'Every day I try to cry a little bit'

When Teddy Swims turned up to the MTV Awards past September, helium was nominated for 4 prizes, including champion caller artist.

In the event, the combined forces of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter denied him a azygous Moon Man trophy – but the vocalist near with thing overmuch much valuable.

"I didn't realise until a mates of weeks later, but my spouse and I conceived that night," helium beams.

"We're owed successful June and things are great. I deliberation we're gonna crush it."

Domestic bliss isn't a prime that fans mightiness subordinate with Teddy Swims.

His immense breakthrough azygous Lose Control, and the deed medium I've Tried Everything But Therapy, were rooted successful dysfunction, addiction and heartbreak.

They were inspired by a toxic, mutually-destructive narration he'd escaped. In the past, he's described it arsenic a "really co-dependent lifestyle" that went from "bender to bender" arsenic some sides "leveraged each other's shame against 1 another".

As helium sings connected a caller single, "I saved my beingness erstwhile I showed you the door".

But that was lone 1 section successful the communicative of the 32-year-old Georgia autochthonal Jaten Dimsdale.

This Friday, helium releases a 2nd album, I've Tried Everything But Therapy Part 2, that explains what happened next.

"I've learned that emotion doesn't person to beryllium this happening of precocious highs and debased lows – warring and pulling teeth conscionable to enactment together," helium says.

"The archetypal medium was a batch of turmoil, and not excessively overmuch closure. So I wanted to travel backmost and say, 'Here's maine connected the different broadside of this, and I'm doing better'.

"I consciousness like, arsenic a listener, I would privation to perceive that there's a mode out."

His caller spouse is besides a singer-songwriter, Raiche Wright, who helium met "a mates of Thanksgivings ago" erstwhile she came to 1 of his shows - and the caller medium dwells successful a benignant of bewildered bliss.

"Are you thing from a imagination oregon thing that I made up?" helium wonders connected the slick R&B groove of Are You Real.

Later, connected the acoustic guitar ballad If You Ever Change Your Mind, helium croons, "I emotion you, I emotion you," with a quiescent sincerity seldom recovered successful a popular record.

Musically, the medium paints from the aforesaid palette arsenic earlier – a marque of 1960s psyche wherever dusty soft grooves and chugging guitar lines are punched up with a modern popular sheen, and a pinch of stone and rotation swagger.

But it's not each hearts and flowers. The sumptuous psyche of Black And White makes a plea for tolerance, inspired by the prejudice Dimsdale and his spouse – who has mixed achromatic and achromatic practice – person faced.

"I spot radical looking disgusted due to the fact that we're antithetic colours – particularly down South," helium says.

"But it's good to beryllium blessed successful emotion with idiosyncratic of a antithetic colour, oregon a antithetic size oregon shape, oregon the aforesaid sex, oregon immoderate it is.

"Why would you beryllium hating connected that? It's specified a backwards thing."

Dimsdale learned astir acceptance the hard way. Born successful Conyers, an eastbound suburb of Atlanta, his gramps was a Pentecostal preacher with acceptable views connected the world, and household beingness was hard to navigate.

His parents divorced erstwhile helium was 3 and, though some remarried, their caller relationships were problematic. His mother, with whom helium lived, joined an alcoholic who near abruptly erstwhile Dinsdale was 18 and ne'er spoke to the household again.

His father, who helium saw astatine weekends, joined a pistillate who developed superior intelligence wellness problems, including schizophrenia, and spent agelong stretches successful hospital. His dada ended up raising Dimsdale's step-brothers astir single-handedly.

"He'd enactment 18 hours a day, and inactive get the homework done and inactive get to the practices, each by himself," helium says.

"There's conscionable not capable I tin accidental astir however astonishing that antheral genuinely is."

Dimsdale was a precocious bloomer erstwhile it came to music. As a youngster, helium was a dedicated footballer, until a person convinced him to audition for a schoolhouse accumulation of Damn Yankees.

The philharmonic sparked a emotion matter with singing. He researched vocal techniques connected YouTube, soaking successful performances by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

After graduation, helium started playing with section metallic bands, adopting the signifier sanction "Swims" from net forum-speak for Someone Who Isn't Me Sometimes. Teddy, meanwhile, is simply a puerility nickname, based connected his affable and cuddly persona.

But it was a screen of Shania Twain's state ballad You're Still The One that earned him his large break.

On YouTube, it's been watched 197 cardinal times. One of those viewers was a endowment scout for Warner Bros records, who signed Dimsdale to a grounds woody connected Christmas Eve 2019.

They partnered the instrumentalist with nonrecreational writers similar Julian Bunetta (Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction) and Mikky Ekko (Rihanna, Drake) – but helium besides retained his precocious schoolhouse band, Freak Feely, who play with him to this day.

After 3 EPs, and hundreds of sessions, they wrote Lose Control, and Dinsdale instantly "knew it was going to alteration my life".

He was right. With 2.2 cardinal planetary streams, it is 1 of the astir palmy songs successful caller illustration past - but uncovering an assemblage took time.

There was nary viral infinitesimal oregon TikTok inclination associated with Lose Control. Instead, Dimsdale "did it the old-fashioned way".

"We showed up and did each damn interrogation possible," helium says. "We went to each bureau and vigor presumption and shook each manus individually. We stopped everyone connected the street, busking."

He believes the idiosyncratic interaction beats everything, hands down.

"People emotion to spot their person win, truthful if you spell retired determination and marque clip for them, it goes a batch further than a playlist coming crossed your desk, oregon a small record coming to your email that says, 'Hey, tin you propulsion this song?'

"And that's the aged mode you enactment a record, earlier streaming."

Bashfully, helium confesses the opus made him a millionaire ("so I can't beryllium excessively huffy astatine that miss immoderate more, tin I?") but he's learning that making wealth means spending money.

"A cardinal dollars goes truthful fast," helium says. "Once you enactment 66 radical connected a tour, with each the cogwheel and each the lights, it's close retired the doorway arsenic accelerated arsenic you get it.

"Twenty bucks inactive means what 20 bucks meant to maine before, but the magnitude coming successful and retired is specified a scary happening to look astatine sometimes."

As we speak, he's successful rehearsals successful Pennsylvania, up of his archetypal European arena tour, which includes 2 nights astatine Wembley this March.

The signifier has conscionable been built for the archetypal time, and he's anxious to acquaint himself with each the ramps and video walls. The music… not truthful much.

"I wouldn't accidental I'm already sick of the songs, but we've been playing them non-stop for 2 weeks now," helium says. "I can't hold 'til radical sing along, truthful I tin autumn successful emotion with them again."

If you've been to a Teddy Swims show, you'll cognize helium lays his bosom connected the line.

There are countless videos of him sobbing arsenic helium performs Some Things I'll Never Know, a opus astir abandonment and grief. For the upcoming tour, he's playing it back-to-back with a caller tear-jerker, Northern Lights, that dives adjacent deeper into heartbreak.

He's going to beryllium a messiness - but Dimsdale insists it's a bully thing.

"Every time I effort to outcry a small bit," helium says. "It's conscionable symptom leaving the body.

"And it's a changeless reminder that, immoderate you were going through, connected the different broadside of it there's happiness."

With his bearded and tattooed face, you mightiness not expect specified affectional quality – but Dimsdale's exemplary of masculinity wasn't acrophobic to stock his feelings.

"I'm my daddy's son," helium says. "He's conscionable a delicate man. He'll archer you helium loves you, he'll archer you he's arrogant of you. Man, I'll inactive beryllium there, laying successful his arms portion we're watching TV connected the couch."

"He's the astir beautiful, humble quality being I've ever met. Second to lone Jesus Christ."

So, the evident question: Is dada excited to go a grandfather?

"He's doing backflips," laughs the singer.

"I'm astir frightened to person him arsenic a granddad, due to the fact that I privation my kids to deliberation I'm cool, too."