'I feel like I'm ready for it': Teddy Swims keeps up the pace with album No.2

'I feel like I'm ready for it': Teddy Swims keeps up the pace with album No.2

Teddy Swims has reflected on the "perfect storm" of his global breakthrough as he gears up for the release of his eagerly-awaited second album.

I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) drops this Friday, January 24 via Atlantic Records UK in the wake of a run of hits for the singer-songwriter, who covers the February edition of Music Week.

The 32-year-old's billion-plus-stream breakout single Lose Control, which topped the charts in multiple countries including his native US, was No.4 in the Official Charts Company's 2024 year-end singles chart rankings and has current UK sales of 1,913,780.

“I knew that song was going to change my life,” Swims told Music Week. “If I have that gut feeling that something’s a hit and watch it become one, now I know I can trust my gut next time. In the past, I had written songs that maybe I thought people wanted to hear, versus something only true to me.

"It’s weird, because something you think everybody can relate to maybe isn’t the most relatable thing. But the thing that is so specific to you, which you feel like no one can possibly relate to, [it turns out] everybody has that somewhere in their life. I couldn’t be more grateful for that song.” 

There’s got to be the perfect storm for a hit. It’s gotta be the perfect time in culture, but more so, it’s got to fit that artist correctly

Teddy Swims

Swims, who has 49 million monthly Spotify listeners, contended that Lose Control was simply the right song for the right time.

“There’s got to be the perfect storm for a hit," he said. "It’s gotta be the perfect time in culture, but more so, it’s got to fit that artist correctly. I think I can safely say that we knew Lose Control was going to be a hit, but also I don’t think anybody else could have sung it and it been a hit. It was something that was so for me and by me, that was why it transcended the way it did, because I sing it from the spot that came from my heart and was so real and specific to me.”

Swims also breached the UK Top 10 with The Door (736,275 sales, OCC) and Bad Dreams (306,773 sales), while his 2023 debut LP I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) has gone gold, selling 167,459 units to date. He disclosed that, between the two albums, he started seeing a therapist, both on his own and with his partner. 

“The first project was so much me trying to heal and left so many questions of trying to get to the other side of what that was like," he explained. "I can now come with more answers and a little less turmoil. There’s still heartbreak in there, but it feels like I can talk about it, and there’s songs for lovers in there, because I’m in love and I’m on the other side of it.”

According to Swims, his highlight of making the new record were the songwriting camps held in Palm Springs with collaborators such as Julian Bunetta, Mikky Ekko, John Ryan and Marcus Lomax.

“We’d go and do these writing camps, lock ourselves away for a week and have a good old-fashioned tequila bender and write songs for five days," he said. "Those were just the funnest times, man. You get to the core of it and just write, write, write. I’ll never take that for granted.”

I feel like I’m ready for it, mentally, physically and spiritually

Teddy Swims

He also recalled once working with John Mayer, who left an indelible impression on the hitmaker.

“I talked to him about how he’s done everything by himself this whole time,” said Swims. “It’s gotta be so crazy because you’ve got to really trust yourself and your instinct. When you’ve got four or five people in a room and they all agree a song is awesome, then I’m certain that if you scale that up, there’s got to be at least 100 more that think that, right? It’s way better than me just thinking something’s cool and being terrified of showing my friends.”

Swims signed with Warner Records at the end of 2019 after coming to the fore with cover versions of tracks by the likes of Michael Jackson and Shania Twain, only for Covid-19 to get in the way. 

“I thought it was all going to come right then, like I’d finally made it,” he reflected. “I was going to break through. And then we went through the pandemic and it took five years to get to where I thought I was supposed to be.

“You want everything right now, but God’s timing is real. I feel like I’m ready for it, mentally, physically and spiritually. If I would’ve got to where I’m at right now five years ago, I would’ve sent it to my liver or right up my nose. I know how to be this. I know what to stand on and what to represent. I’ve really got it figured out.”

The full cover story with Teddy Swims, his manager Luke Conway, plus Atlantic UK co-presidents Briony Turner and Ed Howard and their team features in the new issue of Music Week. Subscribers can read the interview here.

 



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