Who is Teddy Swims? Meet the US artist taking the music world by storm

Teddy Swims, real name Jaten Dimsdale, has released his first album, I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1). Photo / Lindsey Byrnes

Say his name to an older generation of Kiwi music lovers and you might be met with blank stares and the question, “Who?”

But for those who count themselves among his fans, to know him is to love him.

The artist known as Teddy Swims (Teddy is a childhood nickname, Swims an acronym for Someone Who Isn’t Me Sometimes) shot to fame for his covers on YouTube before stepping out as an artist in his own right, now with several EPs and a debut album to his name.

Teddy Swims performs at Auckland Town Hall in August this year. Photo / Getty Images

It’s thanks to his viral cover of Six60′s Rivers that New Zealanders are among his biggest fans, and they proved it when they lined up outside Auckland Town Hall last month to hear him.

The day after the show, where he showed off his brand-new Huffer outfit as he serenaded the crowd, he spoke with the Herald at Roundhead Studios in Eden Terrace.

In person, he’s as hard to define as the genre of his music, which draws from soul, pop and R&B. He’s covered in tattoos and has a raspy, powerful voice that nails the high notes, but he’s softly spoken, sweet, and a touch self-deprecating without being shy — he prefers a bear hug to a handshake and within moments of sitting down with the Herald, he’s already cross-legged on the floor.

Real name Jaten Dimsdale, the preacher’s grandson from Georgia couldn’t be more excited to be back in New Zealand — and he truly believes that Kiwis have discovered the secret to happiness.

“The people here I just think are so beautiful, and I think they genuinely believe people are good,” is his assessment of us.

“Nobody’s just walking around just callous and angry all the time, at least in my experience. I’ve gotten such a love from this place and I just love it out here. People have stuck by me for four years here and have watched me develop as Teddy Swims and have my back.”

This visit lasted only 48 hours but he’s already planning a comeback — he “wants to go see where the Hobbits are” and go to the beach.

Kiwis are among Teddy Swims' biggest fans, thanks to his viral cover of Six60's Rivers. Photo / Supplied

He did have the chance to do some shopping, debuting his haul of New Zealand designer wear on stage — coincidentally, the day before New Zealand Fashion Week kicked off in Auckland. He even had to buy another suitcase “cause I just couldn’t stop [in the Huffer store], I got overwhelmed there. When I first got to my hotel, Stolen Girlfriends Club left me some stuff, they gave me this cool shirt”.

It’s not the only detail fans spotted in his outfit — he was also wearing two pounamu around his neck that he now reveals were gifted to him by “two beautiful ladies” during his meet and greet before the show.

“One gave me this one here and one gave me another one and it was just very, very sweet,” he says, pointing them out. “What they’ve taught me is it’s passing this energy back to me.

“It’s a real honour and it’s a beautiful piece of jewellery as well. I know how important it is for the culture, I feel invited with open arms. I’ll wear them forever.”

He hasn’t met Six60 in person yet, but he has a text-based friendship with lead singer Matiu Walters.

“We are talking about an eventual collaboration, which is huge, and they’re incredible. His voice is just out of this world. So if the timing ever works out, we’ll do something,” he promises.

His first studio album, titled I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1), is out today.

“This generation is the first [to] really start normalising talking about mental health in its entirety,” he muses.

“But I think there’s still this generational mentality that we don’t want to go to therapy, or that ‘I’m not crazy, I don’t need a shrink’, kind of thing, you know?”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Teddy Swims (@teddyswims)

Teddy Swims admits he’s fond of his own coping mechanisms.

“Whether it’s, you know, drinking tequila or biting my nails or certain tics I have, or biting the inside of my cheeks — I have these nervous things that I do and this anxiety I have, and these insecurities,” he shares.

“And I feel like I’ve grown accustomed to them, and I don’t know what I’d be like if they were ever challenged or I ever had to change them, or heal from some trauma that I am for some reason attached to.”

Any artist will tell you that songwriting and making music is a therapeutic act in itself. But he points out that constantly rehashing negative emotions can mean they never go away.

“I do this thing sometimes where this one thing that happens in my life, I’ll write a song about it, and then I’ll write another song about it, and then I’ll write a hundred songs about it, and a hundred different perspectives,” he says.

The album cover art for Teddy Swims' I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part one). Photo / Supplied

“And now I’ve taken this tiny little problem, and I’ve made it so gigantic in my life that, instead of it actually being therapeutic, it’s made it massive and it’s become the most important problem and thing in my life.

“And then you release the song, and what if it does good? And it’s paying your bills, and your friends’ bills, it’s taking care of your family?”

One example of this is his single Lose Control on the new album, about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend who struggled with substance abuse.

“We were drinking a lot and we were doing drugs a lot. And — I don’t know how candid I can be — a lot of cocaine together,” he admits.

“And as I was trying to clean my life up, it was kind of like we were not on the same page.

“There were a lot of arguments and fights and toxic things that I think we both loved about the relationship — the high highs were just immaculate and the low lows were what maybe fed the highest parts to be the best they were.

“So it truly was just about breaking free and being able to heal and surrounding myself with rewarding love, and feeling like I deserve to be loved, and not using substances to have substance in my life.”

So, has he tried therapy yet?

“I made a promise to myself that when [the album] does come out, I will put myself into therapy,” he says earnestly.

But a split second later, he’s cracking a smile — as heavy as his subject material is, he’s the first to gently poke fun at himself.

“I named it that to buy myself a couple more months of freedom, of being a traumatised little s***,” he jokes.

Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in Kiwis’ real-life stories, beauty and skincare secrets, and anything even remotely related to coffee.