‘Every day I try to cry a little bit’

When Teddy Swims turned up to the MTV Awards last September, he was nominated for four prizes, including best new artist.

In the event, the combined forces of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter denied him a single Moon Man trophy – but the singer left with something much more valuable.

“I didn’t realise until a couple of weeks later, but my partner and I conceived that night,” he beams.

“We’re due in June and things are great. I think we’re gonna crush it.”

Domestic bliss isn’t a quality that fans might associate with Teddy Swims.

His huge breakthrough single Lose Control, and the hit album I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy, were rooted in dysfunction, addiction and heartbreak.

They were inspired by a toxic, mutually-destructive relationship he’d escaped. In the past, he’s described it as a “really co-dependent lifestyle” that went from “bender to bender” as both sides “leveraged each other’s shame against one another”.

As he sings on a recent single, “I saved my life when I showed you the door”.

But that was only one chapter in the story of the 32-year-old Georgia native Jaten Dimsdale.

This Friday, he releases a second album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy Part 2, that explains what happened next.

“I’ve learned that love doesn’t have to be this thing of high highs and low lows – fighting and pulling teeth just to stay together,” he says.

“The first album was a lot of turmoil, and not too much closure. So I wanted to come back and say, ‘Here’s me on the other side of this, and I’m doing better’.

“I feel like, as a listener, I would want to hear that there’s a way out.”

His new partner is also a singer-songwriter, Raiche Wright, who he met “a couple of Thanksgivings ago” when she came to one of his shows – and the new album dwells in a sort of bewildered bliss.

“Are you something from a dream or something that I made up?” he wonders on the slick R&B groove of Are You Real.

Later, on the acoustic guitar ballad If You Ever Change Your Mind, he croons, “I love you, I love you,” with a quiet sincerity rarely found in a pop record.

Musically, the album paints from the same palette as before – a brand of 1960s soul where dusty piano grooves and chugging guitar lines are punched up with a modern pop sheen, and a pinch of rock and roll swagger.

But it’s not all hearts and flowers. The sumptuous soul of Black And White makes a plea for tolerance, inspired by the prejudice Dimsdale and his partner – who has mixed black and white heritage – have faced.

“I see people looking disgusted because we’re different colours – especially down South,” he says.

“But it’s okay to be happy in love with someone of a different colour, or a different size or shape, or the same sex, or whatever it is.

“Why would you be hating on that? It’s such a backwards thing.”

Dimsdale learned about acceptance the hard way. Born in Conyers, an eastern suburb of Atlanta, his grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher with set views on the world, and family life was hard to navigate.

His parents divorced when he was three and, although both remarried, their new relationships were problematic. His mother, with whom he lived, married an alcoholic who left suddenly when Dinsdale was 18 and never spoke to the family again.

His father, who he saw at weekends, married a woman who developed serious mental health problems, including schizophrenia, and spent long stretches in hospital. His dad ended up raising Dimsdale’s step-brothers almost single-handedly.

“He’d work 18 hours a day, and still get the homework done and still get to the practices, all by himself,” he says.

“There’s just not enough I can say about how amazing that man truly is.”

Dimsdale was a late bloomer when it came to music. As a youngster, he was a dedicated footballer, until a friend convinced him to audition for a school production of Damn Yankees.

The musical sparked a love affair with singing. He researched vocal techniques on YouTube, soaking in performances by Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

After graduation, he started playing with local metal bands, adopting the stage name “Swims” from internet forum-speak for Someone Who Isn’t Me Sometimes. Teddy, meanwhile, is a childhood nickname, based on his affable and cuddly persona.

But it was a cover of Shania Twain’s country ballad You’re Still The One that earned him his big break.

On YouTube, it’s been watched 197 million times. One of those viewers was a talent scout for Warner Bros records, who signed Dimsdale to a record deal on Christmas Eve 2019.

They partnered the musician with professional writers like Julian Bunetta (Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction) and Mikky Ekko (Rihanna, Drake) – but he also retained his high school band, Freak Feely, who play with him to this day.

After three EPs, and hundreds of sessions, they wrote Lose Control, and Dinsdale instantly “knew it was going to change my life”.

He was right. With 2.2 billion global streams, it is one of the most successful songs in recent chart history – but finding an audience took time.

There was no viral moment or TikTok trend associated with Lose Control. Instead, Dimsdale “did it the old-fashioned way”.

“We showed up and did every damn interview possible,” he says. “We went to every office and radio station and shook every hand individually. We stopped everyone on the street, busking.”

He believes the personal touch beats everything, hands down.

“People love to see their friend win, so if you go out there and make time for them, it goes a lot further than a playlist coming across your desk, or a little file coming to your email that says, ‘Hey, can you push this song?’

“And that’s the old way you work a record, before streaming.”

Bashfully, he confesses the song made him a millionaire (“so I can’t be too mad at that girl any more, can I?”) but he’s learning that making money means spending money.

“A million dollars goes so fast,” he says. “Once you put 66 people on a tour, with all the gear and all the lights, it’s right out the door as fast as you get it.

“Twenty bucks still means what 20 bucks meant to me before, but the amount coming in and out is such a scary thing to look at sometimes.”

As we speak, he’s in rehearsals in Pennsylvania, ahead of his first European arena tour, which includes two nights at Wembley this March.

The stage has just been built for the first time, and he’s eager to acquaint himself with all the ramps and video walls. The music… not so much.

“I wouldn’t say I’m already sick of the songs, but we’ve been playing them non-stop for two weeks now,” he says. “I can’t wait ’til people sing along, so I can fall in love with them again.”

If you’ve been to a Teddy Swims show, you’ll know he lays his heart on the line.

There are countless videos of him sobbing as he performs Some Things I’ll Never Know, a song about abandonment and grief. For the upcoming tour, he’s playing it back-to-back with a new tear-jerker, Northern Lights, that dives even deeper into heartbreak.

He’s going to be a mess – but Dimsdale insists it’s a good thing.

“Every day I try to cry a little bit,” he says. “It’s just pain leaving the body.

“And it’s a constant reminder that, whatever you were going through, on the other side of it there’s happiness.”

With his bearded and tattooed face, you might not expect such emotional intelligence – but Dimsdale’s model of masculinity wasn’t afraid to share his feelings.

“I’m my daddy’s son,” he says. “He’s just a sensitive man. He’ll tell you he loves you, he’ll tell you he’s proud of you. Man, I’ll still sit there, laying in his arms while we’re watching TV on the couch.”

“He’s the most beautiful, humble human being I’ve ever met. Second to only Jesus Christ.”

So, the obvious question: Is dad excited to become a grandfather?

“He’s doing backflips,” laughs the singer.

“I’m almost scared to have him as a granddad, because I want my kids to think I’m cool, too.”