“Every day I try to cry a little”

When Teddy Swims appeared at the MTV Awards last September, he was nominated for four awards, including Best New Artist.

As a result, the combined forces of Chappelle Roan and Sabrina Carpenter denied him his only Man of the Month trophy, but the singer left with something much more valuable.

“I didn’t realize it until a couple of weeks later, but that night my partner and I got pregnant,” he beams.

“We are due in June and everything is great. I think we’re going to crush him.”

Domestic pleasure is not a quality that fans might associate with Teddy Swims.

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

They were inspired by the toxic, mutually destructive relationships he had escaped. He has described it in the past as a “really codependent lifestyle” that went from “bender to bender” with both sides “using each other’s shame against each other”.

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

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

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

“I realized that love doesn’t have to be about high highs and low lows – fighting and pulling teeth to stay together,” he says.

“The first album was full of upheavals and not too closed. So I wanted to come back and say, “Here I am on the other side of this, and I’m doing better.”

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

His new partner is also singer-songwriter Raeche Wright, whom he met “a few thanksgiving days ago” when she came to one of his shows – and the new album lives on in a kind of surprised bliss.

“Are you something from a dream or something I made up?he marvels to the smooth rhythm and blues of Are You Real.

Later in the acoustic guitar ballad If You Ever Change Your Mind, he croons: “i love you i love you” with a quiet sincerity rarely seen on pop records.

Musically, the album is painted in the same palette as before – a 1960s brand of soul where dusty piano grooves and jittery guitar lines are combined with modern pop sheen and a dash of rock ‘n’ roll swagger.

But it’s not just hearts and flowers. The sumptuous soul of Black and White calls for tolerance, inspired by the prejudice faced by Dimmesdale and his partner, who is of mixed black and white heritage.

“I see people with disgust because we are different colors, especially in the South,” he says.

“But it’s okay to be happy in love with someone who’s a different color, or a different size or shape, or the same gender, or whatever.

“Why do you hate it? It’s such a backwards thing.”

Dimmesdale learned acceptance the hard way. Born in Conyers, an eastern suburb of Atlanta, his grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher with certain worldviews, and family life was difficult to navigate.

His parents divorced when he was three, and although both remarried, their new relationship was 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, whom he saw on the weekends, married a woman who developed serious mental health problems, including schizophrenia, and spent long periods in hospital. His father ended up raising the Dimmesdale half-brothers pretty much single-handedly.

“He was working 18-hour days, doing his homework and getting to practice, all by himself,” he says.

“I just can’t put into words how amazing this man is.”

Dimmesdale was a late bloomer when it came to music. As a child, he was a committed football player until a friend convinced him to audition for the school production of The Damned Yankees.

The musical sparked a love of singing. He researched vocal technique on YouTube, soaking in Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

After graduation, he began playing with local metal bands, adopting the stage name “Swims” from the online forum Someone Who Isn’t Me Sometimes. Teddy, meanwhile, is a baby nickname based on his friendly and cuddly personality.

But it was a cover of Shania Twain’s country ballad You’re Still The One that brought him great success.

It has been viewed 197 million times on YouTube. One of those viewers was a talent scout for Warner Bros Records, who signed Dimsdale to a contract on Christmas Eve 2019.

They collaborated with the musician with professional writers such as Julian Bunetto (Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction) and Micky Ecko (Rihanna, Drake), but he also kept his school band Freak Feely, which plays with him to this day.

After three mini-albums 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’s one of the most successful songs in recent chart history, but it took time to find an audience.

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

“We showed up and did the best possible interview,” he says. “We went to every office and radio station and shook everyone’s hand individually. We stopped everyone on the street, sat on the bus.”

He believes that a personal approach trumps everything.

“People love to see their friend win, so when you go out there and make time for them, it goes a lot further than a playlist that lands on your desk or a little file that arrives in your email that says, ” Hey can you push that song?’

“And that’s the old way you work on a record before you broadcast it.”

He sheepishly admits that the song made him a millionaire (“so I can’t be mad at that girl anymore, right?”), but he’s learned that making money means spending money.

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

“Twenty bucks still means the same to me as 20 bucks used to mean, but the amount that comes in and out is scary to watch sometimes.”

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

The stage was just built for the first time and he is very excited to get to know all the ramps and video walls. Music… not so much.

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

If you’ve been to a Teddy Swims show, you know what he prefers.

There is countless videos as he sobs performs Some Things I’ll Never Knowa song about abandonment and grief. For the upcoming tour, he will play it on the heels of a tearful new song, Northern Lights, which plunges him even deeper into grief.

He’ll be a mess, but Dimmesdale insists that’s fine.

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

“And it’s a constant reminder that no matter what you’re going through, there’s happiness on the other side of it.”

With his bearded and tattooed face, you might not expect such emotional intelligence, but Dimmesdale’s paragon of courage wasn’t afraid to share his feelings.

“I’m my dad’s son,” he says. “He’s just a sensitive person. He will tell you that he loves you, he will tell you that he is proud of you. Man, I’m still going to sit in his arms while we watch TV on the couch.’

“He is the most beautiful, humble man I have ever met. The second after Jesus Christ”.

So the obvious question is, is dad excited to be a grandpa?

“He does a backflip,” laughs the singer.

“I almost dread having him as a grandpa because I want my kids to think I’m cool too.”