Conyers-born Jaten Dimsdale is a child of Motown and musical theater, both of which influence the music he performs under the stage name “Teddy Swims.” He’s also a child of the YouTube generation and used a massive online following to land a recording contract with Warner Records.
Swims brings his signature blend of vintage R&B sensibilities and hip-hop infused modernism to the Buckhead Theatre on May 7 and 8. Later in the month, he will launch a European tour that already has sold-out dates.
It is clear from the opening strains of “dose,” Swims’ latest single, that his hybridized sound is meant to sit as comfortably with fans of Curtis Mayfield as Post Malone, erasing the decades of distance between the two and offering a deeply soulful olive branch to the fans of both.
“I’m a Motown kid,” says Swims. “I grew up loving soul music so my influences are Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye.” That classic R&B vocabulary serves Swims well, giving him a rich, literate understanding of the genre that has eluded many of his peers.
While the titans of Motown may be at the forefront of his songwriting, Swims enjoys a startlingly vast palette of influences that ranges from the southern comforts of country to the spiritual uplift of gospel and even the guttural ferocity of hardcore metal.
Still, it was a high school stint in musical theater that would inspire Swims to take on music as a full-time career. “Me and my theater teacher wrote this Star Wars: the Musical parody,” chuckles Swims. “’We ended up doing that show for two weekends — sold out. It brought the theater company out of debt and saved our theater department.”
Swims parlayed his love of musical theater into a wide range of musical endeavors, finding himself singing alternative country, screaming hardcore and crooning out classic soul covers around Atlanta in an effort to avoid the doldrums of waiting tables.
He began posting cover songs on YouTube in 2019, and his version of the Michael Jackson song “Rock With You” landed him six million views. A cover of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One” has drawn an astounding 86 million views.
He began shopping around rap songs and, much to his surprise, found himself touring in the summer of 2019 as an opening act for Tyler Carter, the former vocalist for Atlanta based metalcore band Issues. Rapping gave way to singing and within six months Swims signed a deal with Warner Records.
Since then, Swims was named as an “Artist To Watch” by Rolling Stone magazine. He has performed on the Today Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show with James Cordon.
It was during his stint in musical theater in his hometown that Swims began his long-running collaboration with fellow student Jesse Hampton, who now serves as Swims’ guitarist and co-writer. “I’ve got all my buddies in my band,” says Swims. “A lot of them I’ve known since middle school.”
That long-standing connection with his collaborators has served Swims well and, he hopes, ensures that his music never becomes stagnant or overly predictable. “I feel like there’s three songs that everybody writes over and over,” he says. “I find that when I’m working with people that are new, I do the same thing. But the guys in my band are always willing to challenge my ideas and processes.”
It’s a working relationship that continues to strike gold. Swims’ debut EP, 2021’s Unlearning, is a slow-burning cavalcade of passionate crooning against a bed of live instrumentation and pulsating electronics. The music is at once intimate and epic, capturing the gentle relatability of Swims’ affable nature and the soaring grandiosity of the stardom that increasingly envelops him. The gentle pondering of “L.I.F.E” and “Bed on Fire” sits well alongside the burning wail of “Till I Change Your Mind” and “Broke,” showcasing a soulful tour de force in just seven short tracks.
Swims’ lyrics revolve around his deep examinations of love and relationships. “I’m either making love or crying about losing it,” he quips.
He has seen the fruits of his labor in that regard, with fans approaching him en masse to relate the moments in their lives for which his songs have served as a soundtrack. He’s had fans tell him that his song “Bed On Fire” helped them survive a divorce, or that they planned to use his song “Amazing” as their first dance song at their wedding.
Swims’ eclectic brew of music has helped him find a wide-reaching audience, and attract fans from unexpected places. He received a mentoring session from Black Eyed Peas bandleader will.i.am that gave Swims profound insight into that facet of his role as a songwriter. “He taught me the most beautiful thing about music: The way that people receive your music is not about your emotion,” says Swims. “We aren’t trying to write emotions that are ours — we’re trying to capture a moment in time and immortalize that moment forever.”
