Each year at Reading, there’s at least one act that draws a crowd far beyond the capacity of the stage they’ve been assigned. Friday’s (August 23) Teddy Swims’ performance becomes the first of this year’s festival, a mammoth crowd turning up to the BBC Radio 1 Stage to catch the Atlanta singer-songwriter with thatNM booming, golden voice.

Shortly after finishing his set, Swims invites NME into his dressing room, handing out shots of Don Julio and sharing his excitement to catch some of Blink-182’s headlining set later. “I’m freaking out, man,” he grins. “I’m having a blast, I’m having the time of my life. We just did a little shooter and we’re ready to go, baby.”

He has plenty to be freaking out about, giving his astonishing ascent since releasing ‘Lose Control’ last year. The track gave Swims (real name Jaten Dimsdale) his big breakthrough moment – and has refused to stop growing since. Read on for NME’s chat with the star about that life-changing song, his surprise Reading train station performance, and an update on his “healed” new music.

NME: You drew a huge crowd today. How was the performance?

Teddy Swims: “That was beautiful, man. It was beautiful. This crowd is so beautiful. As far as I’ve been hearing, there’s a lot of kids get their exam things, and they come out here. You can see it – kids having their first liberating moments and stuff. It was a really beautiful thing to be a part of. And we’re done by, what, 6:15pm right now. So I mean, it’s also great – I get to spend the rest of the time just being a part of the culture. I’m really excited.”

It’s your first time at Reading, what does it mean to you to be performing here?

“It means a lot, man, and Leeds tomorrow. It just means a lot. This is something that when we started the project, Teddy Swims, five years ago,  this meant a lot for us to come and and do this. This is a legendary, legendary place to be and legendary showcase to be in, and I’m super grateful.”

You got your weekend started early yesterday with a performance at Reading train station…

“It went really well. So I teamed up with Rockstar Energy, and they wanted to put a little situation at Reading train station. A lot of times we go and we do these shows, [but] we don’t get to really leave the venue and go experience a lot. So we always try to prioritise those tiny little things where there’s a piano in a local area. We just try to go over there and try to meet whoever we can and play for whoever we can and just see whoever is willing to listen to us. So that was a really, really cool thing to just have fun and hug on some necks and take some pictures. It was a really cool thing.”

Is it quite liberating to turn up to a performance like that, where people aren’t expecting to see Teddy Swims?

“It’s really cool to just see how many people are, either if they know me or not, just struck by the voice and look up. There’s always a thing that about when you do this for long enough, you sometimes forget about what you do to people when you speak honestly and you just sing well. I love to know that if I’m walking around a train station and I open my mouth, that people are still willing to be like, ‘Where the is that voice coming from?’

“It’s always such a wonderful thing to see that people are moved by something that commands attention and to know that I have a thing that commands attention is always such a special thing to know and to reassure myself that I have. I’m grateful to hear my voice in that light and see people want to be like, ‘Oh my god, I know that voice’, or ‘that voice is moving me in a way – I gotta walk away from where I am, and I got to show up right there and see that voice’. It’s such a special power. It’s a superpower in a way that I forget sometimes.”

You’ve been commanding attention with your recent singles, including ‘Funeral’ from the Bose x NME C24 mixtape. You’ve described that song as both joyful and heartbreaking – why do you like mixing those two emotions in your music?

“Shout out to freaking Mikky Ekko, the greatest of all time of doing this and my best friend, my mentor, my hero, my uncle, my brother. When you’re going through trauma, and you’re going through trying to recreate and reprioritise in your brain what trauma means to you, it’s so wonderful to take something that really hurts you and turn it into something that is a celebration. I think a lot of people get to feel less alone and I get to feel less alone, and we all get to come together and find each other through celebrating some trauma that only we have together.

“It’s almost like an inside joke amongst friends. It might be about pain, but it’s like if we wouldn’t have gone through this, we wouldn’t have had this together. And so I get this lucky space to change some trauma I went through into being a success and into being a celebration. And isn’t that what you would want your trauma to resemble in your brain and to turn it around? It’s such a beautiful opportunity, and to make that a career is incredible.”

It’s been a little while since you released the album, ‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1)’. You’ve been releasing new songs and had the extended edition, too. Is there more new music in the pipeline?

“‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) is done. We have to button up some loose ends. I think it’s just about figuring out what songs there are and the configuration of where they go and where they belong. I think it’s going to be a whole lot more of me on the journey of my healing versus me just being in turmoil. So I think it’s gonna be a beautiful thing.”

Where’s the sound heading on these songs?

“It’s a little bit more all over the place than the last one was. But I do believe it’s a little bit more healed. It’s coming from more of a healed spot. So, you know, who cares what it sounds like? It sounds more healed.”

One song that’s worked for you is ‘Lose Control’. You said when you were writing that you knew it was going to change your life. What was it about the song that gave you that sense?

“The thing was, after we got it done, we knew it was going to change my life. I didn’t know it was going to change it like this. I didn’t know it was going to be this, but I knew it was going to work. But I think it was the first time that I felt honest. I was in a relationship at the time with somebody that I was running away from to be at that camp for a week. I was talking to [my collaborators] about stuff and they were trying to tell me to get out of this situation that was really rough for me.

“I knew it was something I needed to listen to from my own heart. Sometimes, your heart’s trying to tell you something, and then you’re not quite there for yourself. Every day, still, that song shows up and I play it, and the further I go into that song, the more I’m like, ‘I’ve been there for myself the whole time, but I just wasn’t there for myself’.

“[It’s so easy] to tell somebody the advice they need to hear, but also you suck at giving yourself that advice. That song was something I just listened to myself on after I got out of that. The more I listened to it, the more I was like, ‘Man, I really need to trust my gut and the people around me that are helping me write this’.”

‘Lose Control’ is nominated for a few VMAs, including Song Of The Year. What would it mean to you to win such a big award for a song that’s so honest and meaningful?

“It would mean a lot to win. But personally, I’ve gotten what I needed out of it. I think currently, right now, as VMAs go, I mean, [in the Best New Artist category with me], there’s [Sha]boozey, there’s Chappel Roan, there’s the sweetest love of my life, Benson Boone. I’d rather them take it home because it’s way better for life in general. They’re so beautiful to me, and I’m such a big fan. I’ve got what I wanted from it.

“This is a huge year for music. This is a massive year for music, man. This is a huge year for artists coming up and just to be one of the rookies amongst some of these huge rookies that are coming up, I’m OK. We got Tyla, we got Sexyy Red. There’s so many amazing artists coming up. I’m the back burner of that, but just to be mentioned, I’m OK. I don’t need anything from that. I’m just grateful to be here.”

Follow all of the action as it happens on the NME Reading & Leeds liveblog here.

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