Unlearning

Teddy Swims contains multitudes. It's right there in his name- "Swims" is an acronym for "Someone Who Isn't Me Sometimes," and it's a kind of shorthand for everything he stands for. There's the fact that his voice sounds cozy and rich over any of the many genres he loves to mix up, from the pop and soul most have heard, on to gospel, hip-hop, and hard rock. But it's even bigger than the Atlanta singer and songwriter's rich baritone. To Teddy, the concept goes beyond his art, it means empathy, connection, using music to serve a greater good, and staying true to your people-in his case, a core group of about a dozen buds, bandmates, producers, and other various visionaries who knew him well before he became Teddy Swims. After signing to Warner Records in early 2020, he released his first original song-the frisky, funked-up "Picky"-and took off on a sold-out cross-country headlining tour. Then came "Broke," a raucous clap-along anthem about the joys of (finally) making and spending mad cash, produced by Julian Bunetta (One Direction) and reworked version featuring Grammy-nominated superstar Thomas Rhett. The tracks and their accompanying videos comprise a glorious celebration of excess that's plenty justified by all of the reverent nods to James Brown and Teddy's goofily sweet sense of humor. "Girl, whatchu want? Go pick it out," he sings slyly. "My wallet lookin' bigger than my belly now." or his new EP, Unlearning, Teddy says "This last year has been hard on all of us, it's truly been a time of introspection. My first body of work ever as Teddy Swims is coming out and I believe it so perfectly captures my journey so far during all this mess and hard times. There were some things we all needed to learn but even more things we all needed to unlearn. Some thought processes and mindsets needed to be broken! So I titled this EP Unlearning.