‘Love You First’: Teddy Swims on Aussie fans and how being a dad is rocking his world

The big man with the beard and tatts, who’s selling out arenas across the globe, is heading our way. New dad Teddy Swims reflects on the ride so far, his Aussie fans and how fatherhood rocks his world.

The shows get bigger each time Teddy Swims returns to Aussie shores.

His first gigs here just three years ago were to crowds of under 2000.

Last year Teddy Swims played sold out gigs across the country in venues with a capacity of around 5000 each.

Now, he’s returning for a run of arena shows across Australia, starting with sold out shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena from October 14 and with stops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Qudos alone has a capacity of more than 15,000 for each of his three shows there.

“I’m so grateful, man,” Teddy Swims beams via Zoom.

“And again, I say this every time, like, I’m so grateful to have you guys (Australian fans) always have my back, man, like the people that saw it first, the people that loved me first. I mean, y’all love me, man? You know what I’m saying? I love you first. I appreciate you so much.”

It was late night when Teddy Swims – real name Jaten Collin Dimsdale – jumped on a Zoom call with Sydney Weekend ahead of a show in Argentina.

“It is almost 11pm here so excuse my Aperol Spritz,” he said, sipping from a glass.

“I’m allowed to have it.”

It could have been 11am and this scribe would have forgiven Teddy Swims if he’d been drinking a beverage of the alcohol variety.

Despite his tatts and, to some, tough exterior, Teddy Swims is a big softie, a big teddy bear even.

He is supremely polite, genuinely checking in on my wellbeing as it had been about a year since our last catch-up.

Teddy Swims broke through just two years ago when, in 2023, his hit Lose Control, became a global smash. He was recently nominated for a Grammy Award with the gong ultimately going to Chappell Roan.

Teddy Swims describes becoming a dad as a “life changing moment”. Picture: Instagram.

Teddy Swims and partner Raiche Wright at this year’s Grammy Awards. Picture: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Australia was one of the first countries to truly embrace the chart topping singer when he first broke through and he will never forget that.

Earlier that morning, he’d done a TV interview where the journalist mistakenly congratulated him on having previously won the Grammy.

“I mean, tell everybody I won a Grammy,” he said. “I prefer it.”

To illustrate his quick rise, his last Sydney gigs for example were at the Hordern Pavilion, an iconic venue seen as a stepping stone to bigger scale shows where the likes of Billie Eilish first played when they toured Australia.

Teddy Swims performing live. He’s returning for a run of arena shows across Australia, starting with sold out shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena. Picture: Bryce Hall

Usually that process takes longer than it has for Teddy Swims. Plus there are more often than not much bigger breaks between visits but his Australian fans want more.

That’s been proven by the fact his shows have kept selling out and tour promoter Frontier has had to keep adding dates. New tickets have just been released.

“We just did a little arena run in Europe so we’ve got some background singers now, which is cute,” he explained with a big smile.

“Like, I’m rising out of the bottom of the stage kind of thing because you know, it’s just a rite of passage to rise out of the bottom of the stage and do the whole come out the thing and there’s like fire and you know sparks and stuff like that.

“It is all the things that you want out of an arena act, you know that I needed to have as an arena hack. I’m really stoked to have this, we got the whole thing now, it is what you expect an arena act to be. We are absolutely clicking all of the boxes, which is so cool, bro.”

At the centre of it though, bells and whistles aside, is a singer with a phenomenal voice.

“And the best damn band on the whole planet, man, that I’ve known my whole life,” he said.

“I’m still doing the best job with my best friends, man, and the f--king best band in the world, it is like the coolest thing in the world. It’s still just as fun, it’s still just as happy. Still we laugh, we cry every day, man, it’s a good day to be us, every time.”

Teddy Swims wears his heart on his sleeve.

Teddy Swims is not taking anything for granted. Picture: Claire Marie Vogel

Teddy Swims wears his heart on his sleeve. Picture: Claire Marie Vogel

He is unashamedly emotional but also extraordinarily friendly in the best possible way. His guard seems to be always down where other stars of his level of fame can often be a bit prickly.

You can tell instantly that this singer is not taking anything for granted.

“Well, I am my daddy’s son, that’s all that is, you know? I’ll always be my daddy’s son.”

Teddy Swims hasn’t really stopped though. He has some time off – a few weeks – before heading to Australia in October.

He and partner Raiche Wright have recently become parents for the first time, a life changing moment that sees Teddy Swims grin like the Cheshire Cat when he talks about it.

“I might be the most exhausted I’ve ever been. But I’m going to get some time to be a daddy. And I’m so, dude, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be a father. I can tell you how much it means to me to be a father, especially having the father I have. To watch my dad be a granddaddy, to do the whole thing. This is everything I needed in my life so bad. I love my son.”

It put life into perspective for the singer, who can’t wait to watch his son grow up.

“What’s your favourite colour? What do you like? Like, what do you do? Who are you, you know? Like, God, I’m so excited, but I can’t tell you any of that (yet). I just wanna cry. I cry every day about it. I love him.”

Musically, fatherhood has already changed his perspective too.

“I think it’s changing already the way I think about things,” he said.

“Before, I wanted this (music success) so badly and I wanted to be, I still want to be one of the greatest that’s ever done this. Of course, I want to be regarded, I guess, eventually as like … I wanted to be like Michael Jackson, or I wanted to be like one of the best singers of all time, but now it’s like, genuinely like, I’m okay with having what I’ve got.”

He continued: “I mean, I do wanna be one of the greats, I do want to be revered as like Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding but also like, honestly y’all can have that. I don’t care, I want to be a good daddy, that’s what I want the most.”

Teddy Swims wants his son to think he is cool.

“That’s all I want,” he said.

“If my son’s like, this is the coolest guy I know, it’s like that’s what I want, I want to please him. Y’all can have the rest of it, honestly, at this point, you know?”

The 32-year-old said his mind “already started shifting before I met the kid”.

And he spoke of the special bond he shares with his own father, Fred.

“My dad said this to me when I told him we were pregnant, he was like, ‘Son, you’re finally going to understand how much I love you.’

“He says that to me every day when I talk to him.”

The singer and his partner moved his schedule around to ensure he was home for much of June and July for the baby’s arrival.

They’ve bought the house too.

“I mean you get as ready as you can but there ain’t no getting ready for that though, is it?

“You can listen to all the books, you can buy the house, you can prepare all the things around it, you can take the time off, but when he got here, boy that’s real then.”

Teddy Swims released his first two albums in fairly quick succession. And while he’s already got new music in the works, he’s waiting for the next.

“The whole thing was about doing the part one of I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy, it was that I was going through such a turmoil point where I was with somebody and I was going through a break-up and I was really in a bad place in my life.

“I wanted to do I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy part two because it was after I’d gotten out of that relationship and I was out of a bad place in my life and I’m healing and I tried therapy and I fell back in love and again, having a kid and having so much support and so much success, part two was kind of a closure to the first one because I felt like the first album was letting people into this just heartbreak and there was no answer.

“The second one was just like, dude, if you just stick to the path on the outside of all that heartbreak and all that mess, two years later, there’s success, there is love, there is family, there is support, there is care, there is family, there’s all these good things that come on the other side of it, because when I was in that first album, I felt like there was no answer.”

Does Teddy Swims love himself now? We all know that can be a hard thing to do.

“Man, I love me. I’m a good man. I really am a good man.”

Originally published as ‘Love You First’: Teddy Swims on Aussie fans and how being a dad is rocking his world