0:00

Welcome to And the writer

0:02

is, I am your host, Ross

0:04

Golan. There are millions of singers

0:06

and thousands of artists, but only

0:09

40 songs per genre at a

0:11

time. This podcast aims to shed

0:13

a light on those creators who

0:15

make those songs. I produced this

0:18

with my friend Joe London, in

0:20

association with Mega House Music Group,

0:22

special shout out Charlotte Isador, Chad

0:24

Sad, and Michael White. And you

0:27

can follow us at and the

0:29

writer is on all your socials.

0:31

And make sure to share your

0:33

music with the and the writer

0:36

is community. We'll see you there.

0:38

Now, this week's episode. When do

0:40

you become Teddy Swims? Teddy

0:42

Swims. Teddy Swims. Teddy Swims.

0:45

There's a rap project. I

0:47

was just trying to be heard

0:49

in any fucking way fast in

0:51

a form. It blew up so

0:53

fast. Woke up the next day

0:55

and it had like 10,000 views

0:57

on it on Facebook and we're

1:00

like, oh shit, this is crazy.

1:02

I asked all these guys, they

1:04

were still working like full-time jobs

1:06

and stuff and I was like,

1:08

give me six months of your

1:10

life, just devote everything to this,

1:12

they less than six months, I

1:14

signed a warning, they less than

1:16

six months, I signed, I signed

1:18

a warning records and put all these

1:20

boys on salary, and... my self-worth issues

1:23

and that when people loved me and

1:25

validated me that I would feel like

1:27

enough. You know your failures always inform

1:30

your successes not the other way around.

1:32

I think when that song came to

1:34

be though all of us in that

1:37

room felt like oh shit this is

1:39

it this is the life-changing song and

1:41

oh my god we got the

1:43

one this is a life-changer. Yeah

1:46

dude Welcome to and the

1:48

writer is, I am your

1:50

host Ross Golan. Today's genre-defying

1:52

vocal powerhouse has taken the

1:54

world by storm. Raised in the

1:56

South with a deep love for

1:58

soul, country, R&B and... He

2:00

grew up blending influences that would later

2:02

shape his unmistakable style. With a voice

2:04

that can move mountains and an emotional

2:06

depth that cuts straight to the heart,

2:08

he built his career from the ground

2:10

up. First by sharing raw, soulful covers

2:13

online and then by proving he was

2:15

more than just a voice, but a

2:17

true artist and writer in his own

2:19

right. His songs captured love, loss, and

2:21

everything in between resonating with millions across

2:23

the globe. But he's also... Just the

2:25

effiniscus guy and the writer is my

2:27

friend Teddy Swims You know I love

2:29

this podcast first off so it's so

2:31

cool to see you do the right

2:33

here next to you it was cool

2:35

to watch that first hand like this

2:37

I just want to say that was

2:39

badass This is wild. I mean like

2:41

we'll go and do the whole telling

2:43

your story, but you know we were

2:46

in a session not that long ago

2:48

had been two years ago maybe possibly

2:50

like at most two years ago and

2:52

it's just like I'm just I know

2:54

I text you all the time and

2:56

stuff but like I'm proud of you

2:58

man this thank you so much brother

3:00

I appreciate it and I'm so happy

3:02

to be here with you know before

3:04

your Teddy swims your journey musically is

3:06

like is gone so far from where

3:08

you are now you know when do

3:10

you become I'm now Teddy swims And

3:12

where does it swims come from again?

3:14

It's an acronym for someone who isn't

3:17

me sometimes. So we started me and

3:19

my dear friend Addie who plays guitar

3:21

in my band still and was in

3:23

my last band right before Teddy swims.

3:25

We're using this band called Wild Heart

3:27

and there's still a couple songs out

3:29

with you can find on Spotify too.

3:31

And we're really kind of... country alternative

3:33

span or something. And he was like

3:35

kind of making like hip-hop beats at

3:37

the time and giving him to like

3:39

you know wrappers and stuff local people

3:41

in Atlanta and he's like man we

3:43

should we should try to wrap you

3:45

know and so we had like we

3:48

had did a couple songs and my

3:50

different Tyler Carter was in this band

3:52

Issues and he was doing his solo

3:54

run, he just released an album and

3:56

was like. came home heard like a

3:58

couple songs we did and was like

4:00

look dude you guys can come open

4:02

up for me on my solo tour

4:04

if you want and just give me

4:06

like I'm going to Europe for a

4:08

month I'll be back give me 30

4:10

minutes of music and I'll take you

4:12

and so March of 2019 Teddy swims

4:14

and Eddie we went on tour with

4:16

him and it was like we went

4:18

on tour with him and it was

4:21

just like as a as a wrap

4:23

project you know like I was just

4:25

like dude I think people are really

4:27

fucking liking Teddy Swims. You as a

4:29

person that's not like trying to play

4:31

the role in a bunch of different

4:33

bands, it's a lead singer. I think

4:35

people are really connecting with who you

4:37

are as a person and love that.

4:39

And I guess that was kind of

4:41

what spurred us into trying to figure

4:43

out what Teddy Swims could be outside

4:45

of this and just kind of took

4:47

the band and was like, let's just

4:49

fucking do Teddy Swims I guess. And

4:52

started doing the covers and seeing what

4:54

people like and what stuck and what

4:56

stuck and what happened and what happened

4:58

and what happened and you know. And

5:00

you know. And you know. The crazy

5:02

thing is like, you know, we all

5:04

try a million ways to make it

5:06

in music. Yeah. And you just walk

5:08

through open doors. Because you don't know

5:10

where it's going to come from. Yeah,

5:12

I just wanted to be. I just

5:14

wanted to be. I just wanted to

5:16

be doing it. You just wanted to

5:18

be doing it. And I could find

5:20

myself authentically anywhere. Yeah, let's just start

5:23

from the beginning for people who don't

5:25

realize like, you know, you come from,

5:27

you know, there are a lot of

5:29

people in L. So, you know, grew

5:31

up in LA and have like the

5:33

nepotism and there they know this thing

5:35

and they knew that growing up and

5:37

they were always going to be a

5:39

success. Yeah, it was just like what

5:41

they did. That is not the Teddy

5:43

swim story. Let's start from the beginning,

5:45

man. You were born. Yeah, I was

5:47

born in Conyers, Georgia. And, you know,

5:49

I didn't really start. messing and dabbling

5:51

in music until maybe I was coming

5:54

into ninth grade-ish area. Me and my

5:56

dear friend Jesse who still plays with

5:58

me now, you know, still writes. and

6:00

plays in my band and. We started

6:02

dabble and at the time it was

6:04

like a lot of pop punk music

6:06

and we were still graduating high school.

6:08

I got in the theater around 10th

6:10

grade with him and after high school

6:12

I graduated in high school. I got

6:14

in the theater around 10th grade with

6:16

him and after high school I graduated

6:18

in 2011 and it was like the

6:20

post hardcore scene at the time in

6:22

Atlanta was huge. So we were listening

6:24

to the vans like Devil wears Prada

6:27

and trying to attack attack and like

6:29

you know trying to play stuff like

6:31

that like that. singing really. You grew

6:33

up doing, you know, being into like

6:35

sports and others. Yeah, it was a

6:37

football player man, yeah. What was the

6:39

point when you said... I need to

6:41

choose art over a sport. Well, I

6:43

think, I think, you know, I did

6:45

both for one year, like my 10th

6:47

grade year, my sophomore year, I was,

6:49

I was still playing football and kind

6:51

of fell in love with theater and

6:53

I really like loved singing and I

6:55

just fell in love with the, and

6:57

I really like loved singing and I

6:59

just fell in love with the craft

7:01

of that. And also like, you know,

7:03

I remember them telling him, him always

7:05

telling me like he like he was

7:07

too small. to be a defensive lineman,

7:09

you know, and those little guys that

7:11

are like six foot four and like

7:13

300 pounds out there. And he's like,

7:15

no matter how good I was, a

7:17

lot of times they want to take

7:19

the big guy, you know, because you

7:21

can take that, you can take that

7:23

monster and turn them into a monster,

7:25

you know, rather than, so I mean,

7:27

once, once I kind of like, that

7:29

was always kind of pushed in my

7:31

head and I loved football and I

7:33

loved it, but it was just like

7:35

not. a life really at 5 foot

7:37

7 for a defense and tackle. You

7:40

know what I mean? I'm 5 foot

7:42

7, dude. It's over. I was like

7:44

5 foot 7 to 15 at the

7:46

time and it was like, I'm just,

7:48

it's not happening. And also, man, I

7:50

had like, I had the senior before

7:52

me that was, that was our like,

7:54

a quarterback. You know, he had like

7:56

such promise of like going somewhere and

7:58

doing something. He ended up spending his

8:00

like, I imagine being like, how many,

8:02

how many Michael Jones or how many

8:04

Tom Brady's, there were, you know, that

8:06

there will never be that, you know,

8:08

or maybe selling insurance now, because their

8:10

whole family spent their whole life, like

8:12

doing this and putting this into this,

8:14

and then, you know, they break their

8:16

femur in 10th grade or 12th grade

8:18

or second year of college, and then

8:20

their, their careers, like, done, you know,

8:22

it's, it's, like, like, I think, I

8:24

don't know, I don't want to say

8:26

it's more of a sure shot because

8:28

there's no sure shot in anything you're

8:30

doing professionally, but I think when I

8:32

fell in love with this, it was

8:34

just, I can look however I want

8:36

to look and be whoever I want

8:38

to be, just be authentically myself, and

8:40

that's enough to go. And I think

8:42

there's room for everybody. And so I

8:44

know I fell in love with this

8:46

and it was just, it was an

8:48

easy decision for me to just stop,

8:50

you know. Obviously when you're doing art

8:52

stuff you can you can you can

8:54

be and look however you want and

8:56

just pursue yourself like that's part of

8:58

the art is your brand you know

9:00

and clearly your body is your canvas

9:02

like your voice is your can and

9:04

part of it and your voice is

9:06

your brush and your body is the

9:09

canvas. When did you start using your

9:11

body as a canvas? When did you

9:13

start getting tattoos? I got my first

9:15

tattoo when I was 16 and it

9:17

was like I got it covered up

9:19

since but it was like a little

9:21

cross and it had a last my

9:23

last name Dimsdale and a banner and

9:25

another banner that said established 1992 such

9:27

a cornball tattoo like such a first

9:29

16 year old tattoo you know and

9:31

I always say that's not that I'm

9:33

the person that should take tattoo advice

9:35

from but just like maybe not 16

9:37

year olds getting tattoos it's like by

9:39

the time I was 18 I was

9:41

such a different human being you know

9:43

I just don't think like any lifelong

9:45

decision should be made while you're like

9:47

a kid still you know what I

9:49

mean I was just so different and

9:51

so but I definitely when I first

9:53

like wanted to start like I guess

9:55

tattooing my body and like I started

9:57

caring about way I looked when I

9:59

was like, I remember my dear friend

10:01

Julian, Julian Seltzer, he's a, he's like

10:03

a, he's big EDM producer, DJ, and

10:05

I remember he said this one thing

10:07

to me when we were younger and

10:09

he said like, you know, you're an

10:11

icon when somebody can dress up as

10:13

you for Halloween and somebody know that

10:15

they're you, you know? And so from

10:17

that point forward that always stuck with

10:19

me in my head of like, how

10:21

do I look, like how could I,

10:23

how could I, how could I, how

10:25

could I be recognizable, like Halloween costume,

10:27

you know, and so I did I

10:29

spent like a lot of time like

10:31

trying to bring I guess myself in

10:33

a way then like and and and

10:35

figure out how that was different what

10:37

made me different in a look, you

10:40

know, do you currently feel like you

10:42

have to re- up that brand? Do

10:44

you have to change who you are

10:46

now that people recognize you? No. Or

10:48

is it now? Now are you done

10:50

because people recognize you? Well I mean

10:52

I still love to get tattooed. I

10:54

mean being tattooed is like always what

10:56

I mean being tattooed is like being

10:58

tattooed is like always what I always

11:00

what I'm tattooed is like me being

11:02

tattooed is like always what I wanted

11:04

to be tattooed it's like me being

11:06

tattooed is like always what I always

11:08

what I'm tattooed is like being tattooed.

11:10

She would she give us an allowance

11:12

for doing our stuff, you know, and

11:14

me and my brother would get $10

11:16

a piece and on Sundays We'd have

11:18

to go and like give 10% of

11:20

our income to Ties and offerings, you

11:22

know, and so I'd give a dollar

11:24

leave with nine and my older brother

11:26

would always give five because he's an

11:28

overachiever, fuck that guy, right? Who got

11:30

the blessings, you know what I mean?

11:32

So, that's my, that's my boy, that's

11:34

so good. But I used to, I

11:36

used to go like, we, we got

11:38

the blessings. Yeah, I hope you say

11:40

that I'm like Christmas. Yeah, Merry Christmas,

11:42

brother. I used to go in and

11:44

like get all my stuff in the

11:46

quarters and then put it in the

11:48

quarter machines after lunch we go to

11:50

this Mexican restaurant and it's like, you

11:52

know, just slapping tattoos all over me.

11:54

You know, I remember standing in the

11:56

mirrors. and being all tatted up and

11:58

yoked and feeling like I was the

12:00

coolest shit ever. And so, I know,

12:02

I just always, I love being tattooed,

12:04

man. It's, it's just, everybody I looked

12:06

up to was discovered in tattoos, you

12:08

know? Yeah, that's interesting. before we go

12:11

and dive further and I feel like

12:13

now's a good time for you to

12:15

tell that same story that he said

12:17

when you first got here. You were

12:19

you were telling me about being in

12:21

the Delta One lounge. Yeah so the

12:23

first time you know it's a brand

12:25

new Delta One lounge out there in

12:27

New York and we're headed back to

12:29

getting ready to head back here to

12:31

LA and so we're leaving the Delta

12:33

One lounge and you know I go

12:35

to get on I go going to

12:37

get on the elevator and this lady

12:39

goes are you. Are you? Get so

12:41

excited, you know? And I'm like, yeah,

12:43

yeah, that's me, that's me. You know,

12:45

try to be all bashful about him

12:47

and also try to like, I feel

12:49

cool with shit at the same time,

12:51

you know, you know how it goes.

12:53

And so this, she's like, well, can

12:55

I take a picture? And I'm like,

12:57

yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. And

12:59

so this, she's like, well, can I

13:01

take a picture. And I'm like, well,

13:03

well, well, can I take a, well,

13:05

well, can I take a, well, can

13:07

I take a, well, well, can I

13:09

take a, well, can I take a,

13:11

can I take a, and I'm like,

13:13

I'm like, well, I'm like, well, well,

13:15

I'm like, well, well, can I'm like,

13:17

I'm like, I'm like, well, I'm like,

13:19

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm

13:21

like Oh shit, she thinks of jelly

13:23

roll. I don't want to preface that

13:25

by saying, like, I'm honored. He's like

13:27

the nicest human being in the world

13:29

and I love, I love my brother

13:31

jelly, so, but it was just like,

13:33

my face just turned beat red and

13:35

I'm trying to, like, when we walked

13:37

out of that elevator, I just, I

13:40

just, we walked out of that elevator

13:42

and I just, it's power walks fan

13:44

through it, like, I didn't have the

13:46

cart to be like, Red Face and

13:48

dipped. Like, God bless, man. I hate

13:50

that that happened. When did you start

13:52

thinking like, I guess I could do

13:54

probably original music and I should write

13:56

my own. Well, we had been, we

13:58

had been, you know, I'd have been

14:00

in bands forever and writing and writing

14:02

with so many bands. I mean, there's

14:04

like, my first ever band you could

14:06

actually still find on YouTube. We're called

14:08

Heroke Bear. Okay. And it's like my

14:10

senior year in high school or this

14:12

post like hardcore band me and my

14:14

friends and And our first EP is

14:16

still on YouTube and it's so bad

14:18

dude. It's so bad. What's the first

14:20

song that you wrote? Is it one

14:22

of those? No, that would be well

14:24

some of the first stuff I wrote

14:26

with my dear friend Jesse. I mean

14:28

that was way before we could even

14:30

record but The first music I like

14:32

released was what's the first single. Oh

14:34

God, I'm probably Probably nuns with guns

14:36

is what it's called. Nons with guns.

14:38

It's bad song, but I But also

14:40

you know like it shows a valid

14:42

version of it someday. There's no way

14:44

I mean, I think I think to

14:46

be fair to my buddy Thomas man

14:48

the lyrics. I mean we did good

14:50

on it. We did we do what

14:52

we could at the time. I don't

14:54

know why I think in our a

14:56

little I'm like a little local scene,

14:58

like I remember everybody thinking I was

15:00

so great, but I listen to myself

15:02

now, I'm being like, I suck so

15:04

bad. I mean, I probably, I was

15:06

probably the best of my little group

15:08

of friends, you know, but I think

15:11

I think that I was like, we

15:13

suck so bad and I really like

15:15

now where we are now, like where

15:17

I am as a writer, as a

15:19

writer, I think it's always great to

15:21

keep those things up though, because You

15:23

can always reference how far I've come,

15:25

you know, in the last 15 years

15:27

doing this. And it shows people that

15:29

you don't, you don't just start out

15:31

like Benson Boone where you just like

15:33

just started singing yesterday and you're fucking

15:35

awesome. You know, some people have that,

15:37

some people are just that beautiful, but

15:39

I sucked for a really, really long

15:41

time. It's so hard to imagine that.

15:43

I mean, obviously, you know, I think

15:45

we all work on skill. Like we

15:47

may have taste. And there's something where,

15:49

and maybe we've talked about it in

15:51

an episode before, but this idea that

15:53

you're born with taste, but you have

15:55

to build the skill to reach that

15:57

taste. And so when you first write

15:59

your first songs, you're like, this is

16:01

not good. But I know I could

16:03

write something yeah, yeah, and then you

16:05

keep working through that and you're like

16:07

this song's almost there But it's still

16:09

not something's not I think I think

16:11

you're totally right about that because I

16:13

remember even at that time You know

16:15

that I was like not gung-ho to

16:17

show my friends like what I've been

16:19

working on you know, and like I

16:21

remember I loved playing little local shows

16:23

around and then have my friends come

16:25

see me But I remember our first

16:27

recordings and not ever being like now

16:29

if I like I'm happy to be

16:31

like, you've got to check what we

16:33

did yesterday, you know, and I know

16:35

that they're decent songs, and I'm excited

16:37

to show people, and I know I

16:40

sound good, you know, like, I know

16:42

that this is a good song and

16:44

I can share it with somebody. Back

16:46

then, I definitely remember being like, I

16:48

still don't feel like I'm comfortable sharing

16:50

these with my friends, you know, I

16:52

was scared to show people with my

16:54

music then, and I mean, I thought.

16:56

That's a good question. I don't remember

16:58

the first time that I felt like

17:00

fuck. Yeah, this is good. I don't

17:02

know. I don't remember like I mean,

17:04

I guess it like Yeah,

17:06

I can't tell you. I can't pinpoint the

17:08

very first time that I was like, I

17:10

love this. This is like, this is, this

17:13

is, this is good. I can't remember that

17:15

first time, but I definitely... I mean, you

17:17

released an album this last week. Yeah, I

17:19

feel, I feel very good about it now.

17:21

Like, I know, I know, I know, I

17:24

feel really proud of that. The night before

17:26

it drops, are you just 100% confident that

17:28

every song on it slaps? also feeling that

17:30

way and I've got the best people in

17:32

the fucking world that are helpful you know

17:35

like I mean when you got when you

17:37

got John Ryan and Julie Moonetta and Mickey

17:39

Echo and Marcus Lomax and Jeff Gideon and

17:41

I mean the list goes all you know

17:43

you can't you can't you can't lose with

17:46

those guys you know they see me and

17:48

I mean I'm so lucky to work with

17:50

some of the greatest greatest greatest people in

17:52

the world so I think that also I

17:55

guess in turn makes me feel better better

17:57

about my stuff better about my stuff. to

17:59

hang out with me in a room and

18:01

I must be fucking decent. You know, I

18:03

mean, so there might be just that piece

18:06

of me too that makes me feel that

18:08

way. Well, that brings up some of the

18:10

next segments. First being, what would Mickey Echo

18:12

ask Teddy's films on and the writer is?

18:14

And Mickey Echo asks, who's your favorite songwriter

18:17

and why is it Mickey Echo? everything with

18:19

me and I think Mickey Echo is the

18:21

one person when we're writing for the record

18:23

and everything I mean I think he's got

18:25

seven cuts on this record we just pulled

18:28

out and there's there's only 13 songs I

18:30

think he got more cuts than I did

18:32

on this record to be honest to be

18:34

honest with you and it's my fucking album

18:36

but I think I think Mickey is just

18:39

truly such a gifted artist you know and

18:41

he writes from the place of an artist

18:43

you know rather than me and Julian talk

18:45

about this all the time like an artist

18:47

is going to artist and then a writer's

18:50

going to be a writer's going to be

18:52

a writer and then a writer and the

18:54

producer is going to produce, you know, and

18:56

there's some people that have like this, that

18:59

certain thing that they really excel at, you

19:01

know, and they can do all of them,

19:03

you know, but some people are just really

19:05

writers and some people really are producers and

19:07

some people are really artists and I think

19:10

to the core of Mickey, he's just truly

19:12

just such a different, he's an artist, he's

19:14

like a breed of his own, he's such

19:16

a weird kind of human being that is

19:18

just so authentically, so solely him and truly,

19:21

and truly sees me and truly sees me

19:23

and truly sees me and, and, and, and,

19:25

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

19:27

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

19:29

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

19:32

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

19:34

and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

19:36

and, and, and, and I hate when he

19:38

records the song first, you know, like there's

19:40

sometimes like, we're writing, I'm like, look, before

19:43

fucking that Mickey cuts this, let me fucking

19:45

get in here and do it first, because

19:47

Mickey's gonna cut it, and then I'm gonna

19:49

try to do everything Mickey does, and then

19:51

I gotta drop it like, fucking a step

19:54

and a half, because he's... Steve Perry and

19:56

the shit out of it. But I will

19:58

say, yeah, Mickey Echo is the greatest of

20:00

all time in my opinion, man. He's the

20:02

greatest of all time and always has me

20:05

in mind and always loves me and checks

20:07

on me. And he's really been the person

20:09

that has helped me navigate this wild fucking

20:11

ride that this is too. He's been through

20:14

it and he knows. I mean, I've called

20:16

him on moments like. I think there was

20:18

a moment not too long ago last year

20:20

sometime and I had gotten back from tour

20:22

for a bit. And I was like, and

20:25

I hadn't been alone in so long, usually

20:27

I'm just stretching myself with so many people

20:29

all the time and I thought I was

20:31

going to be like officially so happy to

20:33

be home by myself and like just alone.

20:36

And for the first time in my life

20:38

I was alone and I felt like this

20:40

weird sadness, you know, this like weird like,

20:42

I guess like. What am I supposed to

20:44

do with myself and feeling like unimportant and

20:47

weird? And I guess there's like some level

20:49

of dopamine that I was getting on the

20:51

road all the time that I didn't know

20:53

that it was like I was so addicted

20:55

to or so used to that when I

20:58

was sitting by myself I was like I

21:00

feel a little depressed now for some reason.

21:02

I know I'm not sad, but I just

21:04

know that I'm sad for some reason. I

21:06

know there's like, I know this is the

21:09

reason. And I remember calling Mickey and being

21:11

like, did you ever have this feeling, you

21:13

know? And I talked to even Bert Chrysler

21:15

about it on his podcast and he's like,

21:18

you know, and I talked to even Bert

21:20

Chrysler about it on his podcast and he's

21:22

like, you know, we called that reentry in

21:24

my household and he told me this beautiful,

21:26

I just want everybody here. I don't know,

21:29

I can't tell you any more than I

21:31

just want everybody around me right now. I

21:33

need love right now more than ever. And

21:35

I think, I think Mickey's helped me navigate

21:37

that so much and to a degree of

21:40

like how to, even, he's gonna be such

21:42

a great person for me as becoming a

21:44

father because that guy just, he just feels

21:46

like he has the fucking balance on life.

21:48

You know, the biggest thing I always say

21:51

about Mickey is he's always like, like, make

21:53

your bed, I've done it a couple times,

21:55

it doesn't really do anything for me like

21:57

it does for him. But every time I'm

21:59

at a camp with him, I make my

22:02

bed and I always get to go down

22:04

and be like, hey man, I'm in my

22:06

bed, you know, and then just having him

22:08

like kind of happy and proud, I always,

22:10

I don't know, he does so much for

22:13

me, man. That's one of the best people

22:15

I've ever met. It's their mission to increase

22:17

the value of music and that's exactly what

22:19

they do. NPA is working right now to

22:22

raise royalty rates for songwriters from streaming services,

22:24

radio, social media, and everywhere music is essential.

22:26

From the courts to Congress, NPA works to

22:28

get songwriters what they deserve. I know because

22:30

I've served on the board before and I'm

22:33

the current co-chair along with Ryan Tedder and

22:35

Liz Rose for the Golden Platinum Club. So

22:37

again, thank you NMPA for supporting and the

22:39

writer is and songwriters everywhere And what you

22:41

mean by that, you know, when you make

22:44

your bed, it's like, it's something you can

22:46

control to start the bed. Yeah, exactly. It's

22:48

something that's yours, you know. And then you

22:50

can end the day by going back and

22:52

being like, I did that, no matter what

22:55

happened throughout the day, you made your bed.

22:57

And that there's a lot of logic to

22:59

that. And while we're going to some mental

23:01

health and other things in this, you know,

23:03

what would Aaronbe-selfless person? And he gives so

23:06

much of himself to other people that it's

23:08

important to ask you, what are you doing

23:10

for Teddy? You know? And so I'm going

23:12

to reiterate that. What are you doing for

23:14

Teddy? What a good dude. Man, you know,

23:17

I think to the core of me though,

23:19

I get... bringing some joy and some comfort

23:21

and some like safety to people, I get

23:23

that in return. You know, I think that

23:26

the core of my job is that I

23:28

truly do get to open up and trauma

23:30

enough on people all the time and strangers

23:32

that are standing out in front of me.

23:34

And I think I'm just being honest and

23:37

vulnerable with myself and where I'm at, I

23:39

get to, I guess. People have created this

23:41

safe space for me and I in turn

23:43

get to create that safe space for people

23:45

to feel free to cry and and laugh

23:48

and joke, you know, there's one thing for

23:50

sure. We all have been heartbroken and we

23:52

all think Dix and Farts are funny, you

23:54

know? And at the core of me, that's

23:56

like, there's always gonna be that, you know?

23:59

And I don't know, I cry. I try

24:01

to make sure that there's always a time

24:03

to cry. There's always like time to cry.

24:05

There's always like, it's like pain leaving the

24:07

body. I think one thing I've really been

24:10

doing lately for myself for myself is I've

24:12

been calling it, repriorizing, reprioritizing, reprioritizing, reprioritizing, and

24:14

gratefulness and gratefulness. fucking joby you know and

24:16

it can get like where you're like God

24:18

just dragging ass here and there and you

24:21

want to bitch you know and sometimes it's

24:23

it's it's you got to just tell yourself

24:25

hey what are you bitching about you got

24:27

everything you're doing what you love for a

24:29

living you're doing it with your best friends

24:32

the best job in the world you should

24:34

be happy and some days that works but

24:36

there are some days that that doesn't work

24:38

some days you just need to be like

24:41

Hmm, I'm upset, you know, and you gotta

24:43

give yourself that fucking space to do that

24:45

too, you know, and so I try to

24:47

I try to let myself be upset when

24:49

I need to be upset and learn to

24:52

not tell myself I'm not allowed to be

24:54

upset because I'm not allowed to be upset

24:56

because I'm so lucky. I think that has

24:58

been the biggest thing I've learned over this

25:00

last year because you can't just you have

25:03

to feel those things and I used to

25:05

just feel like I was so ungrateful if

25:07

I was not let myself be upset. Who

25:09

helped you figure that out? Do you have

25:11

a therapist? Yeah, yeah, therapy has been a

25:14

really good thing. And, um. Is that something

25:16

you've always done or is it something? No,

25:18

no, it's something I just recently started, weirdly

25:20

enough. So, um, my, my girl, Ray, she,

25:22

she's like, I'd been wanting to start it,

25:25

you know, with the whole. title of the

25:27

album and everything I wanted to get into

25:29

it and the first putting out the first

25:31

part was like I promised to myself that

25:33

I would go and I still kind of

25:36

kept pushing it off and pushing it back

25:38

and saying I was too busy and and

25:40

she was like so wonderful to me that

25:42

she I guess kind of like finesse me

25:45

in a way of going was like you

25:47

know what as we're bringing this kid in

25:49

this world we need to we should go

25:51

to like couples therapy you know and then

25:53

and we'll like make sure we're bringing this

25:56

baby into like safe place and you know

25:58

and we we started to do a couple's

26:00

therapy and then it kind of bled into

26:02

like you know I even just talked to

26:04

my my therapist this morning like sometimes just

26:07

being like hey can I talk to you

26:09

about this? Can I talk to you? Next

26:11

thing you know I'm in my own therapy

26:13

and the next thing you know I'm in

26:15

therapy and I was like that slick bitch.

26:18

She got me! Last person, part of this

26:20

album that we can go back to telling

26:22

the story, is what would Julian Banana ask

26:24

Teddy Swims on, and the writer is? You

26:26

have a lot of friends. Yeah, I'm so

26:29

grateful to having to know. You know, he

26:31

has a few questions, but I want to

26:33

go back to, you know, the camp situation.

26:35

which you were saying where you come downstairs

26:37

and you're like, hey, Mickey, it's because you

26:40

guys actually actively go to Palm Springs, you

26:42

do the big family, Julian Panetta, John Ryan

26:44

World, where you go somewhere and you lose

26:46

yourself, you know, in the thing. But what

26:49

is it about Palm Springs? Like, you've written

26:51

your biggest hits. in this town that's two

26:53

hours east. Like you're in LA all the

26:55

time. You had 200 and something songs by

26:57

the time we met. What is it about

27:00

Palm Springs? I think that I find that,

27:02

I mean, there is always a thing that

27:04

happens when you're like locked in. to a

27:06

place, you know, it's just, you're just only

27:08

locked in and you're zoomed in with each

27:11

other and maybe it's a fucking week long

27:13

tequila bender and you're just there riding and

27:15

speaking and talking and putting out all the

27:17

outside world out of it and never getting

27:19

in your way, but I think that has

27:22

something to do with it, but what I

27:24

think about Palm Springs, I think it's something

27:26

where it's such a remote location. I like

27:28

to think of like... I like to think

27:30

of like the thing like it's like the

27:33

muse or something is like a little bitty

27:35

elf right you know and if like if

27:37

you're like really not getting in the way

27:39

of yourself like the elf like might walk

27:41

into the room you know and if you

27:44

like just listen to the fucking ether of

27:46

what it is you know and sometimes it

27:48

visits you and it's everybody else's job to

27:50

fan the flame or maybe it's me and

27:53

it's everybody's you know but if you're not

27:55

in the way of the little elf it

27:57

stays in that room and that's where the

27:59

magic happens. And so I think there's something

28:01

about going in the middle of the desert

28:04

where like if you're doing it right here

28:06

in the middle of LA there's thousands of

28:08

rooms that that little thing can walk into

28:10

but out there there might be like one

28:12

of them that lives out there you know

28:15

and and we're we're we're working in three

28:17

rooms right there you know so there's there's

28:19

more of a chance I think for that

28:21

that elf stationed in Palm Springs to come

28:23

visit our house then maybe the other two

28:26

houses that might be riding at the same

28:28

time I don't know that's the way I

28:30

think of it I mean look that's why

28:32

we try to create oases even within LA

28:34

that's what the whole vibe vibe is but

28:37

like You know, one of the things that

28:39

makes those camps so successful and makes you

28:41

so successful is that you're willing to be

28:43

part of the creation from scratch and you're

28:45

willing to sometimes listen to ideas that were

28:48

created or started by somebody else and put

28:50

your stamp on it, which frankly, the greatest

28:52

artists in the history music did. What makes

28:54

you so confident? Where most artists today feel

28:56

like they need to be part of everything

28:59

or nothing? Why are you so confident that

29:01

you're willing to listen to songs that had...

29:03

maybe been started without you in the room.

29:05

I think I think I think I've arrived

29:08

to that and still arriving to that you

29:10

know there are definitely times like when I

29:12

was first getting into this you know and

29:14

becoming an artist there was definitely like this

29:16

this ego thing that I had to get

29:19

rid of of like if you know like

29:21

everybody would want to send songs and want

29:23

to be a part of songs or even

29:25

now that I might might back then have

29:27

gotten songs but now that I'm at this

29:30

level of my career the quality of song

29:32

that I might get shop now is like

29:34

way better than the quality of songs that

29:36

I might got after they've gone through 15

29:38

people you know what I mean to get

29:41

to like I guess Teddy can cut it

29:43

now now. it's like they want Teddy to

29:45

cut the song. So I think there is

29:47

like, of course, the quality is a little

29:49

bit better. But I think also, I learned

29:52

this from Thomas Red, though, too. You know,

29:54

Thomas Red was good about like, man, you

29:56

know, he was like, I didn't write this

29:58

song in this song on my record. You

30:00

know, you don't have to do that. Like,

30:03

I don't know, I used to feel like

30:05

I was getting in my way, I think

30:07

a lot with that a lot with that

30:09

a lot with that too. You know when

30:12

there was good songs knowing if they were

30:14

actually for me or if they weren't for

30:16

me and if I was just hating them

30:18

because I didn't write them or if they

30:20

were actually really good songs and there was

30:23

a couple songs that my first songs that

30:25

I cut that were outside that I really

30:27

felt so attached to that I was like

30:29

as soon as I heard it I was

30:31

like oh I want that I need that

30:34

I love that song that song is for

30:36

me and when I started when the first

30:38

time I felt that way about a song

30:40

it's for me and when I started when

30:42

I the first time I felt that way

30:45

about a song it changed my perspective of

30:47

that because I had already went and cut

30:49

something that Aaron might have told me to

30:51

that I just didn't feel like arrive to

30:53

this song and bring myself to the song

30:56

and if I can't then I'll put it

30:58

away and but I felt like there was

31:00

so many times I felt like this song

31:02

wasn't for me and and I didn't really

31:04

have a knowledge I guess of myself to

31:07

know how to pick and choose songs that

31:09

I didn't write for for me because maybe

31:11

I wasn't moved by them and then I

31:13

would try them and then they would just

31:16

kind of not really hit or maybe the

31:18

label when everybody would still love it and

31:20

I'd feel like still like. weird about it.

31:22

So I don't think it was until I

31:24

finally like heard a song that I was

31:27

like so connected to off of hearing it

31:29

that I didn't write that I was like

31:31

I know how to I know how to

31:33

bring myself to this song. What song was

31:35

that? The first song I ever did like

31:38

that was those this song it never even

31:40

came out but another song Mickey Echo wrote

31:42

it's called I Choose You and it came

31:44

like they sent it to me and I

31:46

just was like and then another one also

31:49

that was on my album Andrew Jackson had

31:51

sent me this song. called Last Communion, and

31:53

I just fell so deeply in love with

31:55

it, and was like, dude, this is like

31:57

so special, and I want this from my

32:00

album. And so like, that's when I've kind

32:02

of, I guess, started learning the balance of

32:04

like how to take songs that were from

32:06

outside, and if I really felt that way

32:08

about them, in order to bring yourself to

32:11

those songs, you know, and so don't like

32:13

force it or don't let nobody force you

32:15

into doing something that you don't feel like.

32:17

are truly like gauge if this is for

32:20

me or not or if I was actually

32:22

just hating on this because I didn't write

32:24

it you know and I didn't know that

32:26

at the time so it took a long

32:28

time for me to get to that place

32:31

of saying this is for me or this

32:33

isn't for me and just knowing. Well a

32:35

lot of those things feed each other too

32:37

that the great great artists are great curators

32:39

yeah they're great ANR people whether it's Frank

32:42

Sinatra or it's Frank Sinatra or it's... Michael

32:44

Jackson. Yeah, I mean go down the list.

32:46

It's if it's Madonna if it's I mean

32:48

there's there are so many amazing artists that

32:50

Whitney, all these people were great curators. Yeah.

32:53

And there were some people who were better

32:55

song, or better, maybe better singers, might be

32:57

better songwriters, but weren't as good a curators.

32:59

And I do think like people send you

33:01

better songs because you're willing to sing them.

33:04

Not just because of like where you are

33:06

in the, now you're at the top of

33:08

the food chain, of course you're gonna get

33:10

the songs. But you're probably at the top

33:12

of the food chain because you were willing

33:15

to. They scratch each other's backs because you

33:17

were willing to cut. Yeah, and I also

33:19

think there's a world too where they're like

33:21

people stop being you always know too when

33:23

you take songs even if you like those

33:26

songs if people people that are willing to

33:28

give a song to an artist and let

33:30

the artist do what the artist is going

33:32

to do to it and doesn't feel too

33:35

connected because sometimes people are way to attach

33:37

to their work and they want you to

33:39

cut it, but they're the ones on the.

33:41

demo vocal. And so this has happened to

33:43

me a couple times where I love this

33:46

song and so I'll go and sing this

33:48

song my way. And there was a while

33:50

too where I was like, no, I don't

33:52

want to go over and write and sing

33:54

that song with that writer because I know

33:57

that writer is going to sit there and

33:59

be like, well actually the timing of this

34:01

is this, well actually the notice this, well

34:03

actually the thing is this, well actually the

34:05

thing is this, well actually the thing is

34:08

this, well actually the thing is this, well

34:10

actually the thing is this, well actually the

34:12

thing is this, well actually the thing is

34:14

this, well actually the thing is this, well

34:16

actually the thing is this, the thing is

34:19

this, well actually the thing is this, well

34:21

actually the thing is this, the thing is

34:23

this, well actually the thing is this, well

34:25

actually the thing is this, actually the thing

34:27

is this, the thing is this, well actually

34:30

the thing is this, well actually the thing

34:32

is this, the thing is this, well actually

34:34

the thing is this, actually the thing is

34:36

this, well actually the thing is this, actually

34:39

the thing is this, well actually the thing

34:41

is this, well actually And so I think

34:43

it's also when you take something from somebody

34:45

like I think that you got to be

34:47

like the person that doesn't feel natural to

34:50

me and now now now you like ruin

34:52

the song for me now every time I

34:54

sing this song even if I love it

34:56

I got this like anxiety I got this

34:58

anxiety attached to it like how much of

35:01

a nightmare you were that like I don't

35:03

want this fucking song anymore and so I

35:05

think it's also when you take something from

35:07

somebody like I think that you've got to

35:09

like the person that is pitching you the

35:12

song. not be so fucking attached to their

35:14

baby. And if that's their baby, they need

35:16

to fucking put it out, you know? That's

35:18

really good advice. Also, and, yes, and, you

35:20

happen to have the ability, because you have

35:23

the ability to write, it's, you're a lot,

35:25

it kind, you remind me as an artist

35:27

working with pink. Hell yeah, what'd it go,

35:29

man. You know, like, you can see in

35:31

the phone book. You can write the hits,

35:34

you can take the outside songs, whatever they

35:36

are, they all sound like Teddy songs. And

35:38

I think that's where writers who pitch you

35:40

a song, you have to know that what

35:43

comes out is going to be your song,

35:45

not their song. And there are a lot

35:47

of artists where they don't have that skill

35:49

set, and they are more of a vehicle

35:51

of outside songs because they don't have the

35:54

skill set to write. They don't have this.

35:56

Yeah, they don't really have their own proposition

35:58

quite made. And so it's easy to it's

36:00

easy to throw them through the machine of

36:02

just like, hey. good writer, good song, and

36:05

they need to do that because their version

36:07

of what, their version of it isn't good.

36:09

Yeah, it's just, it's just what the song

36:11

actually was sent to them. Yeah. Maybe even,

36:13

maybe even worse, maybe they're the, just the

36:16

face of it, you know, and it's. How

36:18

did the, how did you digest the change

36:20

from being, I'm gonna post a video which

36:22

had to be vulnerable? You know like when

36:24

you saw the response from doing covers Like

36:27

how did that change who Teddy swims was

36:29

to you? Well, so originally we'd we'd we'd

36:31

done June 25th of 2019 We had done

36:33

Michael Jackson's rock with you. It was like

36:35

10 years after his death and kind of

36:38

anniversary and so somebody had put like the

36:40

stems up online and we'd pulled it up

36:42

and I was like, you know, we should

36:44

just do a cover of this to see

36:47

like, you know, just to pay homage to

36:49

the king, right and so we did it

36:51

and woke up the next day and had

36:53

like you know like 10,000 views on and

36:55

on Facebook and we're like oh shit bro

36:58

this is crazy right so I remember telling

37:00

my friends like look dude we should just

37:02

start doing this weekly thing and I mean

37:04

like we can we can film the videos

37:06

ourselves we can record the tunes ourselves like

37:09

we could play the songs we could play

37:11

the songs we can we really can do

37:13

all this by ourselves like we already have

37:15

the means like we can just kind of

37:17

like we should all just take our time

37:20

and spend like maybe six months of each

37:22

other six months. And the beautiful thing about

37:24

this is we all moved into a house

37:26

together. So I quit my job at Chili's.

37:28

For a bit I was like working like

37:31

one day a week and we all moved

37:33

into this house together in Snellville. There's like

37:35

12 of us living in this five bedroom

37:37

house. We had built like plyboard walls in

37:39

between rooms and between rooms to make it

37:42

two rooms. It's literally like fucking. So we're

37:44

filming like even even during the pandemic we

37:46

found like rented some broadcast equipment and like

37:48

did live broadcast and live performance. And so

37:50

it was like, it was a thing that

37:53

I think that we were so lucky that

37:55

we had each other and found this way

37:57

to do it all by ourselves. And so

37:59

like when this time was happening during the

38:02

pandemic, it was like, we were so lucky

38:04

because we were all kind of quarantined together

38:06

already. And we had a means of filming

38:08

and recording and shipping and distributing merchant. making

38:10

and creating art and merch and like you

38:13

know doing doing the videos and doing playing

38:15

the songs and recording the music and so

38:17

like we were able to we were able

38:19

to write and record and make covers all

38:21

in the comfort of our own house. Well,

38:24

not too much comfort. Like I said, there

38:26

was like 12 of us in this fucking

38:28

house, but we were able to do all

38:30

of it ourselves. And so where the world

38:32

kind of stopped spinning for a minute, it

38:35

was like prime time for us, because we

38:37

were the one people I think on the

38:39

planet who had the perfect set up for

38:41

it to fucking kick ass for us. So

38:43

we were just kind of stuck in a

38:46

house together, having nothing but means to. make

38:48

this shit happen. And so I think we

38:50

were so fucking fortunate and and when I

38:52

tell you we we've got like we started

38:54

June 25th of 2019 and I asked all

38:57

these guys they were still working like full-time

38:59

jobs and stuff and I was like give

39:01

me six months of your life just devote

39:03

everything to this we're getting done at like

39:06

3 a.m. going to work at like 3

39:08

a.m. going to work at like 3 a.m.

39:10

going to work of records and put all

39:12

these boys on salary and we like do

39:14

a million dollar deal and made it through

39:17

the pandemic together off of that and fucking

39:19

just kept kept kept kept working together. It's

39:21

such a crazy situation that it happened like

39:23

that. That's amazing how you get signed but

39:25

fast forward you know when let's say we

39:28

met two years ago yeah it's four years

39:30

the pandemic kind of crushes a lot of

39:32

the business. You know, Warner's a, uh, generally

39:34

in a weird sort of way. new company,

39:36

you know, like, you know, you were a

39:39

priority there. It wasn't like they had, you

39:41

weren't signed in Republic where you'd be competing

39:43

with, you know, the weekend and Ariana and,

39:45

you know, Taylor and all that. Like, you

39:47

were a part of a company that was

39:50

willing to support you in your musical endeavor

39:52

and your journey. But it wasn't like from

39:54

2019, December 2019, all the way to the

39:56

release of. lose control. That's a long time.

39:58

Yeah. Did you ever get discouraged? Oh yeah,

40:01

fuck yeah man. But what I will say

40:03

is that I'm so grateful for I think

40:05

reason like we went with with Warner like

40:07

because we had met with a lot of

40:10

people and and that was our fear of

40:12

like not being really prioritized or not really

40:14

getting seen because we could do this ourselves

40:16

like we were already fucking doing this ourselves.

40:18

So we wanted a partner that could like

40:21

really really prioritize us and wanted and I

40:23

think when Tom and Aaron had like kind

40:25

of came into Warner, it was kind of

40:27

a whole new regime and there was like

40:29

a lot of bullish, like a lot of

40:32

stuff to prove for them. And I think

40:34

like they were kind of cleaning house and

40:36

kind of starting back over again, you know,

40:38

and so when I think it was a

40:40

perfect storm when I first met Aaron and

40:43

Aaron was like, you know, was we both

40:45

wanted the same thing. We both wanted to

40:47

be heard and we both wanted to be

40:49

seen and and this guy knew that. it

40:51

was about developing taking acts and taking like

40:54

even just a small little like a couple

40:56

people and really turning that into a family

40:58

and making that thing happen you know and

41:00

really putting into artists and seeing that like

41:02

because there was there was so much about

41:05

the machine that was happening you know like

41:07

you get signed you get thrown through the

41:09

fucking machine and then or maybe you get

41:11

signed because you have something popping on tic-toc

41:14

and then they sign these kids and these

41:16

kids like don't know how to quite be

41:18

an artist or maybe they don't write another

41:20

hit in the next few months and then

41:22

they just kind of get like pushed to

41:25

decide and sign the next big thing that's

41:27

popping on TikTok and I would say that

41:29

I think what was so special about Aaron

41:31

and Tom and Warner was that they were

41:33

like you know they gave me that so

41:36

much space and it helped. me develop and

41:38

believe in me the whole time and prioritize

41:40

me the whole time and let me develop

41:42

over the next five years to get to

41:44

where, because they saw it, they saw what

41:47

I was and I saw what I was

41:49

and we knew this was special, but it

41:51

was how to cultivate the environments and the

41:53

people and the writers and the things that

41:55

I needed to in order to become the

41:58

person that I'm becoming, you know, and I

42:00

think that I was so lucky to have

42:02

them and still I'm so lucky to have

42:04

Bay Shug that has been like on the

42:06

ground floor of this fucking thing and has

42:09

always had time to answer every fucking phone

42:11

call and every text and always this prioritized

42:13

me and like has been there to develop

42:15

me and and shoot so many shots that

42:17

were just, you know, fell on their face

42:20

and get back up and. brush it off,

42:22

you know, he's like he's willing to like

42:24

push me and we've had such a good,

42:26

there's times like, you know, we've done the,

42:29

look, I want to put this song out

42:31

and you want me to put this song

42:33

out and I'll cut it Aaron, I'll fucking

42:35

cut it. Yeah, dude, because I believe in

42:37

you, bro, I believe in you, bro, I

42:40

believe in you, if I hate this song,

42:42

but I'm definitely gonna cut it for you,

42:44

you, if I hate this song, but I'm

42:46

definitely going to cut it for you, I'm

42:48

going to, if I'm going to, if I

42:51

believe in you, if I hate this song,

42:53

if I hate this song, but I'm going

42:55

to cut it, if I hate this song,

42:57

but I'm definitely going to cut it, but

42:59

I'm going to cut it, if I hate

43:02

this song, I'm definitely going to cut it,

43:04

I'm going to, I hate this song, I'm

43:06

going to, I'm going to, I hate But

43:08

I think we finally got to the point,

43:10

or we're getting to the point now, or

43:13

will we both like something? Or everybody, the

43:15

whole squad likes it. We finally found, I

43:17

guess, the formula of what works and what

43:19

we love and who Teddy Swims is. But

43:21

as a five-year journey did. from being signed

43:24

to now to do that. And that's how

43:26

it used to be. That's how, that's how,

43:28

that's how, that's how, that's how, that's how

43:30

labels are supposed to do. That's how A

43:33

and Ours are supposed to be. You know,

43:35

sign an artist and develop a kid and

43:37

let them learn how to be, a fucking

43:39

artist and, let them learn how to be,

43:41

a fucking artist and, let them learn how

43:44

to be a fucking game. That's so awful

43:46

they do. Yeah, talking about music is like

43:48

dancing about architecture. Yeah, yeah. And when I

43:50

think of the first description I got of

43:52

like, oh, do you want to work with

43:55

this guy Teddy? You know, it was like,

43:57

he's going to be like a male Amy

43:59

Winehouse. Yeah. Uh-huh. And it was like, okay,

44:01

yeah, sure, let's, you know, totally interested in

44:03

whatever this, like, I heard your voice and

44:06

it was like, you know, my wife sent

44:08

me one of your videos early on, I

44:10

was like, you need to find a way

44:12

to work with him. And it was like,

44:14

it came across, it's like, oh, interesting, that's

44:17

the direction. And then it was like, by

44:19

the time we got in the room, it

44:21

was like, that's not really the direction anymore,

44:23

the direction anymore, we're still trying to figure,

44:25

trying to figure, By

44:28

the time you'd worked with you you

44:30

would we had worked together you would

44:32

I remember you saying we you know

44:34

you had 200 250 songs Something like

44:36

that, you know, and you're going in as

44:38

a writer. You're like let's just give

44:40

it a shot You know, let's just

44:42

write today. It's just a day. Let's

44:44

just have fun. And by the way,

44:46

I think there's an artist who's gonna

44:48

cut our song, but we'll tell you

44:50

yeah, let's go. Let's go. You know,

44:52

I remember calling your managers, which I

44:54

never do, never do. I was like,

44:56

I love him. I love you too.

44:58

Like, I love this guy. Like, you

45:00

have to have the hits in there.

45:02

This guy writes really good songs. There's

45:04

no way he has 200, 250 songs, and

45:06

he's not sitting on a gold mine

45:08

of just smashes. What sets lose control

45:10

apart? You know, I don't really know.

45:12

I think that... I think we had,

45:14

I guess the biggest thing was like,

45:16

I think for me it takes, it

45:18

takes time of like really writing and

45:20

getting this thing because when somebody is

45:22

painting you the picture of what they

45:24

expect you to be, you know, that

45:26

was the biggest thing was like, every

45:28

person I would go in to meet

45:30

and write with and you were doing

45:32

the speed dating on the writers then, you

45:35

know, you didn't know who you was

45:37

really going to stick around with or

45:39

who you were going to be around

45:41

with and now like, like, like, like,

45:43

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

45:45

we go, we go, we go, we

45:47

go, we go, we go. that now

45:49

now even if we write one more

45:51

day together I know we're gonna we

45:53

know each other we know what we're

45:55

kind of looking for I know what

45:57

I'm looking for like so it's like

45:59

back then it was just I was

46:01

I was just every fucking person in LA

46:03

that was willing to write with me

46:05

I was writing with and and then

46:07

everything that the labeler was sending was

46:09

like look here's like Here's like rolling

46:11

in a deep, like here's our Meledale

46:13

or like Mela M. Wine House, like

46:15

here's crazy Bonaro's Barkley. He's like, he's

46:17

like white sealo or like Meledale, you

46:19

know, like that was kind of like,

46:21

that's like kind of like, they're just

46:23

kind of just trying to put something

46:25

on there to give the writer something

46:27

to go off of, you know, and,

46:29

and I think, I think truly that was

46:32

like, I want to say shooting us

46:34

in a foot in a way, but

46:36

it was also like, I still was

46:38

kind of discovering that. And every time

46:40

I was writing those Meladale or those

46:42

like White Sealow songs, I was just

46:44

feeling like that, you know, and I

46:46

was like, this is not going to

46:48

work, because this is not going to

46:50

work, because I just feel like that,

46:52

you know, and I was like, this

46:54

is not going to work, because like,

46:56

I just feel like that, I just

46:58

don't know how to put that in words

47:00

or sounds or like. We'd kind of

47:02

been like writing I think I think

47:04

when that song came to be though

47:06

it was the first time in my

47:08

heart that I felt and all of

47:10

us in that room felt like oh

47:12

shit this is this is it this

47:14

is the life-changing song and and it

47:16

was the first time in my gut

47:18

I felt like oh my god we

47:20

got the one this is a life-changer

47:22

and after seeing it changed my life

47:24

like it has now as I'm going

47:26

into writing I now know what that gut

47:28

feeling of like this is special feels

47:30

like and so when I do feel

47:32

that way that way I know how

47:34

to lean the fuck into it rather

47:36

than being like, is this two rock

47:38

and roll or is this two countries,

47:40

is this two this, or two that?

47:42

And I feel like in so many

47:44

times in my life I was getting

47:46

in the way of creativity or writers

47:49

I was getting in the way of

47:51

creativity, was getting in the way of

47:53

writers I was with, getting in the

47:55

way of creativity, was getting in the way

47:57

of, or writers I was getting, maybe

47:59

it should sound more like this, and

48:01

then you're having something beautiful happening, you

48:03

know, trying to make it so much

48:05

more of this, or it's too much

48:07

like this, and then that fucking little

48:09

elf walks right out the fucking room

48:11

and we miss a chance to, had

48:13

a great verse, you know, or like,

48:15

had a great fucking chorus, and that

48:17

song never gets revisited again, because we

48:19

just, or we never saw it through,

48:21

because we just changed gears immediately, because

48:23

this was too, fucking this. And now

48:25

it's like, I guess now I know what

48:27

I like, and I know who I

48:29

am. proposition is there. I feel like

48:31

if I feel that fucking feeling that

48:33

it's good, it's good. If it sounds

48:35

good, if it feels good, it's fucking

48:37

good. There's nothing, there's nothing you can

48:39

say about that. It's damn good if

48:41

it's good. You know, Julian and I

48:43

were talking, he did a recent He

48:50

said, when he was talking about loose control,

48:52

he said that you were going through something

48:54

really tough at the time and that, I

48:57

love when he was saying that, you know,

48:59

recording music is like, it's like a, it's

49:01

like a photograph of your voice, you know,

49:03

it's like it's capturing a moment in real

49:05

pain. What was going on in your life?

49:07

When you cut that song well, you know,

49:10

I was I was I was man I

49:12

was just going through a serious thing I

49:14

was with this person and You know, she

49:16

had a lot of a lot of Mental

49:18

health issues and we were we were kind

49:20

of just living a really hard lifestyle together,

49:23

you know, I feel like the I feel

49:25

like the the The substance of our relationship

49:27

was kind of the substances we were abusing

49:29

at the time, you know what I mean?

49:31

And we kind of felt really codependent on

49:34

this lifestyle together. And without that, it was

49:36

like, well, these high highs and these vicious

49:38

lows, it was just like, it wasn't the

49:40

interesting thing that was like eating us alive.

49:42

I felt like so much of our relationship

49:44

was... masochistic for me in a way and

49:47

I needed to feel like I also hated

49:49

myself a lot in ways and it didn't

49:51

feel myself loved like I didn't love myself

49:53

in a way and so also with my

49:55

career starting to work it I was I

49:57

was really in a deep place of thinking

50:00

that this was going to solve my issues

50:02

and my self-worth issues and financial issues and

50:04

that when people loved me and validated me

50:06

that I would feel like enough or I

50:08

would feel like I'm good I'm a good

50:11

person and and so I feel like I

50:13

was dealing with a lot of abuse from

50:15

her and letting that happen because I don't

50:17

know I feel like I just didn't deserve

50:19

what I was getting and I felt like

50:21

I was just in this shell of like

50:24

I hated being loved and I hated

50:26

all the attention and the love I

50:28

was getting and that's really what I

50:30

wanted all along. But then it was,

50:32

I was receiving it and I was

50:34

just not able to receive it. And

50:36

so I think I chose a partner

50:38

that was just like, I guess like.

50:41

you know taking my insecurities and really

50:43

exploiting my insecurities and I was letting

50:45

that happen I was lying that happen

50:47

and thinking for some way that that

50:50

was going to be good for me

50:52

to use as like fuel for the

50:54

record or something you know and it

50:57

was such a toxic thing that I

50:59

was such a toxic thing that I

51:01

was such a toxic thing that I

51:03

was doing to myself I had a

51:06

I had a lady at a meet

51:08

and greet forever ago she was a

51:10

And that like, fuck me up, you know,

51:12

and I think, I think I was really

51:14

going through that hard time of us like,

51:16

I mean, I came, I came, like, to

51:19

that camp, like, bag in pocket, man, like,

51:21

you know, just geeked up every

51:23

night, just talking. I remember, I

51:25

remember, I remember, you asked Mickey about

51:27

it too. He was like, oh, first

51:29

time I met you dude, I was

51:32

like, oh, this fucking kid is. crazy.

51:34

This kid is off the fucking hinges.

51:36

I was off the rails. He's like,

51:38

I don't, I don't, I don't see

51:40

it. I don't see it. You know,

51:43

and then we started getting closer and

51:45

closer and I guess he started realizing

51:47

like, there's, there's so much, I don't

51:49

know, I guess maybe he started seeing

51:52

himself, me, it was like, okay, I

51:54

see, I see the heart of this kid

51:56

it's really good. He's just in a fucking

51:58

bad place, you know. finding myself and

52:00

that and that and I think the

52:02

biggest thing is that was that was

52:05

that was one of the first times

52:07

I actually I guess wrote things so

52:09

specifically about myself and my own personal

52:11

issues because it's easy to write something

52:13

that you think people will relate to

52:15

but I find that the more specific

52:17

you write about your own specific shit

52:19

that nobody can relate to that makes

52:21

it more relatable and I don't know

52:23

if that's because you being that authentic

52:25

and safe and honest. makes them have

52:27

the opportunity maybe but or maybe it's

52:29

like we're writing about fucking Jackson Lake

52:31

and I only know Jackson Lake but

52:34

you have a Jackson Lake you know

52:36

what I'm talking about you know you

52:38

have one of those you know whether

52:40

it's whatever it's the pool at your

52:42

mom's house like we all have one

52:44

of those and I think I think

52:46

when I started being more honest and

52:48

vulnerable in my my place like in

52:50

our writing and discussing with them every

52:52

day when we wrote like what I'm

52:54

going through right now and crying to

52:56

them about things at night and and

52:58

and just really opening up and I

53:01

guess using using music as like my

53:03

own therapy for and having friends help

53:05

me put that into words it it

53:07

changed the whole scope of what music

53:09

really was to me because I don't

53:11

think I ever really been that honest

53:13

with myself in music I was just

53:15

trying to be heard in any fucking

53:17

way facet or form. One of the

53:19

hard parts of that song is that

53:21

it generally come from the Swedish school

53:23

of like trying to make a song

53:25

that the melody is singable for everybody.

53:27

What's amazing about that song is that

53:30

the identifier of the song is the

53:32

least singable thing on the planet. Yeah,

53:34

yeah. And it's a choice. You know,

53:36

also, Swedes are really good at finding

53:38

that one note, that one rhythm, that

53:40

one phrase that is a little bit

53:42

off on purpose. So that way, that's

53:44

the. identifier, but what's the identifier in

53:46

that song is so hard to sing.

53:48

Whose idea was it to sing something

53:50

that only Teddy Swins could see? Julian,

53:52

man. Julian, so that was one of

53:54

the things he said, so Amo originally

53:57

had like the beat he had brought

53:59

and, um, and uh... Julian was like,

54:01

there was two songs he wanted to

54:03

write that week. He's like, no matter

54:05

what we do this week, we have

54:07

to write, there was the door and

54:09

there was lose control. And the door,

54:11

they already, like, Emma already had the

54:13

beat and he had like mumbled all

54:15

the, like all the, all the, all

54:17

the vocals were there just in mumbles,

54:19

you know. And so, but lose control,

54:21

he just knew, he's like, I just,

54:23

I just know, there's course, it's like,

54:26

and then he's like, like, you know,

54:28

as we listen to songs like for

54:30

instance like you know Chris Dapleton's cover

54:32

Tennessee Whiskey right it was like it

54:34

was like you know that that one

54:36

run in that song is so so

54:38

specific and cool yeah and so it

54:40

was like it was kind of a

54:42

thing we referenced in a way because

54:44

he was like he was like you

54:46

know when you when you go see

54:48

somebody at a karaoke place as soon

54:50

as that song starts, you're going to

54:52

wait to the chorus just to see

54:55

if that person can hit it or

54:57

not, you know? And so I think

54:59

that's the special thing about that song.

55:01

As soon as the first first or

55:03

the dung, dung, starts, you're like, all

55:05

right motherfucky, you better sing this damn

55:07

thing. If you skip out and go,

55:09

dum, you know, you're like, you're like,

55:11

fuck you, what would you even start?

55:13

You know? It was like, it's one

55:15

of those things, I think he had

55:17

that I think he had that I

55:19

think he had that I think he

55:22

had that I think he had that

55:24

I think he had that I did,

55:26

he had that I did, he had

55:28

that I did, he had that I

55:30

did, he had that I did, he

55:32

had that I did, he had that

55:34

I did, he had that I did,

55:36

he had that I did, he had

55:38

that I did, he had that I

55:40

did, he had that, he had that

55:42

I did, he And I think the

55:44

other cool thing about that bit was

55:46

that, uh, Mickey had this idea kind

55:48

of of of the second verse situation

55:51

of just like, you know, do the

55:53

palimatic, it's not, it's not, it's not,

55:55

he did a little rappy bit, you

55:57

know, and so Julian was so smart

55:59

about this, he's like, all right, he's

56:01

like, all right, he, he's like, so

56:03

Julian was so smart about this, he's

56:05

like, he's like, you know, I'm gonna

56:07

take this, I'm gonna take this, I'm

56:09

gonna take this, I'm gonna take this,

56:11

I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna take

56:13

this, I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna

56:15

take this, I'm gonna take this, and

56:17

what we were just talking about. And

56:20

then we'll come back in and we'll

56:22

like bring all this parts together. So

56:24

then he comes up to me with

56:26

the first verse in his hand, hands

56:28

me the phone and he says, all

56:30

right, here's the instrumental, just gives me

56:32

the phone, he says, just like sing

56:34

at the top, like whatever comes to

56:36

your head to these lyrics. So I

56:38

sing the first verse, like the whole

56:40

melodies was just as I was reading

56:42

the lyrics. So the melody was to

56:44

the lyrics. And then the second verse

56:47

was just like. I guess the lyrics

56:49

to the melody, you know, right? And

56:51

so it was, it was, it was

56:53

like, it was two separate types of

56:55

songwriting, you know, because sometimes the melody

56:57

comes first, sometimes the lyrics come first.

56:59

And so, like, so, like, Mickey had

57:01

wrote the lyrics to the second verse

57:03

based off of a mumble of, so

57:05

he, like, used his melody to the

57:07

lyrics, and then, you know, let's let

57:09

the chorus be, whatever the fuck it,

57:11

you know, you know, you know, you

57:13

know, what it was. Hit since that

57:16

already. I mean the door is a

57:18

big song bad dreams. You got like

57:20

a bunch of stuff happening and are

57:22

you even real? So fuck hell yeah,

57:24

dude. Shout out of Solly, man. She's

57:26

yeah, she's a fucking gee, dude. She

57:28

really is. You know, are your expectations,

57:30

do you have expectations now that you've

57:32

reached a certain success? Do you have

57:34

expectations for future releases? No, I think,

57:36

I think, I think, you know, to

57:38

me, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's about

57:40

that gut feeling and trusting it again.

57:42

You know, like, so when I feel

57:45

it, I, I, I, I, I, I,

57:47

I, I, I just trust my gut

57:49

more because I know that trusting it

57:51

works very well and I'm going to

57:53

continue to do that rather than like,

57:55

being like, like, in this place of

57:57

pressure black, and then I was like,

57:59

I don't want to fucking hang this

58:01

up. I'll wait till I get a

58:03

platinum one. Then a platinum one gets

58:05

here and I'm like, I don't want

58:07

to fucking hang this up. Because if

58:09

I got this in my fucking studio

58:12

and I'm staring at myself like, if

58:14

this ain't lose control, then it's like.

58:16

not good enough and so I don't

58:18

want that kind of pressure of myself

58:20

of like because I'm gonna write bad

58:22

songs hell I just wrote one last

58:24

night and you will never fucking hear

58:26

it buddy you know what I mean

58:28

I'm gonna write bad songs again and

58:30

and I think I think just like

58:32

finishing the idea and like getting getting

58:34

the idea out and getting that thing

58:36

out it can always inform you know

58:38

your failures always inform your successes not

58:41

the other way around There's a difference

58:43

between an artist and a songwriter right

58:45

here because a songwriter in this era

58:47

has to buy their own plaques and

58:49

an artist is given a plaque by

58:51

their label. They want you to have

58:53

all the plaques. But a songwriter, there's

58:55

a point all my plaques that stopped

58:57

buying, maybe like six, seven years ago,

58:59

because... Every time I was like, oh,

59:01

let's upgrade it. And I would give

59:03

it to like my niece or my

59:05

nephew or somebody. I'd give somebody a

59:07

laugh. Oh, that's a good idea. That's

59:10

a good idea to give, like, give

59:12

them to mom or something. Yeah, yeah,

59:14

yeah, yeah, absolutely. But I was like,

59:16

man, I don't want to spend 300,

59:18

400 bucks every time like a song

59:20

goes from double, triple, triple, like, you

59:22

should be so lucky, right? Right. But

59:24

there's a point. Maybe that's when I'll

59:26

get the thing. And then I'm going

59:28

to hit up the label anyway and

59:30

be like, where's my dad? Like I

59:32

got you to send me that. But

59:34

like, I'm not going to buy, I'm

59:37

not going to keep up this thing

59:39

of like keep buying plaques only to

59:41

secretly be like, it should be seven

59:43

times, not six times. Well, I think

59:45

even even with my, with my cuts

59:47

as just a writer, I feel like

59:49

I would be very happy to hang

59:51

up like. those you know rather than

59:53

like my song and like my voice

59:55

on it and like you know me

59:57

as an artist like I would hate

59:59

to compete I would I could compete

1:00:01

with myself as a writer I do

1:00:03

every day but competing with myself as

1:00:06

an artist it's like fucking a horrifying

1:00:08

situation for me I don't want to

1:00:10

I don't want to hang up and

1:00:12

also like I always get this weird

1:00:14

thing about like my face being on

1:00:16

fucking everything. Like I don't want my

1:00:18

face to be all over my house

1:00:20

and my face everywhere. I always tell

1:00:22

like I get these like people that

1:00:24

come to like our meet and greets

1:00:26

and stuff and they'll like have drawn

1:00:28

like this beautiful picture of me and

1:00:30

it's such a beautiful thoughtful thing and

1:00:33

I'll be like dude thank you but

1:00:35

if I hang all these pictures of

1:00:37

myself and I'll be very honored. That's

1:00:39

beautiful you know. You know there's something

1:00:41

about, you're about to be a dead.

1:00:43

Yes sir. And I was just saying,

1:00:45

like taking yourself out of your house,

1:00:47

as a musician, we worked so hard

1:00:49

to in a way be recognized, I

1:00:51

think a lot of our love languages,

1:00:53

words of affirmation. Absolutely. And so we

1:00:55

just want to be told we're good

1:00:57

at what we do. So we do

1:00:59

music. because it was something along the

1:01:02

path where people were like, hey, you're

1:01:04

good at that. So you keep doing

1:01:06

it and you collect these accolades and

1:01:08

you put them in your house and

1:01:10

there's this moment when your child arrives

1:01:12

and you're like, oh, this is their

1:01:14

home now. And it's this weird, it

1:01:16

starts to become strange if there's more

1:01:18

than like, you know. Some of your

1:01:20

trophies and maybe one that you get

1:01:22

this weekend It's like you know, you'll

1:01:24

want that one up because that's like

1:01:26

a that shows like the family, you

1:01:28

know, yeah, but Having your face all

1:01:31

over your house is a tough thing

1:01:33

to grow up Yeah, and you never

1:01:35

know what that kind of communicates to

1:01:37

that baby either. You know, you never

1:01:39

know what that really says or how

1:01:41

that ballot looks or how much that

1:01:43

shadow that you cast onto that baby

1:01:45

will be to them when they're coming

1:01:47

up or will it make them need

1:01:49

to succeed in music to even enjoy

1:01:51

music or would it make them want

1:01:53

music at all? they've just completely rebelled

1:01:55

out of this beautiful art because they're

1:01:58

like, fucking numb. My dad's already done

1:02:00

that. I don't want to like be

1:02:02

like, yeah, I think I think there's

1:02:04

something so much to be said about.

1:02:06

Yeah, like removing that, I guess that

1:02:08

pressure off of yourself, but also that

1:02:10

child being in, I guess, removing that

1:02:12

ego from your house, but also that

1:02:14

pressure off your house, because how does

1:02:16

that ever affect the child upbringing and.

1:02:18

And then also, you want, you want,

1:02:20

sorry to interrupt, but like you want,

1:02:22

you want, you want your kid to

1:02:24

see attainability. Yeah. Because that's the, the

1:02:27

privilege of being Teddy Swims's child is

1:02:29

going to be that look at how

1:02:31

hard my father has worked. Um, and

1:02:33

I can work hard too. You know,

1:02:35

I, I don't know. There are many

1:02:37

ways your kid can interpret your success,

1:02:39

whatever that is. And look how. Look

1:02:41

how loving he is towards his family.

1:02:43

I want to love my family like

1:02:45

that. There are all these beautiful things

1:02:47

you can be without being heavy handed

1:02:49

and like, you know, this is what

1:02:51

I've achieved and make it so it's

1:02:53

not, seemingly not attainable. There's definitely like

1:02:56

a fine line. Do you feel like

1:02:58

being a... Becoming a father? Is that

1:03:00

changing who you are as a writer?

1:03:02

Oh yeah, already. I think the beautiful

1:03:04

thing for me is that there's this

1:03:06

like, there's this always fear in my

1:03:08

back of my mind that creeps up

1:03:10

that like, I say yes to everything,

1:03:12

I want everything, I want to go

1:03:14

get it. I want to get it.

1:03:16

I like, because I feel like dude,

1:03:18

there's a nine-year-old on Tik who's better

1:03:20

at all of our jobs than any

1:03:23

of us are, you know? And so

1:03:25

we got to get it. And so

1:03:27

we got to fucking get it. return

1:03:29

bees to the parent, you know what

1:03:31

I mean? Like, that kid can still

1:03:33

get grounded. I can't, so I'm going

1:03:35

out and fucking getting this thing, right?

1:03:37

And I feel like, I feel like

1:03:39

this has already been a very big

1:03:41

thing for me, even spending time with

1:03:43

my girls and watching her, you know,

1:03:45

develop this fucking limbs and shit. inside

1:03:47

of her. I think it's been such

1:03:49

a wonderful thing because now where I

1:03:52

have this like I want to be

1:03:54

the best and I want to go

1:03:56

get this and I need to be

1:03:58

successful in this and I want 19

1:04:00

Grammys and I want all this and

1:04:02

I still want those things but it's

1:04:04

not like life or death to me

1:04:06

anymore. It's not like... all that I'll

1:04:08

ever be, you know? And now I

1:04:10

know I have a different why now.

1:04:12

And a singer is not all I'll

1:04:14

ever be, and those accolades are not

1:04:16

all I'll ever be. And I think

1:04:18

now when I'm thinking about spending my

1:04:21

time being productive in music, I will

1:04:23

take that time and be productive in

1:04:25

music and it'll mean more and that

1:04:27

time being at home like just watching

1:04:29

TV with my child sitting on the

1:04:31

floor and playing around playing some Legos

1:04:33

or whatever the hill. I know that

1:04:35

we're doing nothing and that is the

1:04:37

most productive fucking thing I could be

1:04:39

doing is doing absolutely nothing with that

1:04:41

child and not feeling like oh man

1:04:43

I should be doing this right now

1:04:45

I should be doing this right now

1:04:48

and so I think being more present

1:04:50

in both those spaces from home life

1:04:52

to work life and but also like

1:04:54

Making both those times mean a whole

1:04:56

lot more and being fully present in

1:04:58

those moments and and and not being

1:05:00

Thinking of the other thing too much

1:05:02

while I'm doing the other thing You

1:05:04

know, I hope that it brings that

1:05:06

kind of balance and presence of my

1:05:08

life Yeah, you don't have time to

1:05:10

mess around either way Yeah, exactly like

1:05:12

you go to work You got to

1:05:14

show up to work because you got

1:05:17

to go home and be a dad

1:05:19

when you're a dad you got to

1:05:21

be a dad Because like you just

1:05:23

were at work and like you have

1:05:25

to be you have to be there

1:05:27

you know if you're gonna do either

1:05:29

well or you're gonna do neither well

1:05:31

yeah exactly that's that's it let's go

1:05:33

and ask I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm

1:05:35

gonna go to a five for five

1:05:37

and almost five things just tell me

1:05:39

the things that comes off the top

1:05:41

of your head okay all right the

1:05:44

grammies Michael Jackson dude oh that's interesting

1:05:46

yeah you are nominated for a bunch

1:05:48

of grammies and that's the that's the

1:05:50

first thing well do I used to

1:05:52

I used to I used to watch

1:05:54

I still do sometimes. I used to

1:05:56

watch this video. He's my favorite video

1:05:58

ever when I was a kid. I

1:06:00

really like wanted this situation. So there's

1:06:02

this this is when he goes up

1:06:04

and gets eight Grammys that night, but

1:06:06

on the seventh Grammy, I remember he

1:06:08

goes, there's a video of him. You

1:06:10

can find a line. He goes up

1:06:13

there and he says that, you know,

1:06:15

so I promised that if I got

1:06:17

another Grammy, which is seven, which is

1:06:19

a record that I would take my

1:06:21

sunglasses off. I'm doing it for Miss

1:06:23

Hepburn who's a dear friend of mine

1:06:25

and the lady's in the back and

1:06:27

he just like raises his glasses up

1:06:29

and people scream and he pulls him

1:06:31

back down and he sits back now

1:06:33

and I was like, it's the most

1:06:35

gangster shit I've ever seen. And so

1:06:37

that's always been like my like precipice

1:06:39

of like humanity for me. And so

1:06:42

when I think about the Grammys or

1:06:44

I think about just success, I just

1:06:46

like think about how fucking iconic that

1:06:48

is and I want, I don't have

1:06:50

to be that, but. If I ever

1:06:52

get seven grams, do you best fucking

1:06:54

believe that's exactly the best, exactly my

1:06:56

speech. That's my fucking speech. Same outfit,

1:06:58

dude. Fuck you talk about. Let's go

1:07:00

a big family. Oh man. You know,

1:07:02

I, dude. Peter Bonetta dude,

1:07:05

that's how really Peter Bonetta is the

1:07:07

fucking hero of that whole thing man

1:07:09

I think I think I think I

1:07:11

think that comes down from just like

1:07:14

generational like the way the person that

1:07:16

he is and what he's instilled and

1:07:18

all those kids and myself included he's

1:07:20

had his hand like I don't there's

1:07:23

like he's it's like his lips to

1:07:25

God's ears man Peter Bonetta is a

1:07:27

legend in his own right and it's

1:07:29

like one of the greatest was ever

1:07:31

I've never stifled him by any means.

1:07:34

He's gone it and done it all

1:07:36

by himself. That's the way I see

1:07:38

fatherhood and childhood like being like, if

1:07:40

I'm so lucky to have my child

1:07:43

do that, that it carves his own

1:07:45

way and his own path and then

1:07:47

also just has that support. And that

1:07:49

support without ever feeling, you know, just

1:07:52

what we were talking about, that support

1:07:54

of like, it is attainable, but also

1:07:56

without being to, I guess, like, not,

1:07:58

you know. I think their relationship, his

1:08:01

dad and Julian and his dad are

1:08:03

just like, that's the whole culture of

1:08:05

what they've built and the whole culture

1:08:07

I hope to have with my family,

1:08:10

if my child does want to do

1:08:12

music at all. But Peter Bonita is

1:08:14

a fucking legend, dude. This isn't a

1:08:16

question, but I feel like I have

1:08:18

to ask this would be, for number

1:08:21

three, would be songwriting verse being an

1:08:23

artist. I don't know that I

1:08:25

can ever, I don't know if I

1:08:27

can ever do either. I think I

1:08:29

have to do both at the same

1:08:31

time. I think the way that I

1:08:33

approach songwriting is as someone who knows

1:08:35

what it takes to do that. So

1:08:37

I know even as a songwriter, if

1:08:39

I'm just songwriting for the artist in

1:08:41

the room, I know what it's gonna

1:08:43

take. for the artists to love that

1:08:45

in order to go to every fucking

1:08:48

interview and to every every six a.m.

1:08:50

singing that song and I know I

1:08:52

know what it takes to have to

1:08:54

love that song and fall in love

1:08:56

with that song every day and so

1:08:58

I find it if I'm songwriting it's

1:09:00

it's totally about more so about making

1:09:02

that fucking artists feel comfortable even if

1:09:04

the song is it suffers from the

1:09:06

artists like the artist has got to

1:09:08

be comfortable singing that song so if

1:09:10

the song is not a number one

1:09:12

hit because I know it takes the

1:09:14

number one hit and this kid's never

1:09:16

had that, like I don't know, it's

1:09:18

gonna be a number one hit if

1:09:20

that kid does all the work that

1:09:22

it takes to push that song, make

1:09:24

that song, and loves that song and

1:09:26

falls in love with that song and

1:09:28

it's more about them. And so I

1:09:30

think it's, I think, I think songwriting,

1:09:32

I always approach from my own artist,

1:09:34

like not perspective, but my, what it

1:09:36

takes to make a song, how it

1:09:38

takes an artist to push a song

1:09:40

to where it, the thing that it

1:09:42

is. So I just, if I'm writing

1:09:44

for an artist, I always, you know,

1:09:46

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not ignorant

1:09:48

to that process. So I try to

1:09:50

just, you know, still be an artist

1:09:52

in the room. Rage. Man, I love

1:09:54

her so much. That's a beautiful woman,

1:09:56

and I'm so grateful for that, that,

1:09:58

she's changed my whole perspective on. life

1:10:01

and love and what it's like to

1:10:03

be a person that's so so kind

1:10:05

and beautiful and watching her become a

1:10:07

mother is just like watching her just

1:10:09

build this inside of her and how

1:10:11

how perceptive she is about everything and

1:10:13

thoughtful she is about everything there's just

1:10:15

nothing she's thinking she doesn't take anything

1:10:17

lightly there's not anything that it's not

1:10:19

already calculated thought and thought and thought

1:10:21

out and she's like slowed me down

1:10:23

so much on being reactive to things,

1:10:25

you know. I think, I think she's,

1:10:27

she's a very, very thoughtful person and

1:10:29

not just reactive. And I think, yeah,

1:10:31

I would just say just, what a

1:10:33

fucking awesome human being, man. You're unborn

1:10:35

kid. God. I'm so, I don't want

1:10:37

to cry, but I just, I hope

1:10:39

they think I'm cool, man, you know,

1:10:41

I like, I like, my dad is

1:10:43

the coolest person in the world in

1:10:45

the world, and I just want, Like

1:10:47

I want my baby to be like,

1:10:49

I'm kind of scared to have him

1:10:51

as granddad, you know, because I know

1:10:53

he's living in his shadow already as

1:10:55

a granddad. He's the fucking coolest guy

1:10:57

in the world. And I just hope

1:10:59

that the way I talk about my

1:11:01

father that my baby like will talk

1:11:03

about me like that one day, you

1:11:05

know, and say like I had the

1:11:07

most honest and emotionally available and intelligent

1:11:09

person. I just hope my child will

1:11:11

say that about me one day. I

1:11:13

hope I would live up to that

1:11:16

for that for that baby. I want

1:11:18

to be that. be the safest, softest

1:11:20

place to land for that child and

1:11:22

I hope that I can do what

1:11:24

my dad did for me. Yeah, dude,

1:11:26

but... Well, I can say that as

1:11:28

somebody who's been in the room with

1:11:30

you and I said it even in

1:11:32

the intro, it's like, I've never said

1:11:34

that I've done 200 of these interviews.

1:11:36

I'm never like, this is the effiniscus

1:11:38

dude. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks

1:11:40

so much. It's the fact that... I'm

1:11:42

my daddy's son, bro. We all feel

1:11:44

like... we're in a safe place in

1:11:46

a session with you. And it's not,

1:11:48

again, I think, thank you short. change

1:11:50

yourself sometimes when you describe yourself because

1:11:52

we need you as much as you

1:11:54

need anybody in this like and we

1:11:56

need to have we need to have

1:11:58

collaborators like you anybody or we're in

1:12:00

a room where it just feels like

1:12:02

it doesn't matter and I don't know

1:12:04

if you can curate a good song

1:12:06

I still for the rest of my

1:12:08

life will not believe that you can

1:12:10

ever really schedule a great song you

1:12:12

can't no But you can schedule a

1:12:14

good day and you can be with

1:12:16

good friends and you can just know

1:12:18

that you're with those safe people and

1:12:20

you know you will be a good

1:12:22

dad. I believe so. I've received that.

1:12:24

I've received that. I've received that. I

1:12:26

know who you are. I see you.

1:12:29

I know who you are. I see

1:12:31

you. I see you. I receive that

1:12:33

man. Yeah I think it's so beautiful

1:12:35

that you said you can't schedule a

1:12:37

good song but you can schedule a

1:12:39

good day. Well listen man I'm so

1:12:41

proud of the success you've had and

1:12:43

you know all the I didn't the

1:12:45

fact that something like lose control took

1:12:47

39 weeks to go number one is

1:12:49

even the most Teddy swims that ever

1:12:51

dude well you know we're seven like

1:12:53

seven or eight weeks from it being

1:12:55

the longest running top ten ever which

1:12:57

is fucking crazy like it's the most

1:12:59

Teddy these are the most Teddy swims

1:13:01

Stats because it's this like patient family

1:13:03

vibe. It's not like there is no

1:13:05

flash in the pan vibe Because it's

1:13:07

just not that story. That's just somebody

1:13:09

else's story Like that's not your story

1:13:11

and look man the Grammy's best new

1:13:13

artist category this year is pretty exciting

1:13:15

because it's all people who are not

1:13:17

new You know you know the whole

1:13:19

like the like this is a celebration

1:13:21

of work ethic. Yeah, and your success

1:13:23

is like a success. story for not

1:13:25

just you just you,

1:13:27

but all your whole

1:13:29

community that you're

1:13:31

bringing with you. you and

1:13:33

I mean mean, it's

1:13:35

just fun that that

1:13:37

you can't help but

1:13:39

root on your

1:13:41

friends throughout this process.

1:13:44

throughout this if I

1:13:46

can go kill it

1:13:48

this weekend. kill it this

1:13:50

And, you know,

1:13:52

forever and ever. know

1:13:54

man, you too, buddy.

1:13:56

I appreciate You too

1:13:58

love you, I bud.

1:14:00

I love you, man.

1:14:02

you. I love you man. this

1:14:04

is fun. so Thank

1:14:06

you, man. We

1:14:08

hope you enjoyed this

1:14:10

episode. We It was

1:14:12

produced by me

1:14:14

and Joe London in

1:14:16

association with Mega this

1:14:18

Group. If you like

1:14:20

this episode, go

1:14:22

give us a rating

1:14:24

at wherever you

1:14:26

listen to your to your

1:14:28

And make sure

1:14:30

to follow us at

1:14:32

to follow us and all

1:14:34

your socials. We'll see

1:14:36

you next week. week.