Teddy Swims Trusts His Gut Because It’s the ‘Only Thing That Has Your Back’

As Jaten Dimsdale was starting to chart his course as Teddy Swims, he got some fantastic advice from an old friend: Listen to your gut.

Speaking with Rolling Stone’s Delisa Shannon backstage at Lollapalooza, Swims recalled his friend saying, “If you could tell me one time in your life that your gut has ever been wrong, I’ll shut up.” And Swims, for his part, couldn’t remember a single time when his gut had led him astray.

“I started, from then on, listening to my gut,” the singer-songwriter from Georgia continued. “If I feel something stirring in my spirit, I avert immediately. I talk about things when they happen; I don’t swallow things. I just trust my gut. And that’s all you can do.” 

Then, putting his hands on his stomach, he quipped, “This is the only thing that has your back.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Swims spoke about working through the painful relationship experiences that inspired his breakthrough 2023 single, “Lose Control,” and reaching the point as an artist where he felt comfortable being so vulnerable (and also knowing when to hold back).

“I try to move as honestly and openly as I can,” Swims said. “And I think that attracts people that will be willing to do the same, or accept you as you are. I’m not perfect. Of course, there are some things you’re meant to hold for yourself, but I try to be honest. I feel like I’ve been so lucky to get this opportunity, to get this job, to have a place where I can put my stuff out, and have people let me know I’m not alone. I feel like the more honest I become, the more honest life around me becomes.”