Teddy Swims Does ASMR, with Flarp, Talks Debut Album & Advice for Upcoming Musicians

Fuse

On this episode of Mind Massage, Teddy Swims takes us on a sound journey using some of his favorite items such as Apple Juice, Strawberry Fruit Spread and a "I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1)" Cassette

Transcript

00:00 Hey, it's Teddy Sohamson, and this is my mind massage.

00:04 [ Blender whirring ]

00:07 [ Slurping ]

00:10 [ Slurping ]

00:15 The first item is this flarp.

00:18 We got the glow putty, too.

00:22 It's just for making, like, poo noises, you know?

00:26 We all did this as a kid.

00:30 Oh, I got to get it really early.

00:33 [ Laughs ]

00:35 [ Slurping ]

00:41 Oh, that's good.

00:42 It's just for making, like, poo noises, you know?

00:46 [ Slurping ]

00:48 It smells like grapes or something.

00:51 [ Slurping ]

00:53 Macaroni in a pot, baby. Ooh.

00:56 Poo noises, you know?

00:59 That's that wop.

01:02 [ Laughs ]

01:05 I'm from Atlanta, Georgia,

01:08 a small little town called Conyers,

01:11 Rockdale County, Georgia,

01:13 about 30 minutes east of Atlanta.

01:15 It's all Georgia, man.

01:16 We got the best of hip-hop,

01:17 the best of country music,

01:19 the best of soul music.

01:20 Everybody came from Georgia.

01:23 It's the perfect place for life and music.

01:27 I describe my music as

01:30 anything that you can make love or cry to.

01:33 I think there's only two feelings worth having.

01:37 We're either making love or we're crying about losing it.

01:40 Or at least that's the only thing important to me.

01:43 I started making music when I was about 14.

01:49 I was in school, and I got in a musical theater,

01:53 and me and my best pal Jess

01:55 started making a bunch of metal songs.

01:57 "Rent" is the best musical I've ever been a part of.

01:59 Me and my best pal Jess, he played Mark and Roger.

02:01 I was Roger in that show, and to this day,

02:04 he could still do every character in that show, I think.

02:06 I could play the entire cast. I love that show.

02:10 Okay.

02:11 We're gonna make a peanut butter and chili sandwich

02:14 'cause it's the only...

02:18 I gotta skip past the first bread.

02:22 Nobody likes the first or last bread.

02:26 Toast first, of course.

02:30 I'm very excited to play some new tunes for my album

02:35 for people.

02:36 We get to do a meet-and-greet at every show

02:39 with about 100 folks,

02:40 and it's the funnest thing in the world

02:42 'cause you get to meet all these sweet people

02:44 and spend time with them

02:45 and, you know, tell you stories about how you

02:49 have affected their lives

02:50 or they got married to your songs and stuff.

02:53 It's really sweet.

02:54 It's really cool seeing the healing

02:56 that you bring to people sometimes.

02:58 I think it's the most rewarding thing in the world.

03:02 If I could switch lives with anyone for a day,

03:05 man, that's a tough one.

03:07 Probably Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

03:09 I think he's the coolest guy ever.

03:12 He's so big and strong and cool

03:15 and, like, super.

03:16 So I think Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for sure

03:19 would be the only person I'd want to switch lives with.

03:22 I'm scared it's gonna jump.

03:24 How do we stop it?

03:27 Yeah, it's toasted enough.

03:30 That'll do.

03:31 That's a great amount of toast.

03:33 It's a little hot.

03:35 Strawberry fruit spread in here.

03:38 Thanks for keeping it organic.

03:41 Yeah.

03:43 We got the organic fruit spread.

03:49 Oh, that's gonna sound great.

03:56 I think it's the best sandwich in the world,

03:58 this peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

04:01 I'm gonna do a little backwards 'cause

04:04 usually you want to mix it up in a bowl first,

04:06 you know, and get the perfect consistency.

04:09 But I guess I didn't specify that I also needed a bowl, so...

04:13 I think we're gonna go for a layer of Skippy

04:16 and then go for another layer of jelly, too,

04:19 so we can really get the squish.

04:24 Oh, yeah. That felt good.

04:27 Yeah, I like that shit.

04:30 I don't know. Can I say shit?

04:33 Uh-huh.

04:35 It's almost to the consistency that we like.

04:37 Oh, God, yeah, that's so good.

04:40 I feel my mind being massaged.

04:44 I hope you do, too.

04:47 Here we go.

04:48 All right, let's put this flap.

04:50 Look at that. Clap, baby. Easy claps.

04:53 Squeeze. Oh, God. Sorry, hold on.

04:56 I got to take my grill out.

04:59 Sorry, you had to hear that "sss."

05:01 You sucked the spit out of it, too. Oh, no.

05:04 [laughs]

05:06 If I could bring any album to the desert,

05:13 I would probably bring Songs in a Key of Life by Stevie Wonder.

05:18 I think it's the best album ever to that.

05:20 Or Phantoms by this band called Acceptance.

05:23 They were a band when I was a kid, and the album still is awesome.

05:28 The next one is Mott's Apple Juice.

05:33 Apple juice boxes. I have one tattooed on my palm.

05:38 I love these.

05:40 Look at it.

05:44 I love that he's got this little--

05:49 little headband on like he's just got finished working out.

05:56 [laughs]

05:58 He's getting active today.

06:01 [drinking]

06:03 My best friend who used to be my pianist,

06:09 he passed away like three years ago,

06:14 and I got his initials, Chris Don, B. John, Solomon in there,

06:18 and he kind of hated water,

06:20 and he just wanted to drink just candy all the time.

06:23 You know what I mean?

06:25 And so we just drank a lot of juice together,

06:29 and I miss him every day,

06:31 so this is my way of always feeling close to him and his kids.

06:36 Yeah, to Kristoff, my best pal in the world.

06:40 I have a new album.

06:41 I've tried everything with therapy.

06:44 Part one, there's going to be a part two of it eventually.

06:48 I'm super excited about it.

06:50 I think it's going to be a good blessing for some people,

06:53 and ultimately I've been terrified of therapy my whole life,

06:57 so this album is kind of a promise I made to myself

07:01 that once I release it that I would be in therapy

07:05 and try to--I don't know, whatever therapy does for people,

07:10 I'm not sure yet, but I hope it works.

07:14 It fixes me.

07:16 This song on my album is my favorite song.

07:19 It's called "Suitcase."

07:21 It's really cool.

07:22 I think it's very honest with me.

07:25 And then there's a song called "Some Things I'll Never Know."

07:28 It's about how people leave your life

07:31 and you don't get a lot of closure in relationships,

07:35 and you never know why people do the things they do.

07:39 So it's really been a big blessing for me.

07:42 It's the first time I ever recorded anything where I cried and cried.

07:46 Oh, you know, I just hope it does something like that for you.

07:51 This is my album on cassette.

07:55 God, I've tried everything with therapy.

07:58 I guess people still buy cassette tapes.

08:02 I'm a giant man-child up here.

08:10 Please someone help me.

08:12 [laughs]

08:14 We're going to be here for the rest of our lives.

08:18 So--

08:20 What the fuck is this?

08:22 Oh, we put it on a little orange tape too,

08:25 like an old Nickelodeon VHS.

08:30 It's pretty cool.

08:32 There's a cute little picture of me in here.

08:34 It's been a hard road over the last four years

08:37 trying to get an album out.

08:40 My favorite memory probably is just all the long nights

08:44 with tequila that I've had making this.

08:47 I think the first "Oh my God, I made it" moment,

08:53 two years ago or something,

08:55 George Lopez followed me on Instagram.

08:58 That was pretty cool.

08:59 I love the George Lopez show when I was growing up.

09:02 That was pretty cool.

09:04 Another time I did a song with Meghan Trainor called "Bad For Me."

09:07 Her husband Daryl invited me to his 30th birthday party.

09:11 We watched Spy Kids 2 together.

09:14 I called my mom and I was like, "Mom, we just--

09:17 I literally just watched Spy Kids with the Spy Kids

09:19 and it was the coolest thing that's probably ever happened to me

09:22 because I made my mom take me to that movie to watch Spy Kids 2

09:25 like four times."

09:27 We got pink, we got blue, we got purple.

09:31 Let's get this shit going.

09:33 Let's get a little clump out.

09:37 Do something really cute.

09:39 We're just going to make a little--

09:41 a little snowman.

09:46 And yeah, there he is.

09:52 I think he looks pretty good, yeah?

09:55 If I could give advice to anyone that's trying to be an artist or upcoming,

10:02 I would say it's okay to suck

10:05 and you're going to suck a lot more than you're going to be good.

10:08 You can't always write the good ones, you know?

10:10 You can't always do the right thing

10:12 and you can't always make the right choice,

10:14 but nobody's counting your failures except for you.

10:17 They only care about your successes,

10:19 so try not to compare yourself to other people.

10:25 My best self-love advice would probably be to--

10:29 every day when I start my day,

10:31 I used to just look at myself in the mirror like anyone and get dressed,

10:36 but it never occurred to me that I hadn't literally looked myself in the eyes.

10:42 So I try every morning to look myself in the eyes and say,

10:47 "You got this and you're doing great and you're good looking

10:50 "and you don't suck and you're cool and you're not that fat and everything.

10:55 "You're okay. You're beautiful."

10:58 I just try to look myself in the eyes

11:00 and make sure I love myself before I move out into the world for the day.

11:06 Hey, I'm Teddy Swims.

11:08 Thanks for coming to my mind massage

11:10 and please make sure you check out my album,

11:12 I've Tried Everything With Therapy, part one.

11:15 (electronic beeping)

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