Teddy Swims, courtesy Lindsey Byrnes.

It’s tough to pin down Jaten Dimsdale, better known as Teddy Swims, and he’d have it no other way. Whether it’s metal, country or R&B, Dimsdale’s mission is clear: Do whatever you can to be heard.

“I was in a bunch of metal bands after high school. I did theater and stuff like that,” said Dimsdale, whose earliest musical memories go back to growing up in church. “Teddy Swims started as a hip-hop project.”

Flash back to June 2019, when Dimsdale uploaded a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” to YouTube as a way to pay homage to the singer’s musical legacy.

“We woke up the next day and it was going off,” he said.

It was that moment when Teddy Swims truly came to life.

Dimsdale made the promise to his bandmates that if they would put aside their own side projects and dig in to record, design and film this music, there would be dividends at the end of the road.

“If we can all just put our heads together for six months—six months is all we need, and I truly believe this can happen,” he said of the promise to his bandmates. “I kid you not, Dec. 24, like a day less than six months, me and my buds were all able to have a life out of this.”

The payoff was getting signed to Warner for Teddy Swims.

“Swims” is an acronym for “someone who isn’t me sometimes.” What it represents for Dimsdale is so much more. He sees it as a collective contribution of everyone around him.

“For the longest time, I didn’t want to be a solo artist because I thought I’d have to be alone,” Dimsdale said. “A friend told me I could still have a band; that’s something I didn’t realize I could have.”

His band includes nine to 12 people who go out on the road with the singer, as well as help write and produce his music.

To create Sleep Is Exhausting, Dimsdale and his crew took to Snellville, Ga. and moved into a five-bedroom house that, with a little creative construction, turned into an eight-bedroom house and studio.

“We built two studios in it; we ply-boarded walls off in the middle of rooms to make them two bedrooms. We were distributing merch out of the garage,” Dimsdale said. “We made it through a pandemic together.”

It could not have come at a more opportune time for Dimsdale, who seemed to be facing mounting personal struggles and was searching for something to spark a turnaround.

“The transmission went out on my ’98 Honda Accord. I had to walk two miles to find out the place I was waiting tables had shut down. My roommates moved out. The girl I was dating at the time had just dumped me,” he said. “It was a ‘when it rains it pours’ situation. Everything in my life, all in about two weeks, hit the fan and fell apart.”

Dimsdale moved back in with his dad, sleeping on a mattress on the floor but holding onto the hope.

He said equates music to the emotions he feels when he listens to it. Country can tell a love story, hip-hip can amp him up for a night out and metal can unlock anger and aggression. Dimsdale described himself as an “emotional toddler,” and he freely jumps between Adele, Drake or hard rock depending on what he’s feeling at the time.

“I don’t want someone to turn on Teddy Swims when they’re just ready to cry,” Dimsdale said. “If you want to make love, or cry about losing it, then I’m your guy.”

Then artists Teddy Swims works with are as electric as his influences. He’s guested on tracks by the likes of Meghan Trainor, Thomas Rhett and Illenium.

“They’re all just monsters of the industry and heroes of mine, artists that I listened to before even being an artist myself,” he said, crediting the collaborations as a flashpoint for his own growth as an artist.

“Just the opportunity to be in the room and soak knowledge and gain wisdom from people like that was incredible,” Dimsdale said. “People always say, ‘Don’t meet your heroes,’ but man, those ones are exactly what you think they are.”

He acknowledged he’s still a “little green,” and that finding success hasn’t solved all of his problems, but this his heroes have helped him along the way. He’s also getting closer to making a full-length album—his first. He’s got hundreds of songs done, from which he’ll have to find his favorites.

The title of Teddy Swims’ latest EP, 2022’s Sleep is Exhausting, is a reflection of his tendency to overwork himself. He described himself as a burner of the midnight oil. As he’s crossed over various thresholds, the pressure to succeed has watched higher. He and his band celebrated when single “Rock With You” got 100,000 views on YouTube. These days, if a TikTok doesn’t hit 50,000 views, he sometimes worries that he’s “washed up and nobody cares anymore.”

It’s playing in front of people that reminds him that’s he’s on the right track. Meeting people and hearing how his songs have affected them has been eye-opening for him.

“The best thing about touring is that you put a face to that 50,000 views, and realize that you are doing something that’s worth doing,” Dimsdale said. “That’s what we got into this for, right?”

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.