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
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MusicTranscript
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)