TEDDY SWIMS

FROM Conyers, Georgia SOUNDS LIKE A silky voice that slides right into country, hip-hop, and classic soul

When jaten Dimsdale started putting cover performances on YouTube under the name Teddy Swims in 2019, he tried everything from H.E.R. to George Strait, just to see who was listening. “It turned out that people were liking everything, or they just liked the personality . . . or my voice,” Dimsdale says, calling from his home base in Atlanta. The bearded, tattooed 28-year-old — who grew up listening to Marvin Gaye and put in a few years screaming in a post-hardcore band — has gone on to win more than 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and a deal with Warner Bros. for his original music, which blends elements of hip-hop, country, and soul. “We ended up bridging gaps for people,” he says. “Maybe the 50-year-old man from Georgia, out on the farm, may have never heard a Summer Walker song, or may have never heard a Frank Ocean song, but because he loved my George Strait cover, he listens to it and he’s like, ‘You know what, I actually really like this song.’ ”