Singer-songwriter Teddy Swims stopped by Genius to discuss his hit song “Lose Control,” which has been streamed over 235 million times on Spotify to date. The hot track was also his first song to chart and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Ammo & Julian Bunetta produced song is also off the Atlanta native’s debut album I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1).
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MusicTranscript
00:00 To be able to get to share my pain with someone, it makes my pain very necessary and it makes
00:05 it okay that I had it.
00:06 It made me feel not alone and it made me realize that I helped somebody else not feel alone
00:11 and isn't that just a function of music?
00:14 We did a damn good job with this one.
00:15 That's for damn sure, man.
00:16 So we wrote this song "Lose Control" with Ammo, my dear, dear mentor, best bud, best
00:29 guy ever, Julian Boneta and Mickey Echo.
00:31 I was going through a really rough time.
00:34 When you're going through something and you're with a person, and I mean this with all respect
00:37 and love for that person, the song itself is just kind of about substances we were kind
00:42 of on became kind of the substance of our relationship and it was kind of like we were
00:45 enabling each other in a lot of ways to not grow.
00:48 You can love somebody so much but sometimes that's just what happens in a relationship.
00:52 So we wanted kind of like a catchy melody that was a great chorus that would inspire
00:56 kids that want to sing or people that want to sing to like sit in their car all day and
00:59 try to learn that riff over and over and over again.
01:02 So that's kind of where it just all came from.
01:05 Being an addict and codependency and wanting a catchy riff that nobody can sing.
01:09 So that's in a nutshell what the whole song is.
01:12 Something's got a hold on me lately.
01:15 No, I don't know myself anymore.
01:19 Feels like the walls are all closing in and the devil's knocking at my door.
01:24 Whoa.
01:25 Out of my mind, how many times did I tell you I'm no good at being alone?
01:33 It's taking a toll on me, trying my best to keep from tearing the skin off my bones.
01:41 But you know, the fear of being alone is kind of like being alone with your own thoughts
01:45 and own anxiety and your own little tics.
01:47 I think it's a very, very natural thing to feel.
01:49 I started having to do things to myself that really changed my life as far as just looking
01:53 at myself in the mirror every day and doing little affirmations.
01:56 I know with cliche and cheesy as they sound, it's great to say, "You're doing great.
01:59 I love you.
02:00 You're beautiful."
02:01 It really just makes your whole day better.
02:04 I lose control when you're not next to me.
02:11 I'm falling apart right in front of you.
02:15 Can't you see?
02:16 I lose control when you're not next to me.
02:26 You're breaking my heart, baby.
02:28 You make a mess of me.
02:30 I think I heard something from the Bee Gees one time.
02:33 Somebody said this to me.
02:34 I don't know if this is true.
02:35 It changed my life as far as chorus writing.
02:37 They used to write the chorus and then they'd go back and be like, "Okay, now this is the
02:40 verse."
02:41 And then write another chorus and say, "Okay, this is the pre."
02:44 And then write another chorus.
02:45 And so they would start with a chorus and get big.
02:47 And I think with 100,000 songs coming out today, you have maybe two and a half minutes
02:51 at best to grab somebody's attention.
02:53 I think it's very important to make everything feel like a hook all the time.
02:58 Problematic.
02:59 Problem is I want your body like a fiend, like a bad habit.
03:03 Bad habits hard to break when I'm with you.
03:06 Yeah, I know I can do it on my own, but I want that real full moon black magic and it
03:11 takes two.
03:13 Problematic.
03:14 Problem is when I'm with you, I'm an addict and I need some relief.
03:19 My skin and your teeth can't see the forest through the trees.
03:23 Got me down on my knees.
03:25 Darling, please.
03:27 When you're detoxing from something, it's so hard.
03:30 And the only thing that truly will give you relief in that moment is hitting that thing
03:34 again.
03:35 And that's all that's on your mind.
03:36 And that moment kind of related to that.
03:38 I need to get out of this.
03:39 I need to detox from this.
03:41 And I know how bad it's going to hurt.
03:42 Just signing up for the big life altering change that that was going to be.
03:46 And the only thing that would have really relieved me from that was it all being better
03:49 and just going back and calling it back up and saying, "I just want to see you one more
03:53 time."
03:54 And then you always do that thing with somebody.
03:56 And you're just like, "If I could just see you one more time.
03:58 If we could just be together one more time.
04:00 If we can just get a little fix one more time.
04:03 Bone one more time."
04:04 And then that always just opens the door to being back on another bender.
04:07 You know what I mean?
04:08 I guess a love bender or something.
04:13 Once you get past all that detox of it, you're like, "Why did I want that?"
04:16 I feel normal now and I like feeling normal.
04:19 I feel great.
04:20 I feel happy.
04:21 You don't know that you want that until you're out of that.
04:22 And you're like, "Oh, I feel great."