Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Teddy Swims is the unusual but buoyant stage name of Jaten Dimsdale, an old-fashioned soulful hollerer from the US state of Georgia. He was responsible for the biggest hit on the Billboard singles chart in 2024, “Lose Control” — a bluesy showstopper in which Swims struggles manfully to keep his head above the troubled waters of a toxic relationship.Originally released in 2023, the song took 32 weeks to reach number one, the longest climb in US chart history by a solo male artist. The epic ascent was apt: Swims has a toiler’s voice in the grand American tradition, all brawn and noble suffering. But he also knows to strike when the iron is hot. Hence the prompt arrival of a sequel to his 2023 debut, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1).The follow-up opens with Swims back in the clutches of a femme fatale. “Not Your Man” is an enjoyable “Lose Control” retread with soul-baring emoting and chest-beating drums in which Swims tries to muster the gumption to leave a deceitful woman for whom love is synonymous with danger. The melodrama continues with “Funeral”, an orchestral stomper where the singer gruffly submits to “masochistic kisses” from a lover who has poison on her lips. She then has the gall to wear “that little black dress” to his funeral.A concerned listener might wonder at this point whether Swims should perhaps give therapy a go. But I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) has a logical purpose: it delivers more of the same. There is a calculating heart amid the songs’ romantic turbulence.The results don’t come across as cynical. Swims strives sincerely at the microphone, a likeable leading man, although he’s guilty of churning out middle-of-the-road filler such as “It Ain’t Easy”. The best tracks turn up the musical heat. “Hammer to the Heart” brings a baroque spaghetti western dimension to another tale of relationship woes. Guest singer Muni Long swaps multisyllabic tokens of affection on the pop-soul duet “Black & White”. “I don’t do anything different than I used to,” Swims sings. Fair enough: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.★★★☆☆‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)’ is released by Warner Records
