Teddy Swims - UGLY [Blue]

Teddy Swims gets candid about imperfection on UGLY, his next album, due on blue vinyl in 2027.

Coming after the two-part I've Tried Everything but Therapy, UGLY was written over roughly fifteen months following the birth of his son, and it turns that upheaval into songs about growing up, as a man and as a new father. The title suits a record more interested in flaws and honesty than in polish.

Two songs have already set the tone. "Mr. Know It All" arrived early as a first taste, and "Perfect Man" is a piano ballad framed by soulful backing vocals, wrestling with impossible self-expectations and finding strength in falling short of them.

Swims has said the beauty of chasing perfection lies in knowing nobody ever reaches it, and that idea runs through everything heard so far. That big, gravel-edged soul voice is built for this kind of confession, able to swing from a near-whisper to a roar inside a single chorus, and the songs give it plenty of space to do so.

With the full tracklist still under wraps, this blue pressing offers a first look at a more personal chapter, and the early songs suggest a writer getting more honest with every release.