“I owe so much to this festival,” said American chart-topper Teddy Swims ahead of his Saturday night headline set at Latitude
The 33-year-old Grammy and Brit Award nominee, known for hits Lose Control, Bad Dreams and The Door, first performed at the event at Henham Park, Suffolk, in 2023
Since then, Swims – real name Jaten Collin Dimsdale – has enjoyed a meteoric rise and will soon embark on his biggest US arena tour
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But he told the BBC it had all started at Latitude – so his headline slot this year was as good a full circle moment as you could get
“I just owe so much to this particular festival, it kind of made me a little bit of a festival main stage veteran,” he said
“When we played in 2023, that was still like the biggest slot I had ever done on a main stage – [that’s when I thought] ‘it is getting bigger than us’
“So, it is such an honour to be back headlining, and it’s so crazy, man and such an amazing experience – I feel emotional, grateful, humbled and justified.”
And it is not just the opportunities that Latitude Festival has given him that he is full of praise for
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The father-of-one says he “loves that there’s such a family-oriented feeling” about the arts and culture event, and he loves the diversity in the crowd
“Everybody is accounted for – every walk of life, shape, size and colour is all right here, and it’s a reminder that we’re all not that different, you know?
‘Life has changed so much’
When Swims first performed at Latitude, his mega hit Lose Control had not long been released, so while he was a familiar voice to some, he was not a familiar face
So much so, he was able to pull “an all-nighter” the evening before, later walking on stage “a little bit hammered” while still managing to win over the crowd
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These days he is “more responsible” and, Swims says, “life has changed so much in just three years” and the “stakes are so much higher now”
“Last time, we walked through the whole festival and explored the whole thing, and I remember my A&R man saying when we come back here, we’re not going to be able to do this again,” he said
“And I was like, ‘oh, nonsense’. And then here we are, and I can’t just go walking around out there and exploring anymore – it’s such a cool thing.”
“I always saw this, you know, so it’s cool to see it come to fruition and know that like you really do have the power to manifest these things.”
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When Swims took to the stage, about two hours after we spoke, he and his long-term bandmates were welcomed back with open arms
He treated the crowd to all the songs they had expected and brought out special guests, including Vanessa Carlton for a performance of A Thousand Miles
“I’ve always been waiting on America to catch up to what it seems like the Brits have always known about me or felt about me anyway,” he says
“American crowds are amazing, but we have always been like accepted and welcomed with open arms here – I owe so much to the UK, especially this festival.”
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