Teddy Swims Releases Breakup Track Based on Sociology Theory

Teddy Swims released "Mr. Know It All." The track draws on sociologist Robert K. Merton's work on self-fulfilling prophecies and self-defeating ones.

Merton's work examined how predictions alter what happens next. For example, doctors could warn about flu season, causing many people to get shots. Then, the outbreak could fizzle and make those doctors look mistaken, even though their warning prevented disaster.

Swims applies Merton's framework to a crumbling relationship. He grows certain his girlfriend will leave. Two paths open before him. He could wreck things by accident after letting fear guide his hands. He might also try too hard to fix what's broken, spawning fresh trouble. Either way, the end will arrive.

"If you see the future coming, like something falling apart, you can have the ... That's So Raven effect, right? Where you do everything you can to keep it from happening, and that's why it happens," Teddy Swims said, according to ABC Audio. "Versus maybe the other side is self-fulfilling ... because you see it happening and that's what happens. And so it's like you're doomed if you do, [doomed] if you don't."

This puzzle grabbed him. "Love is kind of its own contradiction in a way, that way," he added. "You can protect it too hard and lose it, or you can know it's coming and just lose it. ... So I just kind of got obsessed with that sort of prophet's dilemma, and that's 'Mr. Know It All.'"

Swims hasn't shared specifics about what comes next. His second album has no title yet, and no street date has been announced.