# Bad Dreams (song)
"Bad Dreams" is a song title shared by several recordings by different artists, the most commercially prominent being a 2024 soul-pop single by the American singer [Teddy Swims](https://www.edgepedia.org/teddy-swims). Other songs of the same title include a 2007 piano ballad by the English band Keane, a 2017 two-part R&B single by Syd, a 2018 duet by [Scarlett Johansson](https://www.edgepedia.org/scarlett-johansson) and [Pete Yorn](https://www.edgepedia.org/pete-yorn), and a 2025 electro-pop single by Katie Belle.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Teddy Swims single | Released September 13, 2024, as the first single from *I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)*[1](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1765799904) • [2](https://apnews.com/article/e070e101093c6a26c1f9c22f3ff8e8a9) |
| Writers and producers | Written by Jaten Dimsdale, John Ryan, Julian Bunetta, Mikky Ekko, Rocky Block, Sarah Solovay, and Matt Zara; produced by Ryan, Bunetta, and Zara[1](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1765799904) |
| US chart performance | Debuted at No. 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 28, 2024, with a listed peak of No. 74, and was certified Gold by the RIAA[3](https://darkmode.wppool.dev/www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2024-09-28/) |
| European chart run | Peaked at No. 14 in Switzerland over 92 weeks on that country's chart, and at No. 13 in Germany[4](https://hitparade.ch/song/Teddy-Swims/Bad-Dreams-2475176) |
| Keane version | "A Bad Dream," released January 22, 2007, from the double-platinum album *Under the Iron Sea*, partly adapts W.B. Yeats' poem "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death"[5](https://www.fredric.co.uk/giittv/index.php?c=Singles&id=1404) |
| Syd version | "Bad Dream/No Looking Back" (2017), self-released, was named a Best New Track by Pitchfork and previewed the project *Always Never Home*[6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/syd-bad-dreamno-looking-back/) |
| Johansson and Yorn version | "Bad Dreams" (2018) reunited the actress and musician nine years after their 2009 album *Break Up* and appeared on the EP *Apart*[7](https://www.vice.com/en/article/scarlett-johansson-pete-yorn-new-song-bad-dreams-apart-2018/) |
## Teddy Swims, "Bad Dreams" (2024)
Teddy Swims, the Atlanta-born singer whose legal name is Jaten Dimsdale, released "Bad Dreams" on September 13, 2024, following the singles "The Door" and "Funeral"[1](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1765799904) • [8](https://los40.com/2024/09/14/teddy-swims-nos-deja-ver-sus-mayores-miedos-en-su-nueva-cancion-bad-dreams/). It served as the first single from his album *I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)*, which followed his debut and its breakout hit "Lose Control," the song that topped Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 for 2024[2](https://apnews.com/article/e070e101093c6a26c1f9c22f3ff8e8a9) • [9](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/teddy-swims-ive-tried-everything-but-therapy-part-two-review-3831636).
**Subject and sound.** The lyrics place the narrator alone at nightfall, unable to sleep without a partner, sensitive to "moving shadows and grinding teeth"; NME described the song as depicting Swims engulfed by heartbreak in the middle of the night[9](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/teddy-swims-ive-tried-everything-but-therapy-part-two-review-3831636). The track runs about three minutes and four seconds and pairs the dark subject matter with an energetic, retro-leaning production rather than a slow ballad arrangement[4](https://hitparade.ch/song/Teddy-Swims/Bad-Dreams-2475176) • [10](https://worldofdreamsz.com/teddy-swims-bad-dreams/). An acoustic version followed on November 8, 2024[4](https://hitparade.ch/song/Teddy-Swims/Bad-Dreams-2475176).
**Chart performance.** The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 75 on the chart dated September 28, 2024, and the archived chart page lists a peak of No. 74 with a Gold certification from the [Recording Industry Association of America](https://www.edgepedia.org/recording-industry-association-of-america)[3](https://darkmode.wppool.dev/www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2024-09-28/). A chart-history aggregator reports the song later reaching No. 30 on the Hot 100 in 2025 and [No. 6](https://www.edgepedia.org/no-6) on the UK Top 100 Singles in 2024, figures that differ from the archived [Billboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-magazine) peak and are not confirmed by the chart page itself[11](https://hitslist.fyi/song/teddy-swims-bad-dreams-j35gq8tnd3k6). In continental Europe the song charted extensively: it peaked at No. 14 in Switzerland, where it spent 92 weeks on the chart, No. 13 in Germany, No. 27 in Austria, and No. 4 in the Dutch chart region covered by hitparade.ch's Belgian listings[4](https://hitparade.ch/song/Teddy-Swims/Bad-Dreams-2475176).
**Live performances.** Swims performed "Bad Dreams" at the 2024 [Billboard Music Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-music-awards) on December 12, 2024, alongside "Lose Control"[12](https://americansongwriter.com/teddy-swims-stuns-audiences-intimate-performances-lose-control-bad-dreams-2024-music-awards/). At the LOS40 Music Awards Santander 2024 he performed a medley of "Bad Dreams" and "The Door"[13](https://los40.com/2024/11/08/estos-son-los-ganadores-de-los40-music-awards-santander-2024-solidarios/). The album version was released on [Warner Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/warner-records) on January 24, 2025, as part of *I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)*[14](https://www.shazam.com/song/1771020950/bad-dreams).
## Other songs titled "Bad Dreams"
**Keane, "A Bad Dream" (2007).** The English piano-rock band released "A Bad Dream" on January 22, 2007, as the sixth single from *Under the Iron Sea*. The song partly adapts W.B. Yeats' poem "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death," and reviewers noted its return to the softer, piano-led sound of the band's debut *Hopes and Fears* after the more electronic approach of the album[5](https://www.fredric.co.uk/giittv/index.php?c=Singles&id=1404).
**Syd, "Bad Dream/No Looking Back" (2017).** The singer Syd, formerly of The Internet, released this two-part single in August 2017 as the first taste of her "feature soundtrack" project *Always Never Home*. Pitchfork's review named it a Best New Track, describing the "Bad Dream" half as a lovelorn reintroduction and praising the conversational detail of the second half[6](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/syd-bad-dreamno-looking-back/).
**Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn, "Bad Dreams" (2018).** The actress and the singer-songwriter, who had recorded the collaborative album *Break Up* in 2009, rejoined for "Bad Dreams," released in April 2018 ahead of the EP *Apart*, due June 1 of that year. The song is more bombastic than the *Break Up* material, with clearer pop inflection and a [Fleetwood Mac](https://www.edgepedia.org/fleetwood-mac) influence, while retaining the duo's trade-off vocal format[7](https://www.vice.com/en/article/scarlett-johansson-pete-yorn-new-song-bad-dreams-apart-2018/). Pete Yorn described its theme as the stressful uncertainty of a deeply invested romantic relationship, in which the intensity of attachment makes worrying inevitable[15](https://entertainmentvoice.com/2018/06/04/pete-yorn-on-relating-and-recording-with-scarlett-johansson-for-apart-ep/).
**Katie Belle, "Bad Dreams" (2025).** The Atlanta-born indie-pop artist released "Bad Dreams" as a single about her long struggle with insomnia, ahead of her debut EP *People Pleaser*, which addresses anxiety, identity, and people-pleasing. The track is an electro-synth pop production with 1980s-inspired synthesizers, produced by Fabio Campedelli in his Los Angeles studio, and runs three minutes and thirty-five seconds[16](https://illustratemagazine.com/bad-dreams-by-katie-belle-review/) • [17](https://www.mastriamag.com/2025/10/katie-belles-bad-dreams-review.html?m=1).
**Other recordings.** [Neon Trees](https://www.edgepedia.org/neon-trees) released a song called "Bad Dreams" on September 20, 2024, on the album *Sink Your Teeth* via Round Hill Records, written by frontman Tyler Glenn[18](https://www.shazam.com/song/1744216307/bad-dreams). The metalcore band [Conquer Divide](https://www.edgepedia.org/conquer-divide) issued "Bad Dreams" as a collaboration with Of Virtue, with lyrics about being "trapped in bad dreams played on repeat"[19](https://www.musicscenemedia.com/an-interview-with-conquer-divide-new-collaboration-with-of-virtue-on-bad-dreams-2/). YONAH, the New York project of Yonah Taragin, released an understated pop song of the title in September 2022, written in about an hour after waking around 3 a.m.[20](https://www.obscuresound.com/2022/09/yonah-bad-dreams/). [The Australian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-australian) indie trio Fool Nelson named their October EP *Bad Dreams*, a collection about entering early adulthood and "sticking close to the people you love"[21](https://www.scenemusicmedia.com/interview/fool-nelson-bad-dreams). Further afield, the folk act Blueprint Blue issued a mellow, late-1960s-styled single called "Bad Dreams" in 2017[22](https://musicexistence.com/2017/05/05/single-review-blueprint-blue-bad-dreams/), the blues trio The Scorch Sisters recorded one born of Alicia Morgan's move from Florida to Los Angeles[23](https://www.antimusic.com/news/19/April/12Singled_Out-_The_Scorch_Sisters_Bad_Dreamsamp.shtml), and the Irish band Polyvinyl announced a single "Bad Dreams" for April 24, 2026, from their EP *Where This Ends*[24](https://soundbitenortheast.com/polyvinyl-get-stuck-in-the-blur-of-memory-on-new-single-bad-dreams/).
## References
1. [Bad Dreams – Single, Teddy Swims, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1765799904)
2. [Teddy Swims is elated about 2 babies: his upcoming child and 'Part 2' album, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/e070e101093c6a26c1f9c22f3ff8e8a9)
3. [Billboard Hot 100, chart dated September 28, 2024 (archived)](https://darkmode.wppool.dev/www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/2024-09-28/)
4. [Teddy Swims – Bad Dreams, hitparade.ch](https://hitparade.ch/song/Teddy-Swims/Bad-Dreams-2475176)
5. [Keane – Bad Dream, God Is in the TV singles reviews](https://www.fredric.co.uk/giittv/index.php?c=Singles&id=1404)
6. [Syd: "Bad Dream/No Looking Back" Track Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/syd-bad-dreamno-looking-back/)
7. [Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn Join Up Again, for New Song "Bad Dreams", Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/scarlett-johansson-pete-yorn-new-song-bad-dreams-apart-2018/)
8. [Teddy Swims nos deja ver sus mayores miedos en su nueva canción 'Bad Dreams', LOS40](https://los40.com/2024/09/14/teddy-swims-nos-deja-ver-sus-mayores-miedos-en-su-nueva-cancion-bad-dreams/)
9. [Teddy Swims – 'I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part Two)' review, NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/teddy-swims-ive-tried-everything-but-therapy-part-two-review-3831636)
10. [Teddy Swims Bad Dreams: Lyrics, Release & Song Explained, World of Dreamsz](https://worldofdreamsz.com/teddy-swims-bad-dreams/)
11. [Bad Dreams by Teddy Swims: chart & list history, hitslist](https://hitslist.fyi/song/teddy-swims-bad-dreams-j35gq8tnd3k6)
12. [Teddy Swims Takes the 2024 Billboard Music Awards to Church, American Songwriter](https://americansongwriter.com/teddy-swims-stuns-audiences-intimate-performances-lose-control-bad-dreams-2024-music-awards/)
13. [Estos son los ganadores de LOS40 Music Awards Santander 2024, LOS40](https://los40.com/2024/11/08/estos-son-los-ganadores-de-los40-music-awards-santander-2024-solidarios/)
14. [Bad Dreams – Teddy Swims, Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/song/1771020950/bad-dreams)
15. [Pete Yorn on Relating and Recording with Scarlett Johansson for Apart EP, Entertainment Voice](https://entertainmentvoice.com/2018/06/04/pete-yorn-on-relating-and-recording-with-scarlett-johansson-for-apart-ep/)
16. [Bad Dreams by Katie Belle: Review, Illustrate Magazine](https://illustratemagazine.com/bad-dreams-by-katie-belle-review/)
17. [Katie Belle's "Bad Dreams" Review, Mastria Magazine](https://www.mastriamag.com/2025/10/katie-belles-bad-dreams-review.html?m=1)
18. [Bad Dreams – Neon Trees, Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/song/1744216307/bad-dreams)
19. [An Interview with Conquer Divide: New Collaboration with Of Virtue on "Bad Dreams", Music Scene Media](https://www.musicscenemedia.com/an-interview-with-conquer-divide-new-collaboration-with-of-virtue-on-bad-dreams-2/)
20. [Listen: YONAH – "Bad Dreams", Obscure Sound](https://www.obscuresound.com/2022/09/yonah-bad-dreams/)
21. [INTERVIEW: Fool Nelson reflect on growth and 'Bad Dreams', Scene Music Media](https://www.scenemusicmedia.com/interview/fool-nelson-bad-dreams)
22. [Single Review. Blueprint Blue: Bad Dreams, Music Existence](https://musicexistence.com/2017/05/05/single-review-blueprint-blue-bad-dreams/)
23. [Singled Out: The Scorch Sisters' Bad Dreams, antiMusic](https://www.antimusic.com/news/19/April/12Singled_Out-_The_Scorch_Sisters_Bad_Dreamsamp.shtml)
24. [Polyvinyl get stuck in the blur of memory on new single "Bad Dreams", Sound Bite North East](https://soundbitenortheast.com/polyvinyl-get-stuck-in-the-blur-of-memory-on-new-single-bad-dreams/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › R&B and soul songs › Contemporary R&B songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license