After confirming earlier this year a new album was indeed on the way, Robert Ellis is finally sharing the full project, Yesterday's News, which is out Friday.

Ahead of the new record, the Texas-based singer chatted with Variance during SXSW in Austin. He talked about the significant contrast between this latest album and his previous one, 2019's Texas Piano Man, which arrived four years ago and was notably big and brash, punctuated by the lead single "Fucking Crazy," with the album drawing on influence from legends like Leon Russell and Elton John.

This time around, he is instead unraveling deeper layers of himself, sharing elements of his personal life, such as with the poignant title track, accompanied by a video filmed over the span of several years by Ellis' partner Erica Silverman, as well as songs written about or dedicated to his children.

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"With Texas Piano Man, it was like a character," says Ellis, speaking with Variance outside Cheer Up Charlies in Austin. "And I was very intentionally not breaking character ... I would put on the suit and I would feel like a superhero. This is like a little more me."

He adds: "It's sort of a deeper body of work than the last record in some ways."

Check out the full interview below.