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Photo of Bandit Heart by Robby Klein


As Nashville's Troy Akers (aka Bandit Heart) prepares to release his latest single next week, the emerging singer-songwriter has given Variance an advanced stream of the track, titled "There You Are."

It's a fragile yet hopeful cut inspired by one of Akers' previous relationships and the struggle of holding on to the past while trying to move forward with someone new.

"Sometimes, when you medicate, all you're doing is trying to cover up a wound that isn't healed," he says about the song. "And you find yourself right back where you started. And that person who made that mark, that scar, is still there—and it's too hard to move past it in that moment even still. There they are—still haunting you ... It's a humbling, disheartening thing."

Listen to "There You Are" below before it officially arrives on Nov. 24 and stream his previous single "Ghost" here.