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Cassadee Pope has enjoyed success as a country music artist over the last decade after getting her start in pop punk. The singer originally served as the frontwoman of the band Hey Monday before competing in season three of The Voice. Guided in her exploration of the country music genre by coach Blake Shelton, Pope won her season. Now, she explains why she’s leaving the genre behind.
The Singer Tried Hard to Fit in During Her Time in Nashville
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Pope talked about how important it was for her to fit into the country scene after her career pivoted.
I was so dedicated and determined to get in nice with everyone. Some people I genuinely liked, but others I was tipped off that, ‘Oh, this person expects a friendship or some sort of communication, so if you don’t give it to them, they’re probably not going to play you on the radio.'”
Cassadee Pope, Rolling Stone
Winning The Voice was a measurable accomplishment. Still, Pope’s single, “Wasting All These Tears” didn’t do as well as she hoped. It left her, in her perspective, low on her label’s list of priorities. She described interactions with people at different levels of the music industry as transactional in some instances and dismissive in others.
It wasn’t until 2020 that Pope realized there were some fundamental differences between her and country fans. According to her, that made it difficult for her to feel at home in the genre.
Pope Speaking Out About Her Beliefs Led to Backlash in Recent Years
Cassadee Pope admitted in the interview that before many of the events of 2020, she was “completely uneducated on cultural issues.” She admitted to being “so consumed with myself” that she didn’t look deep enough into any issues to develop a passionate opinion one way or the other.
Pope spent the years in between learning and trying to understand who she was and what she stood for. In doing so, she felt empowered to speak out more often. And so she did when country artist Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany made transphobic comments on social media.
In response, Pope took to Twitter, calling out the comments as being diminishing of the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth.
Looking back, Pope is glad to have spoken up in a more effective and decisive way than ever before.
In that moment, I felt so proud. I had no feeling of regret. I just kept my head down and kept going. It’s only been the past few months that I’ve let my guard down in therapy and said, ‘Wait, I actually wasn’t OK.’ But I think that kind of comes with the territory of including activism in your life. You’re not going to please everyone.”
Cassadee Pope, Rolling Stone
