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Over the last 15 years, Cassadee Pope has been a lot of things to many people: leader of the seminal pop-punk band Hey Monday, season 3 winner of The Voice, platinum-selling, GRAMMY-nominated country singer/songwriter, ally and activist pushing for social change and a brighter future in a backward world. But through it all, she's always remained fearlessly and unapologetically herself.

This new era of Cassadee Pope finds her unafraid to wade into new waters with an unmistakable voice, unflinching optimism, and unbreaking confidence. With a tremendous sense of freedom guiding her, she is ready to once again amplify her confessional writing and redefine her place as a pop-punk mainstay. The future's open wide in ways she previously thought impossible – leaving no doubt she's exactly where she's meant to be.

The Noise had the chance to sit down with Cassadee and talk to her about her return to the alt scene, what this new era has in store for listeners, and how she's owning who she is.

You won The Voice season three; after that, you'd been doing country music for a long time. Before that, most people knew you from Hey Monday, so what inspired this return to make this massive return to the alt/ pop-punk space?

Cassadee Pope: A few things. Throughout Covid and while writing my last record, Thrive, I sorta started inching back toward pop-punk again subconsciously, and I mean consciously, cause I was like, "How fun would it be to make a pop-punk country record?" It was a great effort, I brought in Nick Wheeler from All-American Rejects to produce, and my co-producer was Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town. I was excited about that project, but it didn't quite take off how I'd hoped. They really weren't ready for it. It was too country for rock music, so I had to look inward and think, what is it that I want to do and what makes me happy? At the end of the day, I had to face it; I wasn't really loving country music the same anymore. I was not listening to it much, if at all, and I was creatively stifled. I didn't identify with any of the stuff that was doing really well; the things that translated and were on the radio and streamed really well. I couldn't see myself doing the kind of country music that was being celebrated. I also don't have country music in my bones through and through, where I can't do anything else. I have the luxury of having another influence that's strong musically, so I went to LA, and I wrote the song in January of last year.

And this was the song "People that I Love Leave?"

No, this was a different song that I am probably going to be making a single at some point, and it's not the next one either, but it started this whole thing cause I wrote a song with my friend Ali Tamposi who's a big songwriter and we wrote this song as something to do together, and it just moved me, and it felt like "Wow I haven't heard myself in this way in so long and I miss her." Then after listening to it over and over again after the Thrive tour – which was a bummer, it was fun, but the shows didn't have great turnouts. I felt like my issue was holding on to something that is not holding on to me anymore. Country fans are great, and they've stuck with me for a long time. Still, I felt like I wasn't really getting the opportunities that I felt I deserved anymore and it took all those steps to lead me to think, "Ok, I think I'm done with country music and I think I'm ready for change. I'm ready to go back to pop-punk." Through this period of time, pop-punk came back with even more of a vengeance and the timing felt serendipitous and lined up perfectly. I also realized that the only reason I wasn't going back to pop-punk – the reasons that held me back – was fear and that's not a way to live your life. I was like, "If I do this and I go for it, and I take this risk, and it doesn't work, I will never have to wonder what if, and then I'll figure it out." And I've been figuring it out since I was four years old starting to sing. So I thought I would land on my feet no matter what, and the fact that it's been reacting so well has been awesome.

Where do you feel that fear came from to reemerge yourself in this?

I've always struggled with not feeling convincing enough. I've always felt that imposter syndrome because I grew up with so many different influences. I grew up loving Shania Twain and Martine McBride and I also really loved Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. I also really loved Blink-182. I've had so many [influences] that I felt that was a bad thing because I could do so many different things and sing so many different ways. So anytime I've been in a genre, whether it was back in Hey Monday with the pop-punk scene, country music, now being back in pop-punk, I've always been afraid of "what if they think I'm faking it?" and I'm really just a fan of all of it. 

Those people are just lame.

Yeah and they exist.

Yeah, they exist but they're lame.

They're lame, I agree, and I think anybody who loves music has a few different genres on a playlist that they go to once in a while. They might not be the biggest country music fan but they probably love "Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line, and you know, who knows? So I think that fear was that and also the fear of walking away from something that I had built for ten years. While I wasn't number one on country radio at the time, I knew that that was something I could tap into as far as shows, tours, and festivals. So walking away from that to something that I didn't know was going to be there for me was the fear cause it was just sort of free falling and hoping there's a net and there was thankfully so we're good.

And here we are now.

Yes!

So moving a little further up the timeline, you're starting to create music again in this genre and reestablishing and reconfiguring, like ok, "This is who I was when I was Cassadee Pope of Hey Monday, how do I now introduce myself as Cassadee Pope, the alt artist?" What were some things you had to discover about yourself coming back as still a solo artist but doing a hard pivot into something you were previously familiar with but was previously with a band? 

Totally! I mean, I was eighteen versus I'm thirty-three now, so even that is just generally knowing who I am and not being afraid to say things. My belief system and my fundamental values, I'm not shying away from speaking my mind anymore, and it has been really beneficial for me and my career to let it be known where I stand on things. I am more confident in the sense that I am very self-aware. I know where my strengths are and where my weakness is. In Hey Monday, I was just very confused, and everything happened so fast that I couldn't take it all in. A lot of it is very blurry from those days. I have a hard time remembering a lot. So now, as an adult, if things are flying by and I'm not catching it, I'm the CEO of my career. That means things need to slow down. I want to make sure that I approve of everything. In Hey Monday, it was like, we were on a major label, we had a manager, we just said yes to everything, and we really didn't know the inner workings. I have a hand in every aspect of my career now and I don't let anybody take something and run with it. I don't let an email blast to any of my fans go without me proofreading and making sure it's in my words [and] making sure they are getting the right information in. So all of that is way different. Overall, I feel more of a sense of grounding and like I have my bearings. 

That's one of the bittersweet things about blowing up when you're younger and growing up. You end up looking back and thinking, "Oh fuck, I should have handled that differently," but at the same time, it's like, "I now have the wisdom to know I don't have to continue being that person and continuously saying yes to everything.” You can think clearly.

Yeah, it's good. Back in the day, I would also say no to things that could have led to something really cool. I don't know why, but I was looking through really old emails, I was looking for something I needed for my current stuff, but I came across these emails from my old agency about acting things. I've been in acting classes now for a year, and I saw something about a part in Shameless that I said no to. At the time, I was like, "I don't want people to think I'm an actress and not a musician," and I was so nervous about how people would see me that I would say no to things like that. That could have changed my life and the trajectory of it differently, I wouldn't change where I am now, but I don't navigate my life like that anymore. I'm very open to things if I got approached about an acting gig now. I would totally say yes if it was worth it and right for me. But yeah, that too. It's mind-boggling that I missed out on things I said no to.

I'm sure if it's gonna happen, it'll happen. Would love to see you on the big screen!

Exactly, I probably wasn't ready for it, and I probably didn't have the acting chops back then.

We love a good cry. So let's talk about your first single back in the scene. You're working on music again and making plans for this new phase, this new era of your music career and you decide, "Alright, I'm gonna release a song, and it's gonna be called ‘People That I Love Leave.’" What kind of things were you trying to convey with that song? It's compelling and vulnerable about the self-sabotaging nature that can happen when you don't have that self-love and are shrouded in that self-destruction in relationships. Tell me about the inspiration behind that and what kinds of things fans can expect you to examine and tap into in future music.

That song was actually a sneaky deep song. I wrote it in LA with the same people I wrote another song I will release eventually.

Are you talking about Ali?

Yeah, Ali Tamposi, Nick Long, and then there was Ali's husband, Roman Campolo, a great lyricist, and Andrew Luce, so it's five of us. We just wanted to write something angsty, like "Woe is me." The more we wrote it, the more we were like, "This is actually a very sad song," and something I deeply related to. I wrote from a genuine place when I wrote this because I'm a product of a divorce marriage, and most of the people in my family are divorced. I didn't grow up with a good example of love and have had pretty shitty relationships with boyfriends throughout my life. So I've not had a great experience with people in my life that I get really close with, except for the one I wrote the song with, Aly, who had been one of my friends since I was four. So it's not everyone, but you know, writing from a place of, as you said, self-sabotage. Like, when I've ever had a really great experience in a relationship or a friendship even, I have a tendency to look for the holes and look for the red flags because it's a little bit easier to imagine things not working out then things actually working out and it being a happily ever after situation. So I felt like it was super relatable in that sense but also just like people who go from job to job who can't seem to find the place that they feel confident in, family members that come and go that are just not going to stick around and I just thought that it covered that ground so widely that it could apply to a lot of different kinds of relationships. So I was really proud of what we accomplished with that; while it's all veiled in this pop-punk happy sound, moving forward, I am definitely covering a lot of ground with all the songs I've written. I mean, the next single coming out, "Almost There," is about getting busy.

Tell me more "Almost There" and its creation process. How do you feel about putting out a song that talks so openly about sexuality and intimacy?

Well, It's not something I've ever said before. Like I said before, knowing who I am and coming into my own and not being afraid to say things, I feel like my sexuality is one of those things. I've always liked wearing sexy things on the red carpet and showing some skin. Still, I've never fully embodied that and been able to talk about it and feel comfortable. I think that's because of society and me as a woman. I'm not supposed to really talk about it, and I think I grew up with that instilled in me, and we all have. It's just something you don’t talk about, and I want the next generation of women or women in the world now to stop feeling that way, and if that's something you're comfortable talking about, then go for it. No one should make you feel shameful. So the song comes across as this fun song about exploring with your partner, and in my case, I'm in a committed relationship and just having fun. There's a very intense closeness when you're intimate, but having fun is a massive part of it and you shouldn't lose that ever. But it was also my goal to empower people, not just women but people in general, to feel that it's safe to explore. It's ok if you have desires that might be left off center that people generally say, "that's weird." Like it's ok to try things as long as you're safe and not hurting anybody, it's like, we're human beings.

Right, as long as you're in an environment where everyone involved is a consenting adult, that's the important thing. 

Yeah, exactly. It's not illegal; you're both consenting. Try some shit. You never know what you're gonna like. And then you find out if you don't like it also.

It's empowering to know yourself in that way, and I'm sure people like myself who grew up in environments where discourse about sex and sexuality isn't openly or positively discussed, will appreciate what you're trying to do with its message.

That means a lot to hear. I went to Catholic school from preschool to 8th grade, so I hear you loud and clear. It was definitely not something we talked about or even learned about, which would have been very educational and beneficial. So all of that being said, I hope this song empowers people to chase their desires.

What can you share about the future of Cassadee Pope? How much music can we expect? Is there an album or EP in the works? Are there tour things that people should be marking on their calendars? What can you share at this point in time?

Touring-wise, I'm working hard to get certain opportunities past the finish line. I'm hesitant to give dates and stuff cause I'm a realist and things can fall through. But there are exciting things in the works. Hopefully something in the fall, going after all the festivals next summer that they are booking the headliners, which I wouldn't be, so they are not working on the support acts yet, so fingers crossed on those. But as far as an album, I definitely have an album; it's being mixed. I'm still writing, so there might be even more songs on it than right now, so we're looking at a thirteen-song album and definitely a third single before the end of the year after "Almost There," [then] an album beginning next year.

If you can share what kinds of things can fans expect whenever they listen to it? Are you experimenting more with pop-punk country fusion, or will it be more classic pop-punk like Hey Monday?

I definitely followed my gut on many things but I also followed some directions from the people in the rooms with me while writing. I know what I love and want to stay true to that, but I still have much to learn about production. I know I love that Girlfriends song, but I don't know what that rhythmic element is in there, so when I work with producers, and I say I really want to use this thing, and can we write something that is sort of in that vein, they'll explain to me what goes on inside the production. That's been really fantastic and eye-opening that I've been exploring with for this project. But going back to what you asked about in general, the vibe of the project: I'm covering a lot of bases lyrically. There are songs about just life, there are songs about breakups, being in love, and obviously sex; you know. I hope that the album, in general, makes people go through a rollercoaster of emotions. In the songwriting, it was important to me to keep the quality and storytelling intact. Pop-punk is great at getting people moving and jumping, there are pretty emotional lyrics in many of the songs, but sometimes the songs are really catchy and get stuck in your head but the lyrics might not be telling a story. It was crucial in my project to ensure I still did that.

Putting the best of both worlds together.

I hope so, and you know, pairing that with a really in-your-face, energetic, pop-punk production.

You started singing when you were four, but your whole journey as an artist began when you were in Hey Monday when you were in the band. If you, as you are now, could go back to who you were at the beginning of the whole journey, what would you say to them?

Even before Hey Monday, I was signed to Drive-Thru Records when I was fifteen, so I would tell her to trust her gut. I feel like I've always had that inner knowing, that deep knowing, but I've never followed it because I didn't have the confidence and I didn't have the tools to be like, "Oh, that feeling is intuition." I always thought that I was just always skeptical and, "You need to stop being so negative." That's what I thought was happening, but my gut was so right and told me all these things that I had ignored for so long. So I would definitely say that to my younger self.

My last question is about your fans and anybody that could be reading this interview. Do you have anything you'd like to say to them at all?

So much! I have so many different things to say to all the different kinds of fans I have. My fans from Hey Monday, thank you for sticking with me for so long and bearing with me [and] all the changes. I hope that you're happy that I'm back. For the fans that have been with me since The Voice, thank you for voting for me and changing my life. I hope you dig the new music. I know it's not exactly what you signed up for when you first followed me, but I hope you still love it. And for the new fans that have come on board recently with the new stuff, you're getting a very realized version of myself and I am so proud of that. A lot of time and therapy and good and bad experiences. So thank you for coming on board for this crazy journey!