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photos: Moe Horta

After taking a detour into country music, where she found herself as the first female winner of The Voice and accumulated two platinum singles, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Cassadee Pope is ready for her homecoming. 

With three long years since her last full-length release, Pope has returned to the genre where she laid her Hey Monday roots with her new passionate pop-punk-inspired project, Hereditary. 

Blending the nostalgic sound that fans have grown to love from Pope, along with her own personal evolution, the adored frontwomen continues to push boundaries while exploring both new and unfamiliar territory. 

As Pope kicked off her first headlining tour in years, The Noise sat down with the well-versed vocalist to talk about her return to alternative music plus all things Hereditary. 

To see what she had to say about leaving the country scene, collaborating with Aaron Gillespie and Daisha McBride on her latest record, and her upcoming Hey Monday performances, be sure to read below. Afterward, pick up a copy of Hereditary and check out tour dates HERE. 

This release marks your homecoming back into the pop-punk / emo scene. How does it feel to return to your roots with this album rollout versus your previous country ones?

CASSADEE POPE: It feels more sentimental, for sure. Doing the country thing was sentimental in its own right because I was stepping out on my own. I had done a solo EP, but it kind of flew under the radar. And coming out with my first solo country record felt very validating because it was very scary to leave Hey Monday and walk away from something that felt like I needed to, but it was scary nonetheless. But with this one, I feel very grounded. I feel a lot of closure with this record. I really poured a lot of my mental health discoveries into it. There was a lot of self-discovery in general while I was making this record. So for it to line up with also coming back to a genre that really shaped me as a person and got me my start in music was beautiful and kind of serendipitous. And the timing of everything in my personal life and the album coming out, it just all kind of feels like the synchronicity is there. So it feels really good. 

How does it feel to be leaving country music at a time when artists like Beyoncé and Post Malone are starting to explore that genre a lot more.

Oh, I'm glad to be out when they're in. Good luck, everyone trying to compete with that [laughs].

I think I've just always [gone to the] beat of my own drum when it comes to the timing of things. I remember going into country music back in 2013 and it was a big genre, like it always has been, but it wasn't necessarily the popular thing to do. But it was where my heart was, and it's what I wanted to do and I got to do a pop rock / country sound that really excited me. 

Then in 2021, I released a record that was like pop-punk / country, and it kind of flew under the radar then. And now, that's a very popular genre that a lot of men especially are doing. Now coming out with this record, this is literally where I am in my life. This is how I feel. This is what I believe in. This is the sound that I want and that I believe that is so entirely me.

Now it's cool to see people like Beyoncé and Post Malone going into country music because I'm not in it and I can just be a fan and I can not worry about, “Well, I probably won't be able to compete with them, so no one's gonna hear my record or no one's going to hear my single.” And you know, there's room for everyone, but country music is so selective and it's very hard for anyone to break out, let alone a woman independent who’s not on a major label. So I'm just sitting back, enjoying watching, and not having to worry about it.

On a similar note, you were the first woman to win The Voice, and you've been very vocal about the struggles you faced as a woman in the country music industry. But you've also advocated for more diversity and inclusion within our pop-punk scene as well. What would you say to young women and POC looking to come into the rock scene? And what can people involved in the scene do to make it more inclusive?

I think that me talking to artists of color, black women, indigenous women, and other women of color in the rock scene is like, there's only so much I can say. I can say, “Hey, I'm here for you, and I'm going to try my best to help you out.” But I think it's really just us listening to them and what they need and what makes them feel supported, accepted, and welcomed in the community.

As artists, I always say things like, follow your heart, follow your gut. Whatever feels authentic and real to you, do that. And whatever doesn't feel real, try to stay away from it. I know we have to play the game sometimes, but you could go really far down the wrong path and it's hard to overcorrect.

For people that are working within the industry, what can we do to make it more inclusive?

I think people have a tendency when they're looking for a band, if they're looking for a production manager or tour manager, they just go to what's the quickest and most accessible thing which has resulted in a very male, white-dominated industry.

For instance, I found out there was a black musicians database. I asked someone for access to that and I got my band from looking at that database...I literally looked through hundreds of people and found someone that was perfect for the gig. I think we as people with privilege feel like that might feel weird. I think it takes a bit more time and it might feel transactional. But I think instead of thinking about it that way, we have to think about it as, this is a launching pad. This is a starting point. We need to normalize having people of all skin types on tour, in different facets of the industry, not just on stage, but behind the scenes [too]. Don't be afraid of spending a bit more time and being intentional with hiring people. Who cares how it starts? Just fucking start.

This tour is your first tour in a couple of years, and your first proper tour since returning to alternative music. How did your approach change in preparation for this tour in terms of picking the setlist or anything along that kind of vein?

I haven't headlined a tour in like two years, and it was really difficult to go through the songs and not play what I've played over and over the past two years. But also, make sure that I'm playing the things that I think people will want to hear and know very well. So I sprinkled in stuff through all of my stages of my career. I have Hey Monday songs, I have songs from my country stuff. I'm doing a medley of my solo EP that I released just before I did The Voice and obviously my new stuff. I tried to give the old country songs a revamp for the live set to kind of fit with the rock style that I'm doing again.

But yeah, in the live set, I always try to have breaks in the set to be able to just talk. I really like just talking to the crowd like we're in my living room having a glass of wine. Obviously I like the drama, so there's a couple of little moments of transitions and things like that, a cool intro to the set and everything. The way I approached this set was just like making sure I sprinkled in stuff from all of the different eras, not to steal Taylor's term, of my career. 

Cassadee's Version. 

Yeah, exactly.

Last year, at When We Were Young Fest, you joined both Yellowcard and Michelle Branch for guest appearances. And this year, you're set to perform your debut record with Hey Monday. What are you most excited for in terms of your Hey Monday performance, and who are you most excited to see?

It's going to be very trippy for me. We played a reunion show, I think it was the ten-year anniversary of the release of that album in 2019, and it was Mike, Alex and I. And then I had my own drummer and my bass player from my band play. And it was very crazy, even in the tiny venue in Nashville that we sold out. It was like fans that were our age and even younger. And I was just like, “This is trippy, Mike and Alex look the same.” It was just crazy. And this is going to be on a way bigger scale. I don't even know what to expect. When I think of Hey Monday and the success we had, I don't think of us being able to play a festival that big.

I think of what we did, which was really amazing. But, I just forget that our band has reached so many people. So I'm probably going to get a little sentimental and a little emotional up there. That band has done so much for me and has brought me to so many places, and I've met so many people through that band. I’m so grateful for that experience. So yeah, I'm excited. And I think the thing I'm most excited about is to get back up there with Alex. Like, he's like a brother to me. And we just collaborated. We did stuff on my album, and I'm just so proud of him. He and I have just managed to really have a very honest, authentic, good relationship over the years.

Being in a band is really hard, and I don't quite have that with anyone else. And I'm just grateful that I'm able to share that with him because when you go through what we went through, in such a short period of time, you want to hope that you have lifelong friends from it. And I'm very glad that I have one in him.

Underoath is another band playing When We Were Young Fest this year. On your new album, you have a duet with Aaron Gillespie. Can you explain how that collaboration came about?

I believe I posted on Instagram. I was drunk one night at home during Covid and I was watching The Almost videos on YouTube and I tagged Aaron and he replied. He was like, “Hey, such a fan. Let's write.” And it just blew my mind. I couldn't believe he even knew who I was. So, I got a text from him about finishing a song that he had started with my friend Nick Bailey, who's a great producer. We couldn't write in person. This was before, I think he lived in Nashville, so we wrote on zoom. We finished the song, which was “Ever Since the World Ended.” When we were writing it, we didn't think of it as a duet, but I just asked him on the zoom. I was like, “I think you should sing on this if you're down.”

He was also talking about how people get him to feature on drums or he produces a lot, but he doesn't have a lot of stuff where he is featured as a vocalist. He's got one of my favorite voices in pop-punk / hardcore / rock / whatever. When we finished writing the song, he did the demo, it came back sounding great, and we decided we just wanted to produce it out and have it on the record. So I got in with him just it was just him and I, producing that together, and he played all the instruments on it and yeah, it's cool.

One of my favorite memories is going to an Underoath concert in high school with some friends from school and I just can't believe that he's just in Nashville writing with a bunch of people. He's working with so many up-and-coming artists. He's sharing his knowledge and his genius with people who really need his help. And I really admire that. So yeah, I'm just very lucky and glad he's on the record.

Speaking of Underoath, you guys were both on the inaugural Emo Not Dead Cruise. And Hey Monday will be on the third installment of the cruise next year. Can you shed some light on what it's like playing a music festival cruise and how you're going to prepare for the next one now that you know what it's like?

Yeah. I'll definitely preemptively take Dramamine and all that stuff because we left from LA to go to Mexico and it was very choppy. And it was in November. This will be in February leaving for Miami. So it'll be much smoother, I think.

But yeah, it was so fun. It just feels like Warped Tour on a boat, you know, it's very very fun. There's a very universal understanding with the people, the concertgoers on the boat. Like, “We're all just trying to have fun. And you might see me in the crowd watching another band, and you can totally come and say hi and hang. But I'm also trying to enjoy myself and let's all be respectful. Let's not make it weird and make it a scene. And then make me have to go back to my stateroom and sit by myself.” So it's a really cool community that Matt’s [Cutshall, creator] created. And I really love all the other bands that are playing.

Wrapping things up here: Which song are you most proud of on Hereditary and why?

Probably "Hereditary." That one was very therapeutic to write. It's a bit dramatic in some parts, and it's obviously supposed to be very fun. But without what that song is about, which is why I am the way I am — my upbringing, what I saw my mom go through with her divorce, etc. Without all those things, this album wouldn't be possible.

I'm writing from a place of direct experience and songs like “People That I Love Leave” where I have a tendency to wait for the other shoe to drop. And songs like “Three Of Us” struggling with a loved one who's dealing with substance abuse. All of that stuff falls under the umbrella of Hereditary. So I'm really proud of that. That was one of the last songs I wrote for the album and I'm really proud I got a song on there that kind of encapsulated the whole thing. It's really fun to play live too. So I'm excited for people to start singing along because it's very new.