Why Is Cassadee Pope In Country Music?

Reality singing competitions almost always lead to trouble.The winners of shows like The Voice and American Idol rarely are successful afterwards. That's why once they are signed to a record label it's the label's job to rush out a single for the winner while they are still relevant. If they wait too long they will be upstaged by next season's big winner and nobody will care about them anymore. With two seasons per year The Voice is realizing this now.


Cassadee Pope was the winner of  the third season of The Voice which ended in December. Her single "Wasting All These Tears" was released last month. Danielle Bradbery won the fourth season which ended in March and her single "The Heart Of Dixie" was released a few weeks ago. It seems already that the general public is paying more attention to Danielle now since Cassadee is old news. Both of them are members of some sort of branch of Big Machine Records. It's funny how quickly they released Danielle's new song and waited over 6 months to release Cassadee's. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if the two were in different genres.

Danielle was a 16 year old girl dressed in pretty little cowgirl boots and a sundress who auditioned with her idol Taylor Swift's smash "country" song "Mean." You knew right off the bat you were getting a bubblegum pop-country singer. She of course went to Team Blake. He made her sing some Carrie Underwood, and a little Sara Evans. Where they thought she really shined was when she sang what they actually referred to as "Classic Country." (AKA 90's Pam Tillis songs.) Whatever though, I get it. She's a typical teenage girl singing poppy country to appeal to other teenage girls who think they like country music. It makes me sick that that is what people my age buy into, but whatever I get why they put her in the country genre. What I don't understand is why Cassadee Pope is in there too.

Cassadee was the lead singer of pop-rock band Hey Monday. They were somewhat successful and are currently on hiatus so Cassadee could do her solo "country" thing. While on the show she sang songs by her idol Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5, Gavin DeGraw, and some grunge rock band. Her coach Blake Shelton suggested that she sing some country songs, she did, and it worked. The first thing that drew attention was when she sang Miranda Lambert's "Over You." It sold over 340,000 digital copies on ITunes, which is almost double what her current single has sold so far. She also covered songs by Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill and Keith Urban. It was reported that one of the lead destroyers of country music Scott Borchetta, who is the president of Big Machine records, was interested in Cassadee and they wanted her to permanently "go country." He was thrilled to find out Cassadee was on the same page because after singing all those "country" songs she felt like she really wanted to get back to her roots, the music she always loved, country music. How convenient it is today that once all these pop and rock singers careers turn to shit that's when they realize that they want to "return to their roots."

Her single "Wasting All These Tears" is mediocre at best. She has a really good voice but it isn't country at all. It sounds like a typical pop-rock song with a faint banjo in the background. Take that little banjo part out and add some other instrument it would be more than fine for pop. I think since mainstream rock is near dead she went country because it's easier than pop. That's what the country industry is today folks, a big melting pot. It's like one of those crappy dinners you have for the next few nights after Thanksgiving. Real country music is Thanksgiving, the pop stuff is the leftovers. It's similar to Thanksgiving but it just will never be as good of a meal. You have so much crap lined up in your freezer, why waste the time and money to go out and buy something new. You kind of just take all the leftovers and mash them all together hoping everyone else will deal with it. These singers singing different genres claiming it to be country are the three day old pieces of turkey. No one really wants it, but you just kinda deal with it because it's there. Everyone knows the big juicy steak at the supermarket would be a way better dinner, but no one is going to do anything about it. Some important person somewhere has to stand up. They have to tell the washed up pop stars to accept the fact that their careers are over because country isn't going to open it's doors anymore. Country is way too accepting of everything today. You can rap about trucks, whine about a high school crush, or sing about your rock-star days, because these days literally everything is considered "country" as long as you hide a faint little banjo run in your pop song. I'm telling you now there are so many good replacements out there that you don't have to settle for the leftovers anymore. Go to the store and buy that steak, you deserve it! Rant over! I'm kinda hungry...