Cassadee Pope

Part 1

0:07I'm Cassidy Pope and you're watching MSN exclusive. Isn't that exciting? I turned 24. What'd you do? Beyond the Road? On tour pro. I was on the road, but I was in New York City doing America's Got Talent. Well, that's a city to party in. Yes, so that was pretty awesome.

0:52So America's Got Talent was a birthday party? Yeah, pretty much. Which was fine with me, you know. Got to go perform on the same show, the same night as one direction, which was a big deal for me because that means all those fans were watching and they probably didn't know about me before that. So, gain some new fans. That works. Have you noticed the Twitter followers and everything? Yeah, it's been growing. It's every time my music video comes on or a radio station adds more spins for my single. I noticed the number growing up and it's really awesome. Cool. We got a bunch of Twitter questions. It went a little crazy last night. Really? Yeah. We'll start with one. You want to start with the Twitter questions? Yeah, I'd love to. Do you have something planned for when this rascal flats tour ends? Um, actually, well that's when my album comes out.

1:37Yes. So, I will be doing a lot of promo. We call it Street Week when the album hits the streets and I will be doing TV and appearances, playing in stores a lot and all that. So, I'm going to be a busy girl. And then there's a Dean Brody tour here. Again, your back. That is, yeah, happening in January and February. So, that'll be really awesome. I'm excited. Let's do one more. OK. Because this one comes from Indonesia, where you hold a world tour after the release of your album. When are you going to play Indonesia's, I think, with this person? I want to play as soon as possible. Truly. I love touring internationally. I've only done that a few times with my old band. I've never done it as a solo artist. Actually, this is the first time I've toured outside the country. You've done anything outside the US and Canada, actually. But, um, as a solo artist.

2:26But, yeah, the band did come here a few times. But, you know, I would love to get over there. I feel like it's important to establish myself in the United States first to really get people on board. And then I'll be able to venture out. Right. I'm keeping them in my thoughts. I'm always, you know, keeping them updated. You can go there eventually. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Have any Happy Monday tunes been country-fied for this tour? Hey, Monday. Hey, Monday. What am I saying? Happy Monday. Happy Monday. It happens so often. It's totally fine. I think this event called Happy Mondays. Probably. From the 80s. From the 80s. OK. Anyway. It, like, rolls off the tongue very easily. Have any Happy Monday tunes? No, just take Monday tunes. No, no, definitely not. I feel like when I play shows that I want to stick to what Cassidy Pope is, and that is my new country direction,

3:12I don't want to take hey Monday songs and make them into something that they're not. They were pop rock, and I love them in their essence. So I would never want to change that. That's fair. Yeah. What about writing for country? Does the process change? I mean, there's a lot more co-writes, probably, because that affects the whole national world. I've always loved co-writing. I love writing by myself, too. But in hey Monday, I co-wrote a lot of the songs as well. So I either wrote or co-wrote them. But this is a little different. I went down to Nashville. There were writing sessions that start at 10 AM and go to only 5 or something. And only 5. Yeah. It's just a full day of work. Yeah. Basically a full day. But in New York and LA where I've done other writing sessions, you start at noon and you go to midnight.

3:58And that's a little intense. So I like that you clock in, you clock out into decent hour. And it's a really inspiring city in Nashville. You go in with an acoustic guitar. It's very organic. Whereas in other cities, sometimes it's a little more beat driven, a little more track driven, which I have done. It's not something that I'm that into. So I think doing the album in Nashville is definitely the best for me. What was one tune that you heard, like, even a single, like the one that's up there now? You didn't write it. So what was it about? Like, you must have heard it. I must have the song. I did. Yeah. I actually, I wanted to a bunch of publishing meetings, which I had never done before. And I've always written my stuff. So the idea of taking an outside song was a little scary.

4:44And I was thinking, I need to make sure I don't just take a song that I like. I need to love it. And wasting all these tears was one of the first songs I had heard. And I never thought it would be a single just because I wasn't. The demo was a little less impactful than the actual song now. It was a little more track driven. But now with the full band and it's energetic and everything, it's just so much more powerful. But that was one of the first songs I heard. I loved it right away. Did it inspire the way you started to write the record? It didn't because I was already writing songs about relationships and deep emotions like that. The actual demo itself, the production was nothing like I

5:30wanted for my actual album. But I just heard the song itself and I didn't really pay attention to the production. And that's what really drew me to the song. But as far as writing my album, it was cool. I didn't really have to change or compromise my writing style because when you write music acoustically, it comes off a little country to begin with unless you're writing a rap song on an acoustic guitar. Even country has rap now, actually. Have you tried running rap songs in the acoustic? I haven't. But there is rap happening in country. So I take that back. Yeah, I didn't really have to change any of my ways to do country. It's pretty awesome. Since we're talking about wasting, where's that Twitter question? From Cassidy the Pope, ask Cassidy the Pope. They're not you. But it's hilarious. And then a little different way.

6:16The Pope, it's legit. Whose idea was it to have the swing and the water running down on wasting all these tears to you? That was actually the director's idea. He brought up the whole swing theme, which I loved. And I loved that it was something that I thought of me and my boyfriend. And at the time, the ex-boyfriend. And you always have that one thing with your ex that reminds you of them or that you guys always did together. And in my case, it was a swing. And in high school, we're on the swing together, or whatever. And I thought the end was just kind of beautiful because it was like a baptism. I was swinging through the rain and just washing off all of my regrets, all of the doubt, and just completely starting over.

7:01And that's how I saw it. So I really was like, blown away when I saw the rig. It was the craziest rig. It was just a pipe that was cut and made into a square around me. And they punched holes into it and made this kiddie pool basically that caught all the rain. And it was amazing. It was like the last shot of the day, really special. And one chance to get it done. So it was kind of scary. Can we see that rig on this documentary that's coming out? You can, for sure. They were there all day. They got all of that. So you're going to see all the behind the scenes stuff. What else? So October 4th, CMT documentary about everything from the voice to now or from before? Basically, yeah. I gave CMT some footage of me as a kid singing. There's a lot of. What was your go-to song as a kid?

7:47Cowboy Sweetheart was actually my go-to song. But I sang a lot of different stuff. I haven't seen an episode yet where they actually used the audio, but there is one video when I'm explaining I come from a country background. I am in full on cowgirl attire. I have a cowboy hat on. The sequiny fringe buttoned down, long sleeve shirt tucked into my black jeans. It looked like a costume, honestly. But that's just how I dress, on stage. And that was when I was like seven or eight years old. I showed some of my past, but most of it is from making my album to opening the Raska Flats tour on my country radio tour, which is a majority of the show because it's just so

8:35crazy and grueling. People don't realize that. The making of the music video, going back to the voice, to premiere wasting all these tears. The CMT Awards, my hometown show on the Flats tour. They got a lot of stuff. Cool. It sounds like things have come full. When I heard about this record and then heard about UF that country moving from the hey Monday stuff to countries, it would be a big thing, but it sounds like everything's come full circle. It has. Yeah, it's where I started. People like to only think about my immediate past, which is understandable, because the last about six years I've been doing pop rock. But my most influential years when I was a kid were based around country music. And some of my biggest influences are country artists.

9:20So I love the fact that I'm coming into country music again in a time where infusing pop rock into it is accepted and it's embraced because everybody's doing that now pretty much. And it goes to show that timing is everything. And if I had done this maybe a few years ago, it might not have worked. And you'll know the experience of work tour, which is just crazy. Yes. There's nothing no tour harder than work tour. I don't think. Other than a radio tour. And that's just the exhaustion. But work tours, dirty, it's hectic. You don't know what time you're set is every day. Actually played work tour in 2010 in sketch. What is it? No, figure it out. I want to. Is this a sketch one? Yeah, there you go. Did I do it? Yeah, yeah. That's, yeah, we've played there.

10:06Nice. Are you kidding? Is that how it says? To schedule is the province, yeah. It's a scatuan. Or one? One. I don't really know which one's right. It's your accent. And you say it's one. Scatuan. Yeah. OK. Maybe that's the Canadian way. That's OK. Hey. Thank you. You talked about some of your heroes there. Another Cassidy the Pope question. Which, she's good ones. Which country singer would you like to do it with? I would love to do a duet with Shania Twain. Canadian. Canadian, exactly. Some of my favorite artists are Canadian, actually. Well, you wrote with Gordon Samstone. This one, that was kind of cool. I did, yeah. I like seeing his name in the credits. He's the best. He's awesome. He actually, I wrote with him, and I have a song of his on the album, too. Oh, nice. All that I wish I could break your heart. Ashima and Rocco wrote that as well. So it's a good song. Good song. But yeah, Shania, for sure, because she's a huge influence for me.

10:55I grew up idolizing her. I always thought that she was so independent and sexy, but still classy. And she really did a great job of having that traditional country feel, but infusing that pop into it. And it crossed over. It did big things. She was massive. And I just loved her for that. And then you got a busy day. But I do want to talk about 11, just because it's a heartfelt tune. Listen to this lyrics. Was it difficult to write, or did it just flow easily? It kind of flowed easily. It was the second session I had with this awesome writer, Nathan Chapman. And him and I just clicked really well. He was the kind of guy that I just poured my heart out to. And he was wanting to write something that was really deep. And right there with him, I was ready to just let it all out.

11:41And him and I exchanged stories about growing up and what hardships we've had. And I just started talking about my parents' divorce. And it turned into this really beautiful, interesting song, because not a lot of people know how to talk about their parents' divorce in a positive way. And I know that it paints such a sad picture of the song. And overall, in the end, it was for the best. And I think people realize that when they listen to the song. Now that you've been playing all these songs live, I assume the set list is full of record songs that people haven't heard yet, right? Yes. So what are you enjoying playing the most now that you actually get to go out and tour these tunes every day? I love playing. I wish I could break your heart. That's one of my favorites on the album. It's so energetic. I actually start the set off with that song.

12:27And it gets people going. It's fast. And it's got a really cool concept. It has the same kind of feel as cry by Faith Hill, how you just wish that person would just feel something a little more. And you love them. And it's a great relationship. But they could break you at any second. And you just wish you could make them feel the same way, although you never would. Yeah. I'm going to let you go. So we do something called Five Questions. Five Quick Questions. One more answers. Road or Studio? Road. Leonard or McCartney? McCartney. When you hear a song, usually hits you first. Lyric's Melody or Rhythm? Melody. If someone's never heard Cassidy's quote before, what song do they start with? Eleven. In one word, Cassidy Pope.

13:15Cool. All right. I don't know. I just deflated. I was like, aww. Deflating. Deflating. Oh my god. Self-deprecating. That's two words. But that's nice. Oh, I have an answer. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome.

Part 2

0:27So how have you been? How good? Yeah. It's been almost a year, almost a full year. I know. We didn't think I was going to remember you. No, you never know with these things. I know. But I remember you, and I remember we had a great interview. We did. It's good to see you. I went to your hometown. And now I'm here with you. Mine. And you're only here for like a day or two though. Yes. Tomorrow we have like an all day rehearsal with my band. We're going to suss out a few things for our set to make it a little spicy and interesting. And then we're back on the road. So how are you going to make it spicy and interesting? What are you going to do? We're going to incorporate some transitions, maybe some covers, because I have a lot of headlining shows coming up where they're about 75 minute sets. And I have one album out. So that album I think equals to 45 minutes. Yeah, so you can imagine the tweaking and certain things that we have to do with it.

1:13I heard the sets for Tim are only 20 or so. Yeah, 20 minutes. I play five songs. What are the five? Is it always the five? Have you figured out like you write set for that to it? Yeah, we figured it out and we're sticking with it because it really represents me very well. And I wish I could break your heart, champagne, 11, this car, and... Wasting all these things. Yeah. We ended up... So you're still opening with, I guess, the new single? Yeah. Can we still call it the new single? Yeah, yeah. It's the current single. And it's really doing well. And I wanted to open the set with something that people could familiarize themselves with and also kind of recognize because radio is playing it here. So it's been a really, really fun tour. People are singing along. It's a first song. I was listening to it today. It's harsh. Listen. People kind of make it whatever they want to make it. And that's the beautiful thing about music

1:59is people can kind of just interpret things the way they want. But for me, it's more of a lighthearted kind of song because I'm in a great relationship. And we're in love and everything. But every once in a while you think, man, do I have an power for you to break your heart? Is it even possible? Because you could break mine. So it's more of a loving song than anything else. I guess. Yes. Talking about interpretation songs, you said you might do some covers on this next run. Yes. What are the songs? Like, don't give anything away. Right. Can't give it a lot away. But we've been covering Well Back Down by Tom Petty. And it's been going over very well. And it's a very inspirational song. So I love playing songs that not only get people on their feet, but just touch them in any way. And that one does a good job of doing that. Yeah, for sure. Is there a song that you've interpreted wrong

2:45where you've talked to the artist? And then like, oh, that was not what they did. Yeah. Actually. Oh, really? OK. That's like a little bit of a talk to them about this. But I sang on the Motley Crew tribute album. And I covered, oh, I'll do it for you. Thank you. Good song for her. And I covered Animal on me. And I've come to find out. I thought the song was about bondage and some very sexual things. And come to find out. Nikki Six did an interview about that song reviewing my interpretation of it. And he said, it's actually not a song about that stuff. It's about love and completely losing yourself in that love. So I'm still convinced that it's still about that stuff. But he made it seem more romantic, which I like. So I'll go with that. I like that's coming out in about a month, I think. Yes. Yeah. And I'm on it with a bunch of other amazing artists

3:31and Robin Zander from Cheap Trick sings on it. So it was a really fun experience for me to kind of go outside of my element and do something a little edgier. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I'm going to plug that because Motley Crew's going to be the show in like a month. And we're going to talk about that song and a whole bunch of other stuff. I was at Nashville. I was last time you were Nashville. You had new co-writes or anything like that? Oh, the last time I was in Nashville was for the CMT Music Awards, where I won the breakthrough video of the year. All these plugs. What was that? I don't know. I'm still very proud of it. Our rerun was on last night, and I launched it. I'm not going to lie. But it was a really cool night for me. But I haven't been back to doing a co-writes. I've been doing a lot of songwriting on the road on the Timma-Cranter. You were able to ride on the road? Yeah. Because some people can't, some people can't. I find it really inspirational. I go in the back lounge, and I just

4:18play on my guitar and write about what I'm going through at that time. Done some stuff with my guitarist, Jim. So yeah, keeping that ball rolling always. What are you running about? Like, let's come through your mind these days. These days, it's just about this whole experience of really trying to prove yourself. And there being some people that start off with their arms kind of crossed. And either winning them over, or you're still trying to get them on your team. And it's been one of those things that's very empowering. And it just adds fuel to my fire. And I'm writing a lot about that. Just inspiring people to keep going for their dreams. Are you someone who really agonizes over lyrics and crosses things out and really goes forward? And you just kind of stream of consciousness, let things flow. This is what I meant to say. So I must be able to put it. Yeah, I kind of let it flow. And then every once in a while, I'll go back and tweak it.

5:03Because if I spend too much time on one line, I will completely have writer's block and won't be able to finish a song. So for me, the thing that really flows the easiest is the melodies. So I finish those even if the lyrics aren't great. And then I'll go back and rewrite the lyrics. That's interesting. Yeah. I've asked you this before. I'm going to ask you again, just because now you've been on the road for like a whole year. Any hey, Monday songs have been country-five. At the time you've said no, because you wanted to leave them alone. Yeah. But now you've been out on the road for a year now. I'm still leaving them alone. I mean, hey, Monday was such an amazing part of my life. And I got a lot of fans from those days. And they stuck around with me, which is so incredible. And I love them for that. But I feel like messing with those songs would just be like messing with the past. I don't want to touch them.

5:48They're great the way they are. And they got me here. So yeah. I know you got to sound check. So I'm going to let you go. But first, five quick questions. One word answers. You do this with a thumb look. Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it. If you have the same one. I'm so bad. Oh, I did get a Twitter question I want to get to as well. OK. Maybe we'll do that first, because I don't really understand it. Now that you have, I see this as Ada with the musical. Did you do something with the musical? Oh, Ada. I played Princess Amnerus in sixth grade. Who knew about it? I don't know. OK. So the question was now that you have fame and recognition, would you want to do Aida properly? Absolutely. I mean, not now, because I know doing plays and theaters takes all of your time. So I don't really have time yet. But maybe someday, that's one of my favorite musicals. And the music is done by Elton John. So it's beautiful songs.

6:34So yeah, I would be interested. Cool. Five questions. OK. Roder Studio. Oh, Rudeo. Both. Landon or McCartney? So clever. McCartney. Would you hear a song what usually hits you first? Lyric's, Melody, or Rhythm? Lyric's. If someone's never heard Cassidy Pope before, what song do they start with? 11. In one word, Cassidy Pope. Cool? I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to say silly, because then there's a lot of layers here. So that's a hard question to answer, like an onion. Onion. That's your one word. I like that. No. Layers. Sure. Layers is a bit of onion, maybe. There's a lot of layers. Thanks, Cass. As a person, not clothing wise.

7:20Oh, yes. We should. Style house. The girls. The wonderful place. As soon as you come in through valet, it's right there on the right. It's amazing. I can't stop looking at all the amazing clogs. Thanks. Yeah, thank you. Awesome. Good to see you. Yeah, you too. Cool. Cut. The one word things. You said cool last time. I did? Yeah, and then.