Chance Edwards
When Cassadee Pope’s plans to record a studio album in April were put on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions, the singer found herself in an interesting position.
“I realized I didn’t have the songs that I thought I had [for that album],” she says. “It was a blessing in disguise for me creatively. It just wasn’t there yet. And if I’m going to do a full band record, I want it to be confident in it.”
But the change in plans, coupled with the cancellation of her busy touring schedule made for a challenging time. Pope, who thrives off performing and creating, found herself feeling lost in this new reality.
“I had a hard time with feeling like I didn’t have a purpose,” she says. “I did a lot of self-work on finding a purpose other than music, and then I got to a place of ‘I don’t have to not release music. I think I can figure out a way to do it to where it’s safe and it’s not this full band project where we’re getting in the studio and we’re all in each other’s space.’ So, I thought of an acoustic song and then my boyfriend and mom and sister were like, ‘Screw it! What about an acoustic album?’”
>>> LISTEN TO CASSADEE POPE ON NASHVILLE LIFESTYLES THE PODCAST
That album, Rise & Shine, out today August 7, proved to be a labor of love for Pope, who seized the opportunity to make an album on her own terms. She chose the songs—all eight of which she co-wrote—and for the first time, she co-produced the entire album (alongside Todd Lombardo, who also plays guitar on all of the songs).
“From the first conversation to the very end of the project, it was really hands-on for me—more so than ever before. It was a really fun process.”
Pope wanted the album to feel different than her other country projects, so she gave Lombardo one distinct direction.
“I wanted to go more emo rock, so I gave him references of Dashboard Confessional and Jimmy Eat World, because that’s not something you hear very often in country.”
The process, which took two months from start to finish, was very different than anything Pope had undertaken before.
“As far as making music, this was new territory,” she says of the pandemic production. “We got on FaceTime and he showed me some of his ideas guitar-wise. I loved them all. He recorded those remotely at his studio, sent them to me, and we both got into the studio just for two days to do vocals for all eight songs. That was the only time we spent together in the same room.”
Those eight songs are each rife with raw emotion. Many paint a sad picture, but Pope is quick to point out that they were written years ago, born out of a different time in her life—one that she hopes listeners can relate to and take comfort in knowing she made her way to the other side.
“This is really reflective album because a lot of these songs were written during a time where I was in a bad place. I wasn’t happy and I felt stuck,” she says. “I’ve written so many songs through the years that, for whatever reason, weren’t able to have their moment. You know the phrase ‘keep things in your back pocket’? Well these songs basically fell out of my back pocket. My hope is that these songs help people feel every emotion they need to let out.”
The opening track, “Let Me Go,” finds Pope pleading with a lover who doesn’t support her dreams to release his hold on her. “You don’t want me but you won’t take these chains off of my wrists.... the dreams I got for me / they ain’t yours to keep,” she sings. And while the public knows that Pope is now in a happy (and supportive) relationship with actor/singer Sam Palladio, the words ring so true it’s easy to tell that they came from a dark corner of Pope’s heart.
“I don’t ever want to sing anything people don’t believe, so it was really emotional singing that song in the studio and reliving [that time]. I don’t have to feel that way every day right now in my life, but I have to channel it when I’m recording or no one’s going to believe me. So that was an emotional one.”
On the up-tempo track “Hoodie,” Pope offers up an uber-relatable take on a post-breakup phone call under the guise of finding her ex’s hoodie in the backseat of her car.
“I felt like I hadn’t heard that lyric before,” she says. “You use any silly excuse to get in touch with someone that you’re dying to talk to, and you think you’re being discreet, but you’re really not.”
The album’s closing song, “Built This House,” offers up Pope at her best with lyrics that speak to where she is today. “I sleep easy in the bed I made / and I dream bigger than I did before / took a while to feel this way /brick by brick, board by board.”
For Pope, the album’s sonic journey echoes the one she’s taken in her life.
“I really tried to sequence the album in a way that it brings you down into your feelings and then brings you back up,” she says. “It takes you to a really deep, dark place. And then it can stitch you back up again.”