Cassadee Pope Plots Her Next Career Move: ‘I’m Moving Away From The Country Space’

Cassadee Pope has been paving her own path in the music industry since winning Season 3 of The Voice and even before, when she started building her catalog with the band, Hey Monday. As she looks ahead to the next phase of her career, Pope shared that she might be leaving country music behind. 

During a recent interview with PEOPLE, the singer/songwriter explained her latest collaboration with Levi Hummon titled “RSVP” is helping take her sound in a different direction. 

“I’m moving away from the country space and going more into pop rock where I came from initially,” Pope said referring to her early days in the band. “I’m glad that [‘RSVP’] kind of straddles those lines. It’s a great kind of bridge for me between what I did before and where I’m headed with my next solo project.”

It’s no secret that Hummon has also crossed over into the realm of pop/country music through songs like “Paying For It” with Walker Hayes, and “Good Riddance” featuring Filmore and YA’BOYZ. “RSVP” also gave him the chance to explore new depths of his creativity.

Written by Pope and Hummon along with Eric Arjes, “RSVP” allows the artists to combine their genre-bending melodies and polished vocals to create a more pop-leaning sound. 

“It wasn’t really a country song, it wasn’t really a pop song. It wasn’t really anything, but just kind of a story of being alone after the party and wishing that the one person you wanted there was there,” Hummon told the outlet. 

The storyline finds past lovers battling their inner emotions as a result of a party that turned out to be a good time for almost everybody. Hummon’s character reflects on the rejected party invite from a past lover while Pope embraces her opposing role as she finds herself also grappling with the reality of having to get over this chapter of her life. 

He continued, “The whole time, Cassadee kept bringing up the whole ‘Ross and Rachel’ [from Friends] thing, where they both want to see each other, but it never comes into fruition. That’s what Cassadee really contributed to the song. I mean, she elevated the song to a whole other level.”

From the moment it was released, the song has earned rapid success, reaching nearly 100K streams in less than a week. While celebrating the release of their new duet with family and friends, Hummon and Pope decided to come together to sing “RSVP” live for those in the room. This acoustic performance was filmed and then released as a live version.

“We just so happen to perform it at a studio where we thought it would be fun to capture the audio, just in case,” Hummon told Country Now. “The live version turned out so cool that I knew instantly I wanted to release it. It gives me a little bit of a throwback to the MTV unplugged Nirvana experience, and I love it.”

Both artists have had plenty of experience stepping into writing rooms and the recording studio with a variety of artists. Cassadee Pope has found herself collaborating with some of the biggest names in country music like Chris Young and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild. 

Since her time on the singing competition show, the “Thrive” singer has also released a No.1 debut album, earned a GRAMMY nomination, and toured with superstars such as Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley. 

Cassadee Pope wrapped up her THRIVE Tour 2022 earlier this year and has yet to share any upcoming dates since her recent show in Nashville on November 26. 

Levi Hummon recently announced that he has an exciting concert on the books for next year. On January 18, he will be playing a hometown show in Nashville featuring up-and-coming artists, Kyle Clark and Darby.