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Cassadee Pope's Bold New Music Reflects Personal Evolution

Talks New Song "Take You Home" and Relationship with 'Nashville''s Sam Palladio

Whenever artists aren’t creating, whatever life hands them and whatever they’re going through feeds a well of inspiration for new music.

When Cassadee Pope fans hear her empowering new music, they’re listening to a self-realized woman redefining her future through song.

“I feel like I’m in this place in my life where I care less about what people think, and I know who I am more than ever,” she tells CMT.com. “And so this was a great re-introduction because it’s just very me.”

After a successful 2016 that saw her first Grammy nomination for the Chris Young collaboration, “Think of You,” the 2012 Voice champion went through an emotional 2017. Her eight-year relationship with Rian Dawson ended, and she launched the next chapter of her career as an independent artist. The raw feelings she felt during these changes serve as inspiration for the new music she has in the works. Among the material she’s writing are her first originals she's written as a solo artist in a decade.

“All my songwriter friends told me to write through it because you will never feel that way again; that very specific feeling you had, you won’t be able to go back to that,” Pope tells CMT.com. “They told me that for a reason, and I’m really glad I did because I wrote a song a day by myself, and they are some of the most amazing songs I feel I’ve ever written.”

The first statement in this next chapter for Pope is her bold new single, “Take You Home." Produced by Corey Crowder and written by her best friend and hit-maker Emily Weisband (Lauren Alaina’s “Next Boyfriend” and Camila Cabello’s “Consequences”), the song puts a romantic spin on the concept of home, a perennial theme in country music. The message and melodies shimmer just like the positive attitude behind the empowering vocalist. She says it’s a preview of the stories she wants to tell in her new music on the way.

“Lyrically, I went there,” she says, “I’ve also never gone through anything like last year. I went very revealing about both falling in love, being happy, dating again and also going through the biggest breakup I’ve ever been through.

“I’m covering all sides of the spectrum, and I’m letting people in deeper than I’ve let them in before.”

For those who are interested, her heart is in a good place. If she had a Facebook relationship status, it would be, "currently on a never-ending first date with CMT Nashville actor, Sam Palladio." Her French bulldog, Cuppy, and his whippet, River, chaperoned their first date at a dog park, and they’ve all pretty much been together ever since.

“I Instagram messaged him when I was ready to start dating again,” she reveals. “I thought, ‘That guy’s hot. And if he ends up being an [expletive], then whatever. It was worth a shot.’ And he ended up being so great. And we took our dogs to the dog park, and that was our first hang. I didn’t think of it as a date at the time. It’s a very natural progression, and we’re happy.”

She adds the weird part about their history is that they have known each other for five years after meeting at a CMA after-party. But they had never spoken again until Pope reached out in December.

“I was on Nashville in 2017, but it was with Chip [Esten],” she says. “So I wasn’t even in a scene with Sam at that point.”

For now, Pope is enthusiastic about how "Take You Home" sets up what's to come in this next chapter in her career.

"There are five more songs that I’ve got in the bag that I want people to hear, so we’ll see how those come out, but I’m just excited for people to get to know me and what I went through last year through the new songs."

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