LOS ANGELES, CA- Before Maren Morris took the stage at The Wiltern, fellow country singer Cassadee Pope, whom the crowd also adored gave a solid performance.
Pope has been in the music scene for years now. She was the lead singer of the short lived pop-punk band Hey Monday before becoming the winning contestant (and first female winner) of The Voice in 2012. Country singer Blake Shelton was her coach and with his help and the success from the show, Pope rebranded herself and has become an emerging artist in the country music genre. The transition from rock to country has proved to be a good move, as her first solo country album “Frame By Frame” debuted at number one on Top Country Albums. Pope says her newest album “Stages” is her most personal album yet and it has been getting a lot of buzz since it was released in February.
The crowd gave Pope a warm, heartfelt welcome and were familiar with all of her songs, which is rarely the case for opening acts. Often times, people skip out on the opener or just can’t wait for them to be over, but for Cassadee, the crowd was totally invested in her performance.
Some standouts of her set were “If My Heart Had a Heart” and “Take You Home,” both from her new album and both have “hit” written all over them. Pope told the crowd the LA shows would mark the end of her journey on the tour and she thanked Morris for the opportunity.
“As the opener, it’s my job to get you guys pumped up,” Pope told the crowd, before going into a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Right from the start, the crowd was dancing and singing along to the popular tune as Pope did the classic jam justice. The energy was at an all time high and seeing the crowd this worked up, I knew the rest of the show was going to be a non stop party. Damn, country fans sure know how to have a good time! Yee haw!
Though her run with Maren Morris has ended, life on the road continues for Cassadee as she embarks on the the CMT Next Women Of Country Tour with Clare Dunn and Hannah Ellis starting April 11th through May.
Follow Cassadee Pope on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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