Will Cassadee Pope Put a Crack in The Voice?

Now that all the teams are finally filled and The Voice is ready to move on to the next round there’s one singer that sticks out like a sore thumb, a very professional, just toured internationally in 2011 with her band, sore thumb. Of course I’m talking about former Hey Monday singer Cassadee Pope, who wowed everyone with her rendition of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” a week ago, and set the internet ablaze with people wondering what someone who’s not just accomplished, but recently accomplished, doing on a singing competition show. At first I wondered the same thing. Heck, Pope and her band were on the cover of a national magazine I write for just two short years ago. When I really thought about it, though, I came to the conclusion that it’s a good thing Pope is on The Voice.

I like that The Voice has pros involved. It’s what separates it from the other singing competition shows. Javier, who released two albums on a major label, and Dia Frampton, who was on two Warped Tours, finished one-two in The Voice’s first season. In season two Jermaine Paul, who sang backup for Alicia Keys, and Juliet Simms, of Automatic Loveletter fame, finishing one-two.

Is it an advantage to have all that experience? Of course. The pros, however, only have that advantage once the chairs turn around. If they aren’t good enough singers, and no chairs turn around for them, they’re not moving on. It would be different if this was American Idol, or The X Factor, where everyone would know who these contestants were as soon as they walked onto the stage. Then the advantage would be unfair. As The Voice is set up, however, the advantage doesn’t come into play until they’re good enough to get a coach’s attention.

Something else for music fans to consider is that if Cassadee Pope advances far on The Voice, which she should, it’s going to go a long way in helping legitimize the talent of all the great pop punk artists out there, and possibly push more pop punk bands into the limelight due to people not wanting to miss out on the next Cassadee Pope. She’s already shown she can sing, but a top four finish might make people wake up and say “those kids rocking out every year at Warped Tour actually know what they’re doing, and they’re pretty damned good!” It’s ironic that by leaving her band she might end up doing more good for the genre than anyone in a band possibly could.

The Voice, to make a sports analogy, is like a really good independent baseball league. There are a bunch of people there trying to make it who have talent, but haven’t been signed by a pro team, and some former pros who, for whatever reason, flamed out with their major league organization and are attempting to work their way back in. Cassadee Pope is the flashy signing that puts butts in the seats, but if she wasn’t good at what she does she would have never received the offer. Pope deserves her place on The Voice, and for her sake, the show’s sake, and pop punk’s sake, I hope she goes far.

Side Note - I hope Cassadee Pope goes far, but I hope my homegirl Chevonne goes further being that back in ’08 I featured her here, as well as on my radio show, and in the lineup of a concert I threw. Go Chevonne!