Cassadee
Pope, the pop-punk lead singer from Hey Monday who connected with TV audiences
via pop-country songs, was declared the season three winner of "The
Voice" on Tuesday. Terry McDermott, a Scotland native based in New
Orleans, was the runner-up; Nicholas David was third.
"I'm
feeling amazing," she said after host Carson Daly called her name.
"Thank you to everyone who voted for me and all the fans and Blake."
Pope
concluded her run on the NBC show singing Faith Hill's "Cry" and
reprising Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert's "Over You" in the final
competition round on Monday. "Cry" was the No. 1 seller on
iTunes when the voting polls closed Tuesday at 7 a.m. PT/10 a.m. ET.
It was
little surprise that Pope emerged the winner. With a new system in place that
gave America the vote instead of the
coaches, Pope's music consistently charted higher than the recordings of her
competition. Her first version of "Over You" was the show's first
bona-fide hit single in its three seasons; her rendition of Keith Urban's
"Stupid Boy" remained in the iTunes top 100 a full week after it was
performed on the broadcast, a feat no other "Voice" competitor
achieved.
Pope's
story, as well as that of McDermott, continues the throughline that has defined
"The Voice" for its three seasons. The singer has success as a
professional, formerly signed with a label, issued recordings, never quite made
it to headline status, and decided, almost on a whim, to give the show a whirl.
Unlike
previous seasons, this year's cast had little air of desperation among the
singers -- none of them were saying they would quit the music business if
"The Voice" did not pan out. Pope is the show's first female winner
and the first victor without a family to support. Last year's winner, Jermaine
Paul, and the first season champ, Javier Colon, are both married with children
and their stories played significant roles in garnering votes from the American
public.
From the
start, Pope spoke about the importance of finding songs that reminded her of
the types of songs she writes, specifically ones with stories. By and large
that led her to numbers recorded by country artists. As a strategy, whether
planned or not, it worked: She sounded more contemporary than her peers and her
appeal rested in the vocal performance rather than the emotional or historical
connection she felt with a particular song.
Pope, an
assured 23 year old from West Palm Beach, Fla., founded Hey Monday in 2008 and
befriended Fall Out Boy, with whom they toured, and signed with Columbia
Records, which released two of their albums. She also appeared in one of their
videos. Prior to appearing on "The Voice," Pope spent part of the
year touring as a solo act and released a four-song EP in May.
"You
were in a band of boys and you don't need those boys anymore," Daly told
Pope at the end of the show on Wednesday. "You're all alone,
congratulations."
Last
year's runner-up, Juliet Simms, had a similar story with her band Automatic
Loveletter -- the two were even on the Vans Warped Tour together.
"What
she is doing is spot on -- it's what she has wanted to do since she was a
little girl," Simms told Billboard. "It's so different watching her
sing live as opposed to when we were touring together on the Warped tour. She
was phenomenal then, but I feel like she gets to show the world her heart, the
kind of person she is (on 'The Voice.') She's the sweetest, most loving person
and that shines through when she sings."
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