Cassadee Pope: From Beginning to End ∞

Some people have said that since you had a band and a fan base before you came on The Voice, you had an unfair advantage over the other artists. What’s your reaction to that?

“When I came into [the show], I got a lot of that and it was discouraging,” she says. “But if that meant I was really successful, then why was I struggling to pay rent every month? Why was I not able to get any label to sign my solo project? Being in the band and not growing was not something I was content with. I had to just prove myself and try to prove people wrong. I thought it was kind of crazy to think that someone like me — who’s been working towards this my whole life, since I was four years old, and then toured in bands and did all that, and really has been working hard — doesn’t deserve it as much as someone else next to me who’s never done it before. I feel like if you have the heart and the passion for it, you deserve it.”