Cassadee Pope’s latest album, “Hereditary”, marks a significant shift in her musical journey, reflecting a return to her pop-punk roots. This album is not just a collection of songs; it’s a deeply personal narrative, revealing the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter’s journey through self-discovery and transformation. The album’s release acts as the follow-up to the previous single release “I Died” in collaboration with Daisha McBride, the fifth official single from the album.
Album Review: Cassadee Pope – Hereditary
A Return to Her Pop-Rock Roots
Known initially as the powerhouse vocalist of the pop-punk band Hey Monday—active between 2006 and 2011—with iconic hits such as “Homecoming”, “How Do You Love Me Now”, and “Candles”; Cassadee Pope made a name for herself in the country music scene after winning the third season of The Voice and going on to chart with the likes of “Wasting All These Tears” and the GRAMMY-nominated collaboration with Chris Young, titled “Think of You”. However, “Hereditary” sees her stepping back into the world of pop-punk, a genre she’s always been passionate about. The album’s title track and overall theme delve into the emotional legacies we inherit and the personal paths we forge despite them.
Emotional and Personal Themes
“Hereditary” is an emotional rollercoaster, exploring themes of love, betrayal, and self-identity. Each track is a testament to the ups and downs of life, deeply influenced by Cassadee Pope’s personal experiences and introspections. As Cassadee Pope puts it, “This album follows my journey of self-discovery so closely that I feel a little nervous to share certain things. But I needed to let it out. Creating this album was like a 2-year therapy session that continues to be there for me even after its completion.”
Track by Track: An Emotional Rollercoaster
People That I Love Leave
“People That I Love Leave” kickstarts the album and was the first single released from the album back in 2023, which received critical and fan acclaim. Passionate from the get-go with exceptional songwriting talent (the song is written by Cassadee Pope, Ali Tamposi, Roman Campolo, Nick Long, and Andrew Luce) and heartfelt vocals, Pope shines completely, opening the album as you would expect.
She invites us all to fall back in love with her late-’00s pop-punk that has always suited her voice to a tee. The heartfelt track delves into the theme of loss and the fear of abandonment, resonating deeply with listeners throughout, and it’s not a surprise it was well received as the first single, last year, as it’s a powerhouse track that is both emotional and relatable.
The rhythmic rock backing track of “People That I Love Leave” (acting as producers of the track are Cassadee Pope, Dan Swank, Mason Sacks, Hosu Yoon, and Andrew Luce) is fired up with an addictive beat that implants an unforgettable pop-punk hook, determined to unleash her return to this genre while also grabbing her fans and inviting us to enjoy this journey with her.
The rock sound gets heavier towards the end with incredible instrumental segments from guitars and drums that wrap around Pope’s flawless vocals perfectly. The accompanying music video, directed by Ed Pryor, sees Pope perform with incredible energy while a narrative shows her on a couch with various guys (possibly her dates) clearly deciding she’s not ready to say “I love you” as the people she loves leave.
Eye Contact
Released as the third single from the album, “Eye Contact” follows “People That I Love Leave” brilliantly as the second track. Flowing from the heavier side that ended the previous track, Pope brings a fierceness to this song that we feel has been missing in her more recent country tracks, her passion for rock music is evident and you can feel her joy as she goes in during this anthem. Delving in deep to match the harder drum beats and guitar chords, Pope flourishes throughout as she expresses a narrative of losing trust in the one she loves.
Relatable throughout, once again the songwriting team—made up of Cassadee Pope, Devon Lewow, and Mitch Marlow, with the latter acting as Producer—has delivered heartfelt words that paint a story while connecting with the listeners. Incredible words about a compulsive liar and how that toxic relationship has had an effect on her daily life, Pope really lets her listeners in and it’s heartwarming to see.
An accompanying visualiser and lyric video was released for this song, with the lyric video containing segments of Pope performing this track to the camera—which makes us question if a performance-based music video was planned but was shelved. The videos shown in the lyric video were uploaded onto her social media pages as promotional content.
Secret
The third track on the album is “Secret”—written by Brian West, Cassadee Pope, Dan Swank, Joe Neary, and Jordan Burmeister, whilst Dan Swank acted as Producer— which has a progressive pop-punk energy that flows from the beginning with the heartfelt fervour. With guitar chords hitting differently, Pope’s exceptional vocals harmonise with the backing track, and the drums slowly kick in as well. The lead-up of the first verse spotlights her gorgeous voice and the narrative of being in a secret relationship, and then the track goes all out with a thrashing addictive chorus that takes us right on a nostalgic ’00s trip.
More To Me
How do you follow that previous epic track? Well, you follow it with “More To Me”. This track—written by Ali Tamposi, Cassadee Pope, Hosu Yoon, Mason Sacks, and Roman Campolo, whilst Dan Swank produced it—is the focus track from the album as a visualiser has been released to accompany this LP. It’s a huge anthem of empowerment and closure, capturing the moment she decided to transition out of country music and reclaim her identity and freedom.
Melding together the concept of retaking your power back from someone who has wronged you whilst acknowledging the negative effects of an experience in the past that led to this decision with her decision to move from country music to pop-punk, and waisting all those tears in the process. Being aware that negativity spreads in different forms such as resentment and grudges which ultimately become toxic, is a huge takeaway from this track. Realising these things and letting them go brings freedom and Pope did just that especially in the form of her transition from country to pop-punk.
Talking about this track, Pope shares, “I remember feeling this weight lifted off my shoulders when I stopped letting anger consume me. The resentment was like a blanket I thought was keeping me warm but all it did was prolong the pain. It was important for me to write this because I wanted to capture that moment where I felt free for the first time. It’s sometimes quick and easy to miss, but I didn’t want to forget that feeling.”
Iconic in every single way, Pope showcases versatility within the pop-punk genre as she brings soft vocals before rocking out for the chorus. She brings levels that match some of the biggest names in female rock today, and while we refuse to compare female rock musicians to each other, Pope is certainly up there with the best of them, especially as she brings awesome vocal riffs to the table and hits those high notes with exceptional accuracy and remarkable ease. The energy-fuelled performance-based visualiser captures Pope’s sense of freedom brilliantly, connecting with viewers on a personal level and showcasing her ability to deeply resonate with audiences at home.
Three Of Us
“Three Of Us” is the fifth track on the album and was released in conjunction with Mental Health Month. Fans of Cassadee Pope know about her connection to raising awareness of mental health, having touched upon the subject over the years with the release of her country music, with songs such as “I Am Invincible” and “If My Heart Had A Heart”. This song confronts the darkness of addiction and highlights the importance of empathy and community.
Talking about this track, Pope says, “‘Three Of Us’ is about how heartbreaking it is to watch someone you love struggle with addiction. It’s a subject I’ve never written about but feel ready to share with my fans. And unfortunately, I know many of them have experienced something similar.”
Written by Ali Tamposi, Andrew Luce, Cassadee Pope, Nick Long, and Roman Campolo, with Dan Swank as Producer, “Three Of Us” is an important heart-hitting track, and being aware of just that, Pope has toned it right down to an acoustic guitar and her awesome voice, whilst effortlessly giving us the pop-punk energy that we’ve always known her to have.
As for the music video, directed by Doltyn Snedden, it serves as a poignant visual complement to the song’s powerful message. Matching the stripped-back style, we watch Pope perform the track while sitting on a stool, playing the guitar, which is later intercut with scenes of Pope adding letters and notes to a wall, which are messages from fans who have their personal experiences with substance abuse, possibly first-hand or second-hand; the latter of which are often experiences involving emotional abuse or trauma from witnessing such events. A behind-the-scenes video of the music video has also been released, which you can watch below.
Rom Coms
Another difficult song to follow, but Pope has chosen the incredible “Rom Coms” as the sixth track. An ode to perfectly imperfect relationships, this track brings a lighter, more humorous take on love and its quirks. Written by Cassadee Pope, Dan Swank, and John Harvie, with Dan Swank as Producer, “Rom Coms” is a love song we’ve been waiting to hear since she’s been in a super-cute relationship with British singer-songwriter and actor Sam Palladio—best known for playing Gunnar Scott in Nashville as well as Prince Edward in Netflix’s Princess Switch movies—since 2017.
Keeping with the acoustic guitar vibe and progressing it into a higher level of pop-punk ballad, Pope stuns with gorgeous vocal notes that spotlight her heart-warming lyrics. She does what she does best and that’s connect with her listeners and invite us into her version of a rom-com narrative that fans can effortlessly relate to regardless of whether they’re single or are also in a perfectly imperfect relationship.
Almost There
Her build-up back to full-on pop-punk on this album has progressed effortlessly after the “Three Of Us” ballad and “Rom Coms”, leading right into “Almost There” where she boldly embraces her sexuality This song is an anthem of self-acceptance and liberation, a refreshing and unapologetic declaration of one’s self. Produced and co-written by Nick Furlong with Cassadee Pope, Christina Galligan, and Tony Livasas also credited as co-writers, “Almost There” allows Pope to unleash her powerful rock voice again after the past two ballads, hitting us deep inside, but this time sexually.
Sweet and sultry, Pope doesn’t shy away from revealing more about her love life and her sex life, but she does it in a heart-touching way. This is definitely a side to her she would not have sent out to the world if she was still known as a female country artist, and so this is completely liberating—in more ways than one and this refreshing sex-positive relationship-positive and self-empowerment is beyond inspirational. On top of that, we love how she switches up the chorus as the song progresses, giving a dynamic take and pretty much proving that she loves to misbehave since we’re so used to choruses being the same.
Quite possibly our favourite song on the album, purely due to this freedom of self-expression that she has now, and although we can feel the tone of that through every single track—she’s certainly more comfortable returning to pop-punk—it’s this song where we feel her let go, have fun, and enjoy being able to be her true self. There’s no denying Sam Palladio is one lucky guy, and honestly, Cassadee Pope is one lucky woman too—they’re definitely “#couplegoals”, for sure!
Capacity
Giving us throwback Hey Monday vibes with this track, “Capacity”—written by Cassadee Pope and Mitch Marlow, with the latter also producing the track—gives off that classic “Candles” vibe but refreshed completely with mainstream pop-punk flowing throughout. The heavy guitar rhythms and drum beats hit us right in that nostalgic spot while Pope continually impresses with her vocals again and again. Lyrically, she delves into being in a one-sided relationship and how she’d respect the other person if they’d just come out and say they don’t have the capacity to love her.
This is one of those songs we’re all going to relate to one way or another, whether our toxic relationships are our partners or ex-partners, our friends or ex-friends, or even family members, we’ve all had toxic relationships where we can relate this song to. Pope shines a spotlight on how the truth is always something we all respect even if it may hurt and suck.
I Died (a collaboration with Daisha McBride)
The ninth track of the album is “I Died”, a collaboration with Daisha McBride, which sees these two phenomenal female artists prove that genre is just a category and that pop-punk can meet rap music without any problems at all. While we agree that genre is a way to describe music and that cross-genre music is frequently available, rock and rap rarely meet, let alone bring a flawless collaboration like no other, only a rare few have managed to pull it off and “I Died” belongs right up there with them.
This track—written by Cassadee Pope, Daisha McBride, and Jake Saghi with the latter producing the track—acts as a symbolic farewell to a past relationship, capturing the emotional weight of a lost love. The combination of rock and rap has an unexpected quality to it that is both masterful in its art but also it simply feels natural. Both artists impress vocally and lyrically, so we’re not surprised that it was chosen as the fifth single from the album.
The accompanying music video, directed by Tom Perou, sees the two female artists performing in what looks like a graveyard with blue smoke in the air, allowing them to deliver an eerie vibe, which perfectly matches the song. Pope revealed that the concept of the video is that they’re both ghosts haunting their exes; They both bring it, giving a fired-up energy that melds perfectly with the track itself.
Hereditary
Title track time and it’s track number 10. Written by Cassadee Pope, Mitch Marlow, and Sierra Annie, with Mitch Marlow acting as Producer, “Hereditary” starts off with a heavy guitar beat leading into an addictive hard-rock rhythm which is joined by some drum beats and Pope’s faultless rock anthemic vocals. With clever lyrics mixed in this iconic rock track, Pope doesn’t hold back delving into how some things can’t be helped as they’re hereditary.
Spurring off from the title, the songwriting team showcase their genius creation with this song, and Pope goes one step further by making that outro one that is set to be stuck in our heads for the rest of the day.
Ever Since The World Ended (feat. Aaron Gillespie)
Another progressive pop-rock ballad, “Ever Since The World Ended” is stripped back to the max, with Pope giving incredibly soft vocals that are set to give you a spine-chilling shiver of being impressed with her singing ability. The guitar is played throughout but it’s not after the first chorus until the drums kick in.
Written by Aaron Gillespie, Cassadee Pope, Kyle Fishman, and Nick Bailey, while the former and the featured artists went on to produce the track, “Ever Since The World Ended” makes a statement, bringing more versatility to the table within this rock genre, while Aaron Gillespie brings a fresh layer of vocals on top of Pope’s to bring a more passionate feel to the song. Heartfelt throughout as the lyrics dive into mental health and the struggles of continuing on after a break-up.
Wrong One
The final track on the album, “Wrong One”, is set to make a final impression on the album listeners, and so Pope has thrown her all into it as we hear her with heightened passion throughout. Written by Alex Nobile, Cassadee Pope, Hosu Yoon, and Mason Sacks, with Dan Swank, Mason Sacks, and Hosu Yoon acting as Producers. this track brings a dynamic end to the album. Brutal in the lyrics, Pope goes all in on one of her exes and we fully love to see it. Mental health and toxic relationships, she’s been through them all, and it’s amazing to see her so free!
Legacy and Influence
From her early days with Hey Monday to her successful country music career, Cassadee Pope has always been a versatile and fearless artist. Her return to pop-punk with “Hereditary” not only showcases her growth as a musician but also reaffirms her place in the genre. With confessional writing and a bold sound, she continues to redefine her musical identity, now with a newfound sense of freedom.
Upcoming Tours
Cassadee Pope is currently touring the United States in support of “Hereditary”. Her headlining tour, which kicked off on July 11 in Anaheim, California, will continue through the end of July. Following this, she will join Marianas Trench on their US tour this fall. The tour dates span various cities, offering fans numerous opportunities to experience her dynamic live performances.
Upcoming Cassadee Pope U.S. Tour Dates
- July 14 – Flagstaff, AZ – Pop Punk Summer Camp Festival
- July 19 – Knoxville, Tennessee – Open Chord
- July 21 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Turntable
- July 22 – Louisville Kentucky – Headliners Music Hall
- July 23 – Albany, New York – Empire Live
- July 24 – Syracuse, New York – Funk ‘N Waffles
- July 26 – Virginia Beach, Virginia – Elevation 27
- July 27 – Durham, North Carolina – Motorco Music Hall
- July 29 – Charleston, South Carolina – Music Farm
- July 30 – Jacksonville, Florida – Underbelly
- July 31 – West Palm Beach, Florida – Respectable Street
Cassadee Pope with Marianas Trench US Tour Dates
- September 17 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
- September 18 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
- September 20 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
- September 21 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
- September 22 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
- September 24 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
- September 25 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground
- September 27 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
- September 28 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
- September 30 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
- October 1 – Boston, MA – Citizens House of Blues
- October 3 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Roxian Theatre
- October 4 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom
- October 5 – Columbus, OH – The Bluestone
- October 7 – Buffalo, NY – Electric City
- October 8 – Grand Rapids, MI – GLC Live at 20 Monroe
- October 9 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
- October 11 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
- October 12 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
- October 13 – Omaha, NE – The Admiral
- October 15 – Denver, CO – Summit
- October 16 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Cassadee Pope: The Heartbeat of Hereditary and Its Lasting Impact
“Hereditary” is a must-listen for both long-time fans of Cassadee Pope and new listeners alike. It is a raw and authentic portrayal of her journey, offering a perfect blend of pop-punk energy and heartfelt lyricism. As she continues to evolve and embrace her true self, Cassadee Pope’s music remains as compelling and relatable as ever.
“Hereditary”, by Cassadee Pope, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms, via Awake Music. We highly suggest you stream this album and in the process look into buying tickets for her upcoming tour. You can find out more information and how to buy tickets to her upcoming tour dates by visiting her official website as well as her social media channels.