Cassadee Pope

We're all complex creatures, and we shouldn't have to pick one thing to be passionate about. Life isn't black and white, so we shouldn't live that way. ”

I went through all these different phases in my life. And now, I'm finally in a place where I know who I am; I just needed that extra push. I feel really, really good in the position I'm in right now, and I don't feel like I completely neglected my pop-rock sound: I was able to bring it in with my country roots. ”

I do feel grateful, and I love what I'm doing, and I'm happy, and I'm living in the moment, but I also have my eye on the long game and the big prize, and that is just to make this a life-long career. To make a big enough impact on everybody to stick around for a long time. ”

I grew up singing a lot of Martina McBride, Shania and LeAnn Rimes, and because of my age, those were my main influences. ”

I think you can only prepare yourself as much as you can, but no matter what, there will be curve balls. I had no idea I'd be taking a flight, landing, and heading straight to a radio station. I thought I might have time to curl my hair, have something to eat. No! You go right into things. ”

I always want to pick songs that are really crazy rangy, and sometimes those low notes aren't there. But I started taking it way more seriously after a certain point, and I started doing vocal warm-ups every day, even when I wasn't singing, sometimes twice a day. ”

It's funny - it's called 'The Voice,' but I sure as hell didn't have the best voice on the show. I'll admit it. ”

I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to my voice, and certain notes I'm afraid to hit because I'm afraid I'm going to sound bad. ”

I didn't go onto 'The Voice' thinking I was going to go country. I went into it with an open mind and thought whatever happens, happens. ”

I'm not the best at expressing my feelings other than in songs or on paper. It's just been such a blessing for me my whole life to get my feelings out there in a positive way. ”