Cassadee Pope - Stages (Album Review)

Cassadee Pope - Stages

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3.9

Rating

3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

Some really good songs
Lovely artist

In parallel to the Floorball World Cup Qualifications in Trencin, Slovakia, there was also some special moment for my country music heart. Cassadee Pope, the winner of the third season of the US version of the The Voice show, released her second album, Stages, on 1st February 2019. In contrast to Frame by Frame, which has also been released as physical copy, Stages is download only. You can listen to the whole album on Pope’s Youtube account as well. Here is my review, my third country album review after Catherine McGrath – Talk of this town and Brett Young – Ticket to L.A.

I visited Cassadee Pope’s Fan Party during the CMA Fest 2019 in June.

Cassadee Pope – Stages – About the Artist

Cassadee is originally from West Palm Beach, Florida. She is currently 29 years old. Her first steps in the music business had nothing to do with country music though. Her band “Hey Monday” was doing Punk-Pop music and even had some lower chart placements. 2011, Pope decided to try it as solo act and shortly thereafter tried to compete in “The Voice”, where she was the first female act to win. Thereby, her Miranda Lambert Cover “Over you” even topped the iTunes charts. Her first country album, “Frame by Frame” (2013) topped the US Country album charts and sold more than 180,000 units. She nowadays has over one million followers on Facebook.

Her first high entry to the US Billboard Charts was “Wasting all the tears” of the Frame by Frame album, which went up to fifth place:

Her second major publication, the 2016 EP Summer, made it to the 14th place in Country Billboard. Her biggest success so far is the amazing “Think of you”, which Pope recorded with Chris Young. It currently has some 30 million views on Youtube:

Cassadee Pope – Stages – Track by Track

1. Take You Home
The second single of “Strong”. A very powerful country song, a nice mixture of classic and modern elements… And a song which you just want to hear again.

2. One More Red Light
I had a crush on “One more red light” just after a couple of times of the first time I heard it. Just a great song – I would not wonder if that one is the next single.

3. How I Feel Right Now
There are so many “Right now”s in these lyrics, the song just catches you. Sometimes it is the easy chorus to do. I love the melody – and there are a lot of additional words in that song. A good one.

4. Bring Me Down Town
Another song with a powerful chorus, which just catches you and makes you sway to the music. What a lovely start of this album – four really good songs!

5. If My Heart Had A Heart
“If my heart had a heart” was the first single taken from this longplayer. I prefer “Take me home” and also the catchy “One more red light” – but this is a nice song definitely.

6. FYI
The song is more than “just an FYI”, as Cassadee is singing in the chorus. Did I stop swaying after the first songs? Don’t think so… Just too much of a good mood music.

7. Distracted
At “Distracted” I felt a bit like at a cover album. The song is good by itself, but there is not too much new compared to the other songs.

8. Gavi
Yeah, even that 1:29 minutes piano only song (no vocals) is available on Youtube. Feels a bit of strange on the one hand, but a nice contrast on the other.

9. Don’t Ask Me
This break-up-new-boyfriend-topic song has a nice rhythm, an easy refrain. You will like it when you hear it on Spotify, Amazon or in the radio one day, I am sure.

10. Still Got It
“Still got it” is a nice power country music ballad. I feel that is music which fits perfectly to Pope’s voice. On the other hand, there are a couple of these kind of songs on the album. Did not catch me as much as other songs, though the chorus is another easy-to-grasp one.

11. I’ve Been Good
The last track of the album is a lovely ballad, one of my favorites on “Stages”.

Cassadee Pope – Stages – Spotify

With that widget, you can pre-listen to Stages on Spotify:

Cassadee Pope – Stages – My View

I feel that Cassadee Pope delivered a strong album. There is hardly a weak song in it, so that it is really fun to listen to it… Even if you do it again and again. Bad luck that Cassadee is not joining Maren Morris for her European tour, as she does in North America. It would definitely be great to welcome her to our continent and be able to enjoy her presenting this lovely piece of music. The only reason not to call the album a Top Pick! is that some songs are quite similar. But it is a great album absolutely worth downloading.

Cassadee Pope – Stages with Track-by-Track Commentary

Cassadee Pope re-released Stages with track by track commentary on 22nd November 2019. I guess this version is not available in a physical version, but it is a great alternative to buy. I gave a brief review in the posting below:

Cassadee Pope – Stages (with Track by Track Commentary)

Cassadee Pope – Stages – Download

There are no physical copies, but Stages is available for download, e.g. at Amazon Germany:

Cassadee Pope – On Tour in Europe

Between 9th and 15th May 2019, Cassadee will be touring in the United Kingdom, headlining the CMT Next Women of Country Tour. She will be joined by Logan Brill and Twinnie, who I loved to see the first time at the 2019 Country to Country in Berlin.

I saw Cassadee at the Next Women of Country Show in Liverpool.