Cassadee Pope is burning calories for a good cause. The Voice Season 3 winner hosted a class at Barry’s Bootcamp in Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Although the singer works out regularly, her routine doesn’t exactly line up with the Barry’s Bootcamp style — in fact, she admitted to being slightly intimidated going into the class.
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“I try and do cardio every morning because I hear that stuff’s good for you,” Pope told PopCulture.com. “But the whole incorporating cardio in with weight training and circuit training is new to me, so it will be hard, but it will be worth it.”
Each calorie burned and every sore muscle in her body comes full circle, since all proceeds from her class were donated to a charity of Pope’s choice: Unlikely Heroes.
“I was turned on to Unlikely Heroes by a friend, Shane Stevens — he is a great songwriter in town [Nashville, Tennessee],” she shared. “His friend Erica started this organization, and it just hit home for me. I went to an event of theirs in town a few years ago and just learning about it and how they actually, physically go to these places all over the world to rescue these kids that have been involved in sex trafficking from either a year ago or their whole lives. They are from ages one to 15 and above.”
Since 2011, Unlikely Heroes has saved more than 400 children and has opened six restoration homes in four countries. Each home provides kids with medical care, trauma therapy, education and job training.
“What they do is go in and rescue these kids, whether it’s one or five at a time, bring them back to the states, put them in a school, give them a new name and give them a new identity so nothing bad can happen to them again,” she said.
“A lot of them go off to do really incredible things, like have careers and get their degrees or go to school and get great grades,” Pope added. “They have a new chance at a new life. It was a no brainer for me, I definitely wanted to give to them.”
Between working out and finding great charitable organizations to donate her time to, the “One More Red Light” singer is also busy with the release of her new album.
“The album has been a year and a half in the making, I know because I did the math today and I was like ‘Whoa, that flew by!’” she said. “It’s such a passion project because it started off about one thing that went on in my life last year — a breakup that was really tough — and also a little bit about the professional side, leaving a label, and just the whole transition for me. But, also, it started to become something else and started to become about finding myself and coming into my own with things looking up and turning around for me.”
From leaving Big Machine Records, to starting a new relationship with Sam Palladio after ending her engagement to All Time Low drummer, Rian Dawson, after seven years together, Pope says it was her goal to give fans some insight into what she’s been dealing with on her new record.
“I wanted the fans to get a look into what’s been going on because I consider myself to be an open book but I choose when I divulge those kind of details and I choose to do it through my music. So, they haven’t really heard much of what’s happened and they definitely will,” she said.
“The record is kind of an up and down, crazy emotional ride, but that’s life and I didn’t want it to be about one specific thing,” she continued. “So, you’re going to hear sad songs, happy songs and everything in between.”
Pope and her team have not announced a release date for her new album because they are “still working with it,” but she has assured PopCulture.com that it will definitely be early next year.
The country music singer will head back out on the road next year for the CMT Next Women of Country Tour. For those dates and more, visit her website.
Photo Credit: Getty images/C Flanigan
