Cassadee Pope Shares the Story Behind New Single 'Let Me Go' (Exclusive)

On Friday, Cassadee Pope released the first two songs from her acoustic album Rise and Shine, including her new single, "Let Me Go." The song, written by Pope, Kevin Rudolph and Tina Parol, is a plea to a lover to let the narrator go if they aren't willing to be in an all-in relationship, the relatable message anchored by Pope's strong voice and a simple acoustic guitar.

"I think we all have been in that place in our lives where we sort of feel like at a crossroads with somebody or people or whatever we're going through in life and it's sort of this idea of, 'If you're not happy and I'm not happy, then why can't we just agree that this isn't gonna work and why can't you just let me go?'" Pope told PopCulture.com of the song. "And there's always that one person or that one group of people that just hang on a lot longer than they really should. And that was written from that sort of defeated place of like, 'Gosh, I just want to be free of this. I know this isn't the right situation for me.'"

Pope released "Let Me Go" along with "Built This House" on Friday, and the rest of Rise and Shine will arrive in two more installments on July 17 and Aug. 7, respectively. "I thought it would be a really cool way to tell the story," The Voice winner explained of releasing her album in parts, adding that she "wanted these songs to have their moments."

"A lot of these songs are more reflective and they're not necessarily where I am in my life right now. So I thought it'd be cool to release them and sort of have a yin yang," she said. Rise and Shine is Pope's first project where she co-wrote and co-produced each song, which she called "really cool."

"Co-writing the songs, these songs are super personal," she explained. "And I figured this album needs to be full of songs that are really emotional and some that are just happy and make you feel good but that are personal and that I've actually gone through."

The 30-year-old shared that she came up with the idea for the album a few months ago, shortly after the coronavirus pandemic began. "I thought, 'Well what if I did a strip back project with songs that I know I already love and I've had in my back pocket?'" she said. "I ended up just coming up with the idea, I just want to put something out there that will help aid people and their emotional journey through all of this. I know we're all kind of having an interesting time with it and just everything in the world happening is just kind of hard. So this project really was me trying to be like, 'Here you go, cry to it, laugh to it, do whatever you need to do with this. This is for you.'"