Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 4 of The Voice begins Monday night at 8 p.m. on NBC. Check back for live blogs during each show and for bios of the contestants who land a spot in the competition.

Meanwhile, it’s time to catch up with some familiar faces from Season 3. The artists I’m featuring in this series have released new music since the show. Well, all but Cassadee Pope. But I couldn’t skip the Season 3 winner, right?

Before The Voice: She was 22 when she auditioned for The Voice, looking for confirmation that she could make it as a solo artist after spending years fronting the pop group Hey Monday. The band had enjoyed success, but had hit a ceiling, she said, writing in her blog for The Voice that she didn’t start singing at age 4 “to make it relatively far in music.” In May 2012, she had released a four-track solo EP.

On The Voice: All four judges had turned around before she even finished the chorus of “Torn,” her audition song. She selected Blake Shelton as her coach, and it turned out to be a perfect match. He paired her up with several country songs and she soared to the Season 3 crown, topping the iTunes chart with her versions of “Cry,” “Stupid Boy” and “Over You.” The latter, a song recorded by Blake and wife Miranda Lambert, was her biggest hit, still sitting at number seven on iTunes the day after the performance finale. Oh, she also got to perform “I’m With You” with Avril Lavigne, her own idol, during the course of the show.

Since The Voice: If you’re a Cassadee fan, most of this probably won’t be news. If you’re not, here’s the update. Cassadee has decided to go country and has been working in Nashville, recording her debut album. In fact, she tweeted Sunday night that she was celebrating her last night in Nashville by attending a Maroon 5 concert. Cassadee’s a hoot on Twitter, wondering if Adam Levine would be worthy of a chair turn-around. Also upcoming, an April 6 concert called Outnumber Hunger on AFX TV and a summer tour with Rascal Flatts. No word when new music will be released, but she recently told People that she’s written one song about her dad, with whom she was reunited during her time on The Voice. I predicted she’d win The Voice after hearing her EP and her audition. And I still predict she’ll be the show’s first breakout star.

Keeping track of Cassadee: On Twitter, she’s simply @CassadeePope. She still writes a monthly advice column at Alter the Press. Here are her links for Facebook and YouTube. Since there’s no new Cassadee music, I’ll embed a message to fans she posted about earlier this year and her two finest performances from The Voice. “Stupid Boy” was my pick for best singing show performance of 2012.

Message to fans, posted in late January

Cassadee Pope, “Over You”

Cassadee Pope, “Stupid Boy”