Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Recent post-Voice music out includes country songs from Andrew Jannakos, Dave Fenley, Corey Kent, Cassadee Pope and Casi Joy.

In addition, former Voice champ Sundance Head has released a duet with Texas country artist Ariel Hutchins.

Here’s a bit about each of those releases.

Andrew Jannakos from Season 16 recently released a new song called “Somebody Loves You” and plans to release his debut EP on Friday. It features three brand new songs and two previously released singles, “Wine Country” and “Gone Too Soon.” That, by the way, is also the title of the EP, which seems appropriate since it’s been streamed more than 26 million times on Spotify alone. Andrew was 25 and had never released original music when he auditioned for The Voice.

* Cassadee Pope, the Season 3 champ, recently released the music video for her latest single, “What the Stars See.” The song features assists from fellow country artists Lindsay Ell and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town. Cassadee wrote the song with Jake Rose and Lindsey Rimes. Says Cassadee: “It made me think back to times in my life when I had just come out of a relationship but still felt so connected to the other person. I imagined having the superpower to be among the stars and observe, from their perspective, an ex moving on with their life (or not).”

* Casi Joy from Season 12 has a fun new single out called “Namaste.” Casi told Wide Open Country she wrote the song with guitarist Zach Hord and his wife, Michelle. “Over a couple bottles of wine, we got to talking about breakups, as songwriters do, and how there’s always the battle of who gets what. But what about the bar?! It’s the worst when your ex shows up, and there’s always the inner battle of if you should leave or not. In this case, ‘Nah, I’mma stay right here!”

* Sundance Head, the Season 11 champ, and Ariel Hutchins have collaborated on a country duet called “Showing Off.” It’s the first release of 2021 for Sundance. Ariel just hit the top of the Texas country charts with her debut single, “Wine Won’t Work.” Ariel told the Abilene Reporter News she was a bit intimidated to collaborate with Sundance at first, but found him “hilarious” to work with.

* Dave Fenley from Season 15 released “God In It” on Friday. “I wrote this song in the thick of the pandemic with two great friends, Brent Michael Wood and Andrew Beason,” he says. “My hope is that this song will inspire people with positivity, faith, and love.” Apparently, there’s going to be a video too. And Dave is promising lots of original music in the coming months.

* Corey Kent from Season 8 dropped a new country single called “What It Doesn’t Do” on Friday. He’s also celebrating 100,000 Spotify streams of his song, “Feels a Lot Like This,” released in early April. Corey went by Corey Kent White on The Voice and finished Top 8.