Watch Cassadee Pope’s Powerful ‘Rise and Shine’ Video, Released on World Suicide Prevention Day

Cassadee Pope just released a powerful music video, made by her fans, for “Rise and Shine.” The video for song, the title track of her latest album, was released on September 10, also known as World Suicide Prevention Day, as part of National Suicide Prevention Week.

“In this video, I wanted to highlight how resilient and brave we as humans can really be even in the midst of pain and tragedy,” Cassadee said in a statement. “Sometimes all it takes is hearing someone else’s story to make us feel less alone. I hope this brings comfort to anyone struggling and strength to anyone feeling defeated,”

Cassadee also spoke out on social media about the inspiring video, and why she waited until now to release it.

“[‘Rise and Shine’] is about perseverance and getting through hard times by knowing you’re stronger than you think,” Cassadee wrote. “I texted you guys and asked you how you’ve persevered through tough times and was floored by your stories … I wanted to release it on [World Suicide Prevention Day ]to serve as a reminder to have the hard conversations, check on your loved ones, and reach out for help if you need it. Love you all and thank you to everyone who felt brave enough to share their story.”

Cassadee made Rise and Shine an acoustic record, partly because of being forced home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pandemic was hindering getting in a room with a bunch of musicians and just doing it the good old fashioned way,” Cassadee told Everything Nash. “That’s really what I want to do my next record. I want it to be more pop-rock and I want to be in the room with everyone, and make it more band-sounding, and I knew that wasn’t safe to do right now. So then, I embraced the idea because I feel like — and this is gonna sound weird at first — but I feel like the world is kind of in an acoustic state right now because of the fact that we don’t have all these things that can distract us, like we usually do.

“We can’t travel as much,” she continued. “We can’t go out and party with friends at a bar and go on the dance floor, shoulder to shoulder and feel safe. We can’t do all those things to distract us from our feelings. So I felt like that’s how an acoustic record is because you’re not distracted by the drums or the bass; you’re really focused on the lyrics and the melody. I thought that was a cool mirror image of where we are in the world right now.”

If you or someone you love is struggling with thoughts of suicide and depression, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.