The Voice Winner 2012, Cassadee Pope of Team Blake Shelton, First Female Champion Says 'It Feels Like a Dream' [VIDEO]

Congratulations to pop-punk musician Cassadee Pope of Team Blake Shelton for winning the season 3 finale of NBC's hit reality singing competition "The Voice!" The 23-year-old lead vocalist of the Floridian pop rock band Hey Monday beat out fellow teammate Terry McDermott and Team Cee Lo Green's Nicholas David. Pope couldn't conceal her excitement when talking with USA Today after being crowned "The Voice" victor - "I'm still caught up in the moment. I still feel like this is just not real. I feel like I'm dreaming, but I am so happy right now."

Pope took home the title of "The Voice" season 3 champion on Tuesday evening's part two finale episode (Dec. 18). Before the results were revealed, Pope turned to her fellow competitors and exclaimed:

"I love you guys. You're the weirdest, most amazing men I've ever met. I'm going to miss hanging out with you every single day." She added, "I would happy to lose to either one of them, but to win would just be absolutely incredible."

Pope (who now lives in L.A.) embarked on a solo singing career after her band Hey Monday went on hiatus last year (although members of the group insists that they haven't broken up).

Pope, the show's first female winner (and Team Blake's second victor), explains how being on "The Voice" has made her more confident not only as a musician, but as an individual:

"I mean, the closer I got, the more I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this could happen.' But, at the beginning, with all those big voices and all those people, I just felt like I was getting swallowed in the group. The further I got, I felt like I was starting to stand out a little bit, which is great... I think vocally I've become a little more confident. At the beginning, I was very timid and I was very intimidated," she said. "I started doing vocal exercises every day and really taking care of myself and my health. I could feel my voice getting stronger. I'm happy I took it seriously like that."

Shelton agrees that Pope has definitely matured throughout this season, and considers her a very special and talented young woman:

"She's become comfortable in front of the camera. She's always been a great singer. But more than anything, she's figured something about herself that she's really, really, really good at, which is telling a story in a lyric and having people understand it and react to it in a very special way. And you can't teach that to anybody.

Although Shelton understands that Pope isn't a country singer, he tells USA Today that he'd still love to record a country album with her.

"She's a great singer, she's a beautiful girl and she's a good person. You know, there's a lot of those out there in this world that are trying to make it, but Cassadee Pope has this little extra magic that God sprinkled on her that makes us all want to be around her and meet her and see her and talk to her," he said. "If you're a guy, you have a crush on her. If you're a girl, you want to be her best friend. She's just a very special human being and she deserves this win."

So what's next for Pope and her musical career? "The Voice has given me this incredible platform that I wouldn't have gotten any other way," the winner explains. "On TV, I got triple the amount of fans that I had before. I just have this army now behind me that I'm excited to charge ahead with."

Other highlights of "The Voice" finale included performances by Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Smokey Robinson, Bruno Mars, Avril Lavigne (who sang "I'm with You" alongside Pope), and many more. The four judges - Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, and Adam Levine on the guitar - also sang Green Day's "Time Of Your Life."

Past winners include Javier Colon of Team Adam and Jermaine Paul of Team Blake. "The Voice" season 4 premieres in March 2013 with Usher and Shakira replacing popular judges Green and Aguilera.

RELATED NEWS:

'The Voice' Touching Tribute to Connecticut School Shooting Victims: Judges, Contestants Sing 'Hallelujah' during Series Finale Opening [VIDEO]