A Texan teenager whose singing experience was limited to
performing in her bedroom was crowned the winner of the fourth season of “The
Voice” on Tuesday.
Danielle Bradbery, 16, from the Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas,
bested two more experienced acts, the Swon Brothers and Michelle Chamuel, by
sticking with a contemporary country
music throughout the competition. Coach Adam Levine, who felt he had run out of
accolades for the singer, predicted on Monday’s show she would win the
competition.
In the final performance episode, she displayed considerable
range in the genre, performing the Buddy Holly-inspired “Timber, I’m Falling in
Love” with her coach Blake Shelton, reprising one of her best-received numbers
from earlier in the season, Pam Tillis ‘Maybe It Was Memphis,” and concluding
with the upbeat “Born to Fly,” a Sara Evans hit.
“I feel like that showed people all the vocals I can do,”
Bradbery said about the song after Monday’s show. “It had everything – really
powerful -- everything I could show.”
Her version of “Born to Fly” shot to No. 2 on iTunes after the
show and held onto that slot throughout Tuesday, an early indicator that she
was the favorite to win.
Sales of tracks on iTunes are counted as votes and early Tuesday,
it was hard to tell who had the lead. Seven of the nine songs performed June 17
were among the biggest sellers on iTunes in the 12 hours after the conclusion
of the penultimate show. Bradbery's "Born to Fly," Michelle Chamuel's
"Why" and the Swon Brothers' "Danny's Song" were the
leaders, but Bradbery’s three songs were in the top 11.
Even the lowest charting single, the Swons and coach Blake
Shelton performing Brad Paisley's "Celebrity," was in the top 40, a
far different story than the previous season when sizeable gaps existed between
winner Cassadee Pope and her competition in the show's final two days.
During the season, Bradbery cracked the Hot 100 three times and
Chamuel once; Chamuel, meanwhile, had five tracks make it into the Top Digital
Songs chart compared to Bradbery's four.
Chamuel's version of Taylor Swift's" I Knew You Were
Trouble" had the highest chart positions of any song by the three
finalists, hitting No. 34 on Digital Songs and No. 85 on the Hot 100.
Bradbery's version of Pam Tillis' "Maybe It Was Memphis," which she
reprised on June 17, reached No. 35 on digital songs, No. 92 on the Hot 100.
The Swon Brothers cracked the Digital Songs chart once, hitting
No. 66 with George Jones' "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes."
Like Bradbery, Zach and Coulton Swon were coached by Shelton;
Chaumel was under Usher’s tutelage. Bradbery told Billboard that Shelton had
told her to be herself and “make the crowd love you even more.”
She credits Shelton with helping her come out of her shell,
questioning her whether she wanted to become a performer now, having just
completed her sophomore year in high school. Prior to “The Voice,” Bradbery
would only sing for her best friend and if anyone else were present, she would
hide behind an object or turn around to avoid eye contact. Her mother signed
her up for the audition.
“She said you need to do something with that voice,” Bradbery
recalls. “Let’s see what happens and if nothing else, you’ll just keep singing
in your room.”
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