It was the Danielle Bradbery show on Tuesday night, as it has been all season on "The Voice."
The 16-year-old was crowned as the season four champion, beating fellow finalists Michelle Chamuel and The Swon Brothers. In doing so, she gave Blake Shelton his third championship in a row, and provided a fitting conclusion to a season dominated by country music.
“I don’t even know … I’m so grateful,” she told Carson Daly when he gave her the good news. “Sorry ... I’m speechless.”
She was unable to get through her scheduled solo because of her emotions, so at the moment of her coronation, “The Voice” was silent.
Danielle has been the front-runner since her first blind audition. She’s the winner straight from Hollywood central casting: A teenage girl with no live performances before any kind of a crowd gets discovered and rises to stardom as a national TV audience watches her confidence grow each week. If that sounds like an eerie parallel to “American Idol” champion Carrie Underwood, who won in that show’s fourth season, well, "The Voice" probably hopes that’s not where the similarities end.
Even on the NBC competition where everyone gets praised as a future superstar, the accolades that have come Danielle's way have been off the charts. Blake several times called her one of the most important people ever to take the stage. Fellow original coach Adam Levine declared her the winner halfway through the finale performances on Monday night. The producers gave her prime slots each week, including two of the final three solos in the finals.
Now, the powers that be behind the show are likely hoping her singles will go to the top of the charts and that she’ll do as well in Nashville as she did on "The Voice," and become the superstar that the show needs. Everyone involved appears to think she has the potential, and she’ll get every chance to realize it now.
Michelle finished in second place. The pride of Team Usher and final remaining hope of anyone who didn’t want a Blake threepeat did all she could on Monday’s show to win support, and was again excellent on Tuesday. But ultimately it wasn’t enough for the alt-rock singer to overcome the country trend.
The Swon Brothers, also of Team Blake, closed out their surprising season in third place, but once again looked like they were having nothing but fun along the way. After all, as they pointed out, they “got to sing with Bob Seger.”
The night featured the usual array of live performances and video clips. In addition to the Swon-Seger performance, Michelle sang with One Republic, and Danielle with Hunter Hayes. Original coach Christina Aguilera, who is returning next season along with CeeLo Green, had a duet with Pitbull, and Florida Georgia Line with Nelly. Bruno Mars and Cher had solos. Video footage revealed trouble in paradise for the Adam-Blake bromance, and that Usher tends to split his pants when performing.
But ultimately, the star of the night was the youngest singer in the competition, as Danielle once again stole the show.