Idol Chatter & Voice Views

OK, the blind audition on The Voice wasn’t really Danielle Bradbery’s first public performance.

YouTube videos show that she performed at a couple of community festivals in the Cypress, Texas, area.

Not that you can compare singing at a community festival to taking the stage in front of Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Usher, Shakira and a few million TV viewers.

But the 16-year-old pulled it off, singing Taylor Swift’s “Mean,” getting noticeably more confident after a couple of judges’ chairs turned around and eventually landing on Team Blake for Season 4 of The Voice.

Not bad for a girl whose family discovered she could sing when she belted out a song from underneath the Thanksgiving table.

Danielle told The Voice that other students teased her about having crooked teeth as she was growing up.

She said that made her want to stay in the shadows and that she spent much of her time in her room singing.

“My mom was like, ‘I think you should try out for The Voice,'” Danielle said in a post-audition interview. “I was like, ‘OK, well let’s just try.’ We went to the open call. And here I am.”

At the tender age of 16. In a competition with much more seasoned singers.

“Being the youngest does add pressure,” she admits. “All the others (contestants) are older and have a lot more experience.”

As for Danielle, she’s never had a vocal lesson.

Still, the teen said she’s “not thinking negative” and remaining hopeful about her chances of being named The Voice for Season 4.

On The Voice website, she lists Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and Miranda Lambert as her major musical influences, but you can also find YouTube video of her covering Adele’s “One and Only” and “Set Fire to the Rain.”

I’ve embedded two videos from Danielle’s YouTube channel below. For more, go here.  Danielle is @dbradbery on Twitter, and here’s her Facebook page.

Update: Defeated Caroline Glaser in battle round singing “Put Your Records On;” Caroline found a new home on Team Adam. In the knockout round she sang “Jesus Take the Wheel” and defeated Taylor Beckham, who sang Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette.” Sang “Maybe It Was Memphis” in the live playoffs and advanced to the Top 12 on fan voting.

“State of Grace”

“So Small”