Music
Danielle Bradbery on music, resilience, and Red Bull Jukebox Texas
Ahead of Red Bull Jukebox in Dallas, Danielle Bradbery reflects on winning The Voice, finding confidence through music and the experiences that shaped her career.
When you hear Danielle Bradbery, whether it’s her groovy ode to the hypnotic powers of the radio, “Sway,” or her somber meditation on futilely trying to change someone to love you, “You Could,” you’re hearing someone who’s been through it all. From competing against some of the best young artists with the world watching before finishing high school to touring around America with multi-platinum Country music stars like Miranda Lambert and Kane Brown before embarking on her own, Bradbery has built a formidable decade-plus career.
Now she’s embarking on a new era, starting with her first-ever performance on Red Bull Jukebox.
Danielle Bradbery to perform at Red Bull Jukebox Texas
© Courtesy of Danielle Bradbery
To be part of a big name like Red Bull is very special on its own. The way they’re doing the event is really special by having fans pick and create Jordan Davis’s set. It’s really cool for fans to feel like they’re a part of the music.
Before the August 20 event at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas, before the Billboard Hot 100 hits, and even before becoming the youngest winner of The Voice at the time, there was a shy Cypress, Texas native who was born into the world of Texas Country music. She was raised in the Texas Country music culture, with radio stations and music charts dedicated solely to Lone Star State artists. George Strait was a family favorite, and Cody Johnson and Parker McCollum were good enough to inspire her and a friend to find a way into concerts by both artists as teenagers.
Her penchant for blending soulful pop and R&B with her Country roots can be attributed to a deep appreciation of the vocal stylings of R&B artists and the vivid storytelling of Country music. Those songs became woven into her identity, partly because some of them helped shield her from a world trying to break her down. She dealth with high school hardships with music.
Carrie Underwood and her passionate proclamations of inner strength helped Bradbery find hers. Martina McBride’s anthemic retellings of escaping an abusive relationship were cathartic and served as artistic inspirations. It’s through those brave women’s vociferous cries to the world, and Bradbery’s own personal challenges to match their high notes, that she began to find her talent.
Now, her songs come from a place inside her deeper than where creativity starts.
“I would have days like that where I would fail a test or people would pick on me for my teeth and how I looked. Then, I would come home, wouldn’t look at my homework or anything, and go straight to the music and start singing. It was my escape. Music was my safe space.”
While still a high school student figuring out life, she found herself on national TV as a contestant on The Voice mere months later before ultimately winning the competition during the show’s fourth season in 2013. After that, her life changed in a blur. She was crowned the winner of The Voice on June 18, released her first single “The Heart of Dixie” on July 16, attended her first iHeartRadio Music Festival on September 21, went on guitar virtuoso Brad Paisley’s Beat This Summer Tour on November 14, and released her self-titled debut album on November 25.
And in the middle of that storm of success, she turned 17.
“It was 0 to 100 in the music industry. I learned as I went. I had to live in the moment. I wasn’t great all of the time. I was a teenager, and I was learning how to have the proper attitude in certain rooms and going to radio stations,” she admits. “In all these years, I’ve definitely gone through different phases of learning. Now that I’m 30, I have a lot under my belt.”
She emerged from that whirlwind with the type of music industry naivety that can make interview spotlights feel blinding and culture shocks overwhelming. That still didn’t stop her forward motion, especially thanks to people like her The Voice coach Blake Shelton. More important than anything else was her willingness not to be perfect and to learn from her imperfections.
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Get ready for Red Bull Jukebox Texas
Red Bull Jukebox, a live music experience where fans rule the setlist makes its Texas debut in Dallas on Aug 20!
Now, she sees barriers as suggestions and not endpoints. After releasing three albums through Country music powerhouse label Big Machine, former home of icon Taylor Swift, Bradbery put out Danielle, her first independent album, in 2024, a little over a decade after she was thrust into the spotlight. She’s working on new music and will actually be beginning the next phase of her career at Red Bull Jukebox by performing a new song of hers for the first time with a full band before its release in September.
If you catch yourself at the show, prepare to see her as you’ve never seen her before.
“I feel like I’m going to bring older music, a cover that everyone knows, newer music, a little bit of everything. What to expect from this night is really cool experiences all around. I’m really looking forward to it.”