The Season 22 winner returns to take ‘The Voice’ stage with a performance of ‘God Made’ from his self-titled debut album.
It’s been two-and-a-half years since Bryce Leatherwood won The Voice as a member of Team Blake Shelton. And now the country artist, who just released his self-titled debut album, will be returning to the singing competition tonight to perform on the Season 27 finale.
The song that he’s selected, “God Made,” is a tribute to his former coach in a way.
“Mr. Blake Shelton would probably love this song, so I’m going to tip the cap to him tonight and sing that song,” Bryce tells Parade. In fact, Blake is also scheduled to appear on the finale, so Bryce is hoping to run into him and get his opinion.
But more than singing it for Blake’s approval, Bryce chose “God Made” because it demonstrates his evolution as an artist.
“It shows where I find myself in country music and the sound I hope to create,” he says. “It’s a mix of classic country and modern country, but it’s done in the most tasteful of ways. I think people will agree with that.”
Bryce’s country heroes include George Jones, Merle Haggard and Conway Twitty, several of whom launched their careers with self-titled albums, so he decided to follow in their footsteps.
“Blake said, ‘Use that name as best you can,’ so while there were a couple of songs I was thinking about using as the title track, I said, ‘a lot of my heroes, the first album they put out was their self-titled album.’ I wanted to follow suit, so I did. I think your first album should be an introduction of you to the world. And what better way to do that than put your name on the title?”
Bryce also followed suit of several of those same heroes when it came to deciding which songs to include on the album. Even though he wrote and co-wrote about 300 songs, he only picked three of those to include. The others were written by others and selected because they resonated with him.
“I wanted to be very selective and very mindful of the songs I put on the record because I wanted to build the best album,” Bryce said. “I didn’t want to build the best debut album per se, I wanted to build the best country album I could with what I had, and we did that. Song by song, I think we chose the best songs that were available to us. I look at the careers of George Jones and George Strait, taking outside songs and making them their own, and I think it’s a great thing. It rallies the town around you here in Nashville.”
Blake Shelton, Bryce Leatherwood
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC
The definition of a “best” song for Bryce, who is constantly listening to other songwriters work on demos and files, is one that he can’t get out of his head and wants to hear again and again.
“Whether that comes down to the melody, what it does sonically or lyrically or meaningfulness, all of those are factors for sure,” he continued. “I think it’s the combination of all those things, they have to make you feel something. A big factor is what does it portray without saying it? What does the music make you feel like? I think every song on this record does that, so I’m excited.”
In addition to releasing his album, Bryce made his Grand Ole Opry debut since winning Season 22 of The Voice, he’s been touring, performing a lot of shows and honing his craft.
“It’s been the journey of a lifetime,” Bryce says. “It has changed my life for the better. I’ve grown a lot since my time on The Voice. I’ve really become who I am as an artist, and it’s really seemed to connect well with people. I think country is coming back to its roots. I think people are looking for authenticity and originality, and I think they’ll find both of those things with this album. I hope they can’t wait to listen.”
Bryce Leatherwood is available wherever music is sold. The Voice Season 27 finale airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Streams next day on Peacock.