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Bryce Leatherwood has made a grand entrance into the world of country music. The 22-year-old was crowned the new winner of The Voice season 22. The morning after his epic win, Bryce told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that he’s “on cloud nine. I’m so stoked and so happy to be the season 22 winner of The Voice. I couldn’t be happier.”
Season 22 came down to Bryce, Bodie, and Morgan Myles. When his name was called during the final moments of the finale, Bryce “couldn’t believe it” at first. “It was like a movie scene. It was like a dream. For me, it shows me that with hard work, you can do anything in life, and with a leap of faith like I took when I auditioned for the show, you can be surprised what can become of it, the fruits of your labor,” he said. “I’m just thrilled to be the winner and to be representing what an incredible cast this has all been since the beginning. There are so many people that I now hold the torch for and represent as the winner, so I gotta keep working for them and keep their legacy going on by being the best artist I can for everybody.”
Bryce being crowned the new winner marked Blake Shelton’s ninth win as a coach. Blake has praised Bryce all throughout the season and has been vocal about Bryce’s bright future in country music. Just one day after The Voice finale, Bryce is already thinking about what’s next.
“I’m just trying to figure out where I land as far as once this record deal kicks in, and where’s the most logical place for me to be and the most time-effective place for me to be because I want to jump on this record deal and start hammering out some songs and start releasing great songs and give the people what they want to hear. People want to hear Bryce Leatherwood, obviously, and I want to give the people what they want,” Bryce told HollywoodLife.
The Georgia native is even leaning towards heading to Nashville, the epicenter of country music. “I’ve been there several times, and I have a lot of great buddies up there and a lot of great friends who are incredible writers and incredible people. So my goal is to probably go to Nashville and spend some time writing, spend some time working the scene up there just trying to connect and get in with some incredible writers and other artists who have influenced me as well.”
The 22-year-old revealed that he wants to release new music before the end of 2023. “Hopefully, before quarter two of next year have something out for America to listen to and for America to fall in love with,” he noted. The singer noted that he is “constantly trying to write, constantly trying to formulate songs, and just come up with cool ideas. That’s the beautiful part of music. You can do it anywhere. It’s free and it’s my passion. I love writing, but I’m looking forward to co-writing with some more incredible writers and making really, really high-class songs and not just songs that are developed out of pure speed but songs that come out of good timing and good writing.”
Bryce became the first-ever Instant Save artist to win The Voice. This achievement has proven to Bryce that you should never stop fighting for your dreams. “It shows that if you’ve got some fight left in you, you’d be surprised what you can come back and do. For me, I just say always keep fighting, always keep believing yourself. I do believe I have a strong belief in myself, and I was able to push through that moment with a smile on my face. I was having a good time because you never know when the last time you could be on that stage is going to be up until, of course, last night. You always wanted to go in there as if it was your last performance,” he told HollywoodLife.
After months of competing, Bryce is looking forward to some downtime before kicking off the next chapter of his music career. “I’ll probably stay on the couch, hold my dog, and maybe go up to my mountain house and go wet a line and go fishing and take it easy,” Bryce revealed about his immediate plans now that the season is over. “Make a fire, smoke a cigar, relax, drink a good whiskey, work on some music. Call Blake. See how he’s doing. Fun stuff like that.”
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