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Wé McDonald released her first single in summer 2018. It was an anthem called “Head Up High,” which she co-wrote with Kylie Rothfield, a fellow contestant from Season 11 of "The Voice" on NBC. Be there as McDonald performs the song during a sold-out show at Joe's Pub, a nightclub in lower Manhattan. (Photo by Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)

Wé McDonald made it all the way to the finals on Season 11 of NBC's The Voice, where she finished third. Here's the exclusive inside story of how she got there. It all started with an audition scored by her dad. (Photo by Tyler Golden/NBC)

Wé McDonald records her debut album producer Andre Betts in the same Hackensack studio where her career began during a music summer camp eight years earlier. Listen to Episode 5 our podcast The Wé McDonald Story for the inside story on how the album was made.

The final episode: At long last, Wé McDonald debuts the songs on her latest EP entitled "We Ani" during a live concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York City in the summer of 2018, nearly a year after she began recording. In this final episode of "The Wé McDonald Story," We and her mentors reflect on the young artist's future, near and long-term. (Photo by Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)

The little girl with the big voice and a commanding stage presence, Wé McDonald still calls herself “an awkward person." We dedicate this episode to hearing We and only We talk openly about her life and music, including songs on her new extended play album, "Wé Ani". (Photo by Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)

Think you know Wé McDonald? Behind the scenes, her parents Mac and Jackie tell the story of raising Wé. Music runs in their family. Mac once served as a personal manager for The Village People. Now he manages his daughter’s career. (Photo by Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)

Wé McDonald began singing at age 12 and rose to fame on NBC's "The Voice" show. But she was harboring a painful childhood secret that even her parents didn't know. The experience would later become part of her first children's book, "The Little Girl with the Big Voice." (Photo by Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com)

Long before We McDonald became a finalist on "The Voice," her friends and family discovered she had an amazing singing voice. Learn how they made that discovery in the first episode of our podcast "Head Held High - The We McDonald story." Record photo by Kevin R. Wexler

Wé McDonald has had a busy and productive year. She released her first single "Head Up High", published her first children's book "Little Girl with the Big Voice", recorded her first album "We Ani" and performed in New York, Houston and Chicago. The Record was granted behind-the-scene access as the Paterson singer-songwriter moved beyond her third-place finish on the 2016 season of "The Voice." Record graphic by John Flynn.