Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Simone Marijic in her heartfelt message to fans after her elimination from The Voice.

Simone Marijic delivered a moving cover of “She Used to be Mine” by Sara Bareilles. It was one of the best performances all season on the show.

Barry Jean Fontenot responded with a perfectly solid, albeit much less emotional, performance of Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet.”

In the judges’ comments that followed, John Legend said he thought Simone won the knockout. Kelsea Ballerini said the same. Adam Levine seemed to be leaning toward Simone without explicitly saying so.

So what did Michael Buble do?

He awarded the win to Barry Jean, a member of his team since the blind auditions. That meant the elimination of Simone, an artist he’d stolen during the battle round.

He then passed his phone number to Simone, suggesting he’d continue to help her post-show.

A Voice Views Facebook post suggested he’d made the wrong decision. It’s attracted more than 100 comments.

And most fans agree, Simone was robbed.

A sampling:

Janine Runyan: “She made me cry with that performance! She deserves to be brought back.”

Aida Looney: “One of the best performances; moved me to tears. I am extremely disappointed that she was let go.”

Tammy Taylor: “I thought she was perfection! Don’t know what Michael was thinking!!!”

Jay Smith: “She moved me with that performance more than anyone else in all the years I have been watching the Voice. I will follow her for the rest of my days❤️”

Liz LaBonte: “I was blown away by her performance, one of my most favorite of the season. Hoping she has a wonderful career. I’m glad she got the phone number!!”

Lots of respondents wondered why Simone wasn’t stolen by another coach.

Well, one possibility is that no steals were available when she and Barry Jean performed.

Understand, The Voice does not air the battles or knockouts in the order they occur. The coaches generally use their steals very quickly, meaning none are available for many of the battles and knockouts. The show then juggles the order in which they are aired so they can begin or end each show with a steal.

The good news, Simone, 20, now months removed from when the knockouts were filmed, seems to be doing fine.

In a wonderful social media message to fans that could easily be titled “Today is Love,” the 20-year-old from L.A. says “She Used to be Mine” was the performance “that meant the most to me on the show.”

“I’m very sad that my time on the show is done,” she added. “But I’ve been reflecting a lot about how special this experience has been.”

She had nothing but praise for her coaches — she was on Team Kelsea before Team Michael — and said she has indeed spoken to Michael since the show.

In fact, she called the coaches “incredible, kind and generous … They are real, genuine people who wholeheartedly care about the contestants.”

The best news, Simone released her debut single — “Until the Morning Dew Arrives” — late last month. And she’ll release her debut EP, “The Hearkening,” on April 30. You can pre-save by heading here.