Juliet Simms Caps ‘The Voice’ With ‘Freebird’

It’s one of the most requested closing numbers in the history of live popular music — whether or not the band that’s famous for playing it is actually onstage — so it seemed totally appropriate for ‘Free Bird’ to close out the final performance of the final live episode of this season of ‘The Voice.’ Rocker Juliet Simms performed the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic like it’s her own — and it is. At this point, ‘Free Bird’ doesn’t belong to Skynyrd anymore, it belongs to all of us.

Some think she has a Stevie Nicks vibe going on, and with the hippie-ish long red robe she donned for the show-ending song, we’re not going to argue that. But her vocals showed a bit more muscle than the Fleetwood Mac singer, even putting some vibrato in there at one point — perhaps an entirely new experience for ‘Bird.’ She made the song fly.

We don’t know if the audience knew the evening’s set list before the show or not, but we swear people were yelling out for the tune not even halfway in. Or maybe it was just another example of rock fans calling out for the song randomly, pulling off the age-old joke on live TV. Either way, it was a fitting end to a fine season of ‘The Voice.’ Whether Juliet wins tomorrow or not, she should be proud of getting as far along as she did.