Favorite soulstress Elise Testone wields the power in her gravelly voice to wrap an entire audience into whatever she sings, but this week she struggled to sieze the moment and left judges feeling lukewarm. Testone, who wowed us last week with her take on Adele‘s ‘One and Only’ just couldn’t quite get there with late pop diva Whitney Houston‘s ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight.’

In the 28-year-old’s defense, though, as soon as she got into the room with lil Miss Mary J. Blige and Jimmy Iovine and opened her mouth to sing Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All,’ she hit a roadblock. The celebs were’t too keen on her song choice, and they immediately got down on her for being nervous and insecure. How’s that for helping to settle your nerves? Seeing that the hopeful was noticeably disheveled, they clarified that they were just being harsh because she has such potential, but they changed her song nonetheless.

Taking the ‘Idol’ stage tonight, Testone’s expression looked as though she had just walked out of that high-pressure room. Without so much as a smile or a glimmer of enjoyment, she made it through the song without any noticeable foibles. But when you’ve given everyone a taste of your killer talent, you can’t just make it through a song — you have to nail it.

“You wanted to make it so much your own because you have a specific style,” Jennifer Lopez started in. “It’s undeniable you have an amazing voice – that’s for sure – I just don’t think this was your best.” The other two judges agreed, living in the realm of “eh” and “so-so,” with J. Lo pointing out that they were disappointed because they knew she could have murdered it.

“To me, what it felt like is you were boxing with the song,” Randy Jackson observed. You don’t have to prove at every note that you have that big old voice.” In the end, talking to Ryan Seacrest, Testone conceded that she didn’t know the song that well, but she admitted that the judges were right and she should have made it her own.

In the end, it wasn’t a great time to bring a mediocre performance, but there’s a good chance Testone’s sheer skill in the past will keep her alive as the competition gets fierce.

Watch Elise Testone Perform ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’ on ‘American Idol’

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