A hopeful country singer sparked an unusually divided reaction from the “America’s Got Talent” judges after performing an original song during Tuesday night’s auditions.
Elsie — a 32-year-old singer-songwriter and mother from Mississippi — took the stage with a self-written country anthem, hoping to launch the music career she said she had long put on hold while supporting her family.
While all four judges praised her vocal ability and star potential, they disagreed over whether her original song was the right choice.
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Former Spice Girls singer Mel B was the first to weigh in, complimenting the singer’s voice but suggesting the original track didn’t fully showcase what she was capable of.
“You’re clearly an amazing singer, but I think, for me personally, you should have done a different song,” Mel B said. “I think your voice is so much bigger and better than what you just showed us.”
“You’re beautiful. You’re vocals were on point. But I think you’ve got a lot more in the tank,” she added.
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Howie Mandel’s comments drew loud boos from the audience after delivering the night’s lone “no” vote.
“From the moment you walked out, I went, ‘This is a star,'” Mandel said. “You look like a star, you sound like a star. But I don’t know if it was the song or the production… I want to know who you are. I have no idea who you are yet.”
Sofía Vergara, however, wasn’t ready to let one song define Elsie’s future in the competition.
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“I do think you have it,” Vergara said. “I think it was just a wrong choice, a little bad luck today. I’m gonna say yes because I want to give you another chance.”
Simon Cowell also saw promise in the aspiring country artist, arguing that her biggest mistake may have been trying too hard.
“I think what happened today is that you over-prepped,” Cowell said. “It’s about letting go of some of the stuff and being a little bit more raw. You have star potential. You have a glow about you.”
Despite Mandel’s “no” vote,” Mel B joined Cowell and Vergara in voting “yes,” sending Elsie through to the next round.
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Backstage, host Terry Crews asked whether she’d be willing to make adjustments moving forward. The Mississippi native didn’t hesitate.
“Listen, I’m from Mississippi,” she said. “I’ll go out there and stomp and clap and sing with no music, OK?”
Last year, Cowell revealed how he can predict a singer’s success or failure within the first 10 seconds of an audition.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Cowell explained why he sometimes stopped singers mid-performance during his past shows as he shared the green and red flags that he looks for in auditions.
“If you’ve got an audience behind you, you feed off an audience’s energy,” he said. “Everything changes.”
“When someone’s not great, the audience is very quiet,” Cowell continued. “When an act is fantastic, it can either get really loud or you have that perfect silence. So I’ve always learned to read an audience. Or certainly when you’ve got people around you. So when I was auditioning on the show, we had a lot of people in the room with us. And when someone did walk in, the whole energy changed.”
While speaking with Fox News Digital, Cowell shared what continues to drive his passion for star-making.
“I’ve always been a fan of finding people who normally don’t have an opportunity, for whatever reason,” he said. “You know, people who don’t come with managers or don’t have any connections, the people you go and search for.”
“That’s why we started these shows years ago for that reason, because I always believe there’s always somebody out there with tremendous talent, tremendous potential, who for whatever reason, just hasn’t got a break,” he continued.
