Vincent Powell Slays ‘Cause I Love You’ on ‘American Idol’

With his black specs and bald head, 'American Idol' contestant Vincent Powell looked unassuming. But when he opened his mouth tonight (Feb. 28) to sing 'Cause I Love You' for the Sudden Death round in Las Vegas, he slayed. Like whoa.

Powell showed off some seriously dynamite and dynamic vocal range. There was dreamy falsetto, passionately soulful wailing and butter smooth crooning. But when he hit that final note and held that mother for 30 seconds, he was like the male Mariah Carey, with lower octaves, though.

It was all about Powell vocal power!

"That was crazy," said Keith Urban. "The crowd is summing it up. You came out here and just sang. I loved it."

"You better work with your old soul," Nicki Minaj said, while calling him "Vincey." She said that she always considers him a bit mature, but deemed this performance "good and sexy old-fashioned. I can envision a whole bunch of 50-year-olds and 40-year-olds throwing their panties at you. That hit me somewhere, with that bald head." Mmm hmm.

Randy Jackson said the show started with that performance, dawg. No, really! He actually punctuated his statement with his signature word. He labeled Powell a complete entertainer, singer and performer, comparing him to D'Angelo, Frank Ocean and Miguel. Now that's high praise.

Jackson also dropped his first "in it to win it" of the night when referring to Powell.

But Mimi said it best. "Finally. Period."

Ladies and gents, have we found the first serious contender of Season 12? Hell to the yes. That hit us somewhere, too.