Diamond White Invokes the Spirit of Whitney Houston with ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ on ‘X Factor’

Up first for tonight's 'X Factor' was Diamond White, and Britney Spears handpicked Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' for the young talent.

"It's such a departure from what I've been hearing from you," Brit said to White, who often sings slower songs. "You light up the room ... I know you can do this."

Worried because ballads have been her thing, White took to the stage and sat down, opting to start the song as, well, a ballad. And she sounded pretty! With just purple light accents, the 13-year-old's voice really shined and you were actually able to hear the impressive range that this youngster has.

Naturally, though, the song picked up some steam; White upped the tempo, and was met with some background dances. At first she sounded drowned out, but the spirit of Houston must've been within her somewhere, because she gained confidence quickly and gave her best performance of the competition thus far.

"You always seem seem to start slow ... I give you an A for effort, but B for execution," said L.A. Reid. Demi Lovato said she'd been waiting the entire competition to see White perform something like this, but that she needed to practice more. Simon Cowell, on the other hand, simply guffawed at the other judges' comments.

"She sang, she danced, and every moment of that song you were aware where you were, it's the hardest thing in the world to dance and sing in tune at the same time," said Cowell. "You hit the right notes at the right time ... I think this was a really important performance for you."