Kelly Clarkson’s latest Whitney Houston Kellyoke on The Kelly Clarkson Show was one for the books.

During the October 8 episode of her award-winning daytime talk show, the 44-year-old Voice Coach alum may have topped her previous Kellyoke performances of Houston’s classic songs — and there have been a lot of them over the years. This time, Clarkson tried her hand at Houston’s iconic 1990 hit “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” and she crushed it.

The original version of the song shows Houston’s sultry side, and Clarkson effortlessly leaned into that vibe during her cover. Her vocals had a smoky grit that made this performance pop.

In true Clarkson fashion, she didn’t shy away from high notes; she sings them so perfectly that it’s easy to take them for granted. But these notes are near-impossible to hit for mere mortals — yet somehow, Clarkson belts them without breaking a sweat.

“Whitney Houston was one of my main influences [in the music world] growing up,” Clarkson once said. “I can literally remember running to watch the Grammys, any awards show she’d be on, whatever it was — because back then there was no internet like there is now. You’d literally have to see those performances [live]; you had to catch them. I remember racing to the TV just to watch her sing, and I’d run back to my room and sing the song and try to do everything she did. Obviously failed. [But] she has just lit a fire in me ever since I was a little kid as a vocalist.”

Clarkson returns as a Coach for Season 29 of The Voice, joining fellow all-star Coaches John Legend and Adam Levine in a season that will turn the traditional Voice format upside-down. It will premiere some time in 2026.

Here’s what to know about Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight”

Kelly Clarkson appears on The Kellly Clarkson Show Season 7; Whitney Houston poses for ‘Waiting to Exhale’, 1995.

Photo: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images; 20th Century Fox/Getty Images

Released in 1990 from her third studio album of the same name, “I’m Your Baby Tonight” skyrocketed up the charts and ultimately became one of Houston’s 11 number-one hits. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on December 1, 1990.

Years after its release, “I’m Your Baby Tonight” is still regarded as one of Houston’s signature songs. In 2017, Slant Magazine called the track a “relentless whirligig of rhythm, drenched in synths […] a vocal tour de force, one that demonstrates how much pleasure Whitney could wring out of doing battle with a sick beat.”