Kree Harrison's 'Up The Mountain' wins judges on 'American Idol'

Kree Harrison received a standing ovation from Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj after a strong performance on "American Idol" Wednesday.

Performing a rendition of Patty Smith's "Up The Mountain," the aspiring country singer impressed the entire panel of judges.

"You are such a natural born singer. And it's so beautiful to watch you sing. You don't over try. You don't have any desperation in the way you sing. There's an effortless believability. It's authentic and God bless you for that," said Keith Urban.

Equally impressed, Nicki Minaj fell in love with Kree Harrison.

"Kree I would be very afraid if I was any of these other girls tonight. Every time you sing a song, you make love to the song. You get up there completely clothed. Some women have to show so much skin to feel sexy," said Minaj. "Something about you is so sexy when you sing. I'm in love."

Kree Harrison performs during sudden death round on "American Idol"Kree Harrison performs during sudden death round on "American Idol"

Looking at the way she performed and connected with the audience, Randy Jackson called Harrison a "natural born singer."

"Here is another natural born singer. She doesn't have to do anything. She connects with the lyric. She sings. It's an amazing song. You sang a beautiful song and it was effortless," said Jackson. "I felt like I was at your show, like you've been doing this for 25 years."

Rounding out the panel, Mariah Carey said Kree Harrison "sang the hell out of that song."

"It's just incredibly organic and you sang the hell out of that song. It was amazing. I loved it," said Carey.

With a strong performance to her credit, Kree Harrison was given a pass to the next round of the competition as a finalist.

"American Idol" returns Thursday night at 8 p.m. on FOX.