Billy Porter took us to church with his cover of “Stronger” — and Kelly Clarkson is living for it.
During Tuesday’s episode of the Kelly Clarkson Show, the singer shared her reaction to Porter’s cover of her classic breakup song from his appearance on NBC’s That’s My Jam.
“I have to give a quick shoutout to Billy Porter,” she said before playing a clip from the Jimmy Fallon-hosted TV show. “That’s the greatest cover that I have ever heard of any song I’ve ever performed.”
“That’s my favorite cover, literally, of any song,” she added. “First of all, you suck Billy Porter ’cause now I never wanna sing it like I sing it again! I wanna do the church version.”
Porter appeared on the second episode of the new season of That’s My Jam, which featured the Musical Genre Challenge, a spinoff of The Tonight Show segment where guests pull a lever and are challenged to sing a well-known song in a different genre or style. Porter was tasked with singing a gospel version of Clarkson’s “Stronger” and was up for it.
“That’s not fair! Gospel is my wheelhouse,” Porter said before taking the microphone during the episode. “Y’all ready to go to church?”
Porter started to sing the track and truly took everyone to church as Patti LaBelle, his competition partner during the episode, joined in for some background ad-libs. The episode, set to air in full Tuesday night, also featured Darren Criss and Sarah Hyland.
Clarkson loved the cover so much that she even invited him to sing the duet with her on her show.
“Alright Billy Porter, there’s a personal invite from me anytime you wanna sing that song like that with me. I’m gonna need that duet!” Clarkson said. “Or I’ll sit on the side of the stage and let you have it. It’s incredible.”
This is the second season of That’s My Jam. The last episode featured Jason Derulo teaming up with Nicole Scherzinger to face Kelsea Ballerini and Julia Michaels. The show’s next episode is set to have a rap group of guests: Chance the Rapper and French Montana facing off with Jabari Banks and Quavo.
As for Clarkson, she’s become the queen of covers herself. Thanks to her talk show’s Kellyoke segment, Clarkson has recently belted the lyrics of tracks like Muna’s “Stayaway,” “Death Cab for Cutie’s “You Are a Tourist,” and Cher’s “Strong Enough.”