New Album "This Time" Release by American Idol's Pia Toscano

Look and see if there's a potential Jennifer Hudson or Chris Daughtry premature-elimination success story to be had. In the case of season 10, the obvious pick for that slot is Pia Toscano, whom conventional wisdom had winning in a shoo-in before America did its shooing out.

Her first single, "This Time," arrives via Interscope this week, and not a moment too soon to give country-phobic "Idol" fans someone other than Scotty and Lauren to remember 2011 by. It's a ballad (surprise) full of wronged-woman fury … which, in the best diva tradition, may symbolically mirror what the public knows about her personally.

"Well, I'm mad as hell and can't take it no more," the tune begins, making the double-negative its sole spin on the tired Paddy Chayefsky trope. "Like a butterfly, gonna spread my wings..." It's hard to imagine that every single line could be as generic as the what's-that-again? title, yet this is songwriter Dean's feat.

What's ironic is that "This Time," which is clearly meant to serve the needs of non-Scotty and Lauren-loving "Idol" watchers, sounds at heart like a contemporary country song (all the way down to its "My bags is packed" syntax). It might well have turned out better with a modern Nashville arrangement instead of the vaguely urban adult-contemporary sheen it's been given. Not that we want Toscano to go country: Even those of us who love our twang would like to keep hope alive that "Idol" remains capable of producing a non-heartland star.