American Idol 10 Top 40 Spoilers – Featured Contestant – 01/04/11

By On 01/04/2011 · 20 Comments · In American Idol, American Idol 10 Spoilers, American Idol 10 Top 40 Spoilers

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Gangreen29 will be profiling an American Idol 10 Top 40 contestant every day this week. Spoilers come to us courtesy of Joe’sPlaceBlog.

Today’s hopeful is a repeater.  Maybe you remember her from Season 6 or 7?  I vaguely remember her from past spoiler lists…

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Pia Toscano – Pia is a repeater, having tried out in season 6 and 7.

She is definitely an old school idol contestant. Idol once was filled with pretty pop belters like her. Now, she seems almost like a breath of fresh air compared to the heavy emphasis on “artistry” the last few seasons.

I love those types of contestants, but I think Idol has been missing its staple of glory noting Celine Dion covers the last few seasons. The most recent contestant who could compare to Pia is Katie Stevens, however, and she was not warmly received by the idol audience.

Videos after the JUMP…

The Prayer cover

http://www.youtube.com/user/D1vaaaa#p/u/15/isC8eOz8Dtc

Bleeding Love cover

http://www.youtube.com/user/D1vaaaa#p/u/9/mrseaxricsw

God Bless America cover

http://www.youtube.com/user/D1vaaaa#p/u/2/z7d9eFJklhw

 
  • hazuki

    She’s a repeater, but she was actually never featured on those seasons. I hope Pia goes far, I really like her voice! :D

  • sillypraguer

    Gotta have someone to bring the melisma. Or not. Her tone’s nice, I think her big voice goes over well on TV. Could be bold and dynamic, or could be very 1987.

  • hazuki

    Ive missed these type of contestants! <3 Pia

    Her version of Bleeding Love is great.

  • http://idolstages.com Connie D.

    Lovely and talented. Two thumbs up for Pia Toscano!

    I wonder if Pia has written any of her own songs, and what her specific genre would be if she was not singing cover songs.

  • Silent Screams

    “The Prayer” and “Since You’ve Been Gone” are crazy good. How in the world did she not make the cut in S6 or S7? I like her more than pretty much anyone from those seasons.

  • tierbee

    Hmm, I kinda like her – nice voice.

  • Silent Screams

    She is so beautiful. *faints*
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XYlBQQEigU

    Here she is singing “God Bless America” for a local TV reporter. I assume she was waiting in line for an Idol audition?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrq4cJAAEeA

  • http://mjsbigblog.com/luvadamlamberts-american-idol-tour-2009-washington-dc-re-cap.htm luvadamlambert

    she’s sooooooooo pretty and GREAT-love it!

  • MawMaw

    I heard Pia sing when Joe’s Place first posted spoilers and absolutely love her voice. I will be happy if she makes it to the voting rounds. I believe there is a place for her in today’s market or Susan Boyle, Beyonce, and Kelly Clarkson wouldn’t be selling. There are still buyers out there who enjoy a powerful female singer’s voice, myself included.

  • BootStar

    She’s ridiculously good. Unbelievable (or not!) that she didn’t make it through in the past. How old is she? She doesn’t sound or look like a teen. And Katie Stevens seemed more like somebody trying to BE this seasoned.

    I can’t think of any big belting females the last couple of seasons who consistently sang on key and didn’t make me cringe. I hope Pia makes it through and does well. It would be nice to have some female “big voices” who actually understand artistry. The two are not mutually exclusive!

  • Mark

    Um, wow, I don’t know. On the one hand, her voice is powerful, and she’s very pretty. That said, there’s nothing about her that interests me, voice included. Yeah, it’s powerful, but the way she uses is just not that appealing to me as a listener. And, tonally, I couldn’t recall anything about it after immediate listens. She’ll need to do something else to pop out for me.

    I can’t think of any big belting females the last couple of seasons who consistently sang on key and didn’t make me cringe. I hope Pia makes it through and does well. It would be nice to have some female “big voices” who actually understand artistry. The two are not mutually exclusive!

    Having criticized her, it would be good if she didn’t do something painful on that stage. I could get behind that, considering the belters of late often do.

  • Valentin432

    That girl had a fan thread during S6 on Idf and Chris Sligh (top 10 finisher) posted this:

    Maybe it’s just me, but I listened and I thought she was just a’ight. Her voice sounded really over-produced and it was just a lot of extra stuff that didn’t need to be there vocally. I like that style to a certain extent, but I think the years of the Divas is done with – at least for a while.

    Don’t get me wrong, she has good tone, but she just moved around too much. Aguilera’s the only chick out there right now good enough to get away with not actually singing a song. Until then, singers should focus on timbre and pitch, and interpreting a song. Melisma is not indicative of interpretation. It’s the indication of over-singing.

    Personally, I’m kind of glad that this chick didn’t make it, if that’s true. It definitely helps Gina’s chances, and Gina is pretty flippin’ sweet!

    Take this however you want.

  • gangreen29

    Take this however you want.

    Chris Sligh hates her! This makes me like her even more lol!

  • Mark

    Take this however you want.

    How often do AI contestants generally show themselves to have solid BTS info on upcoming seasons? I’d assume that’d be rare. (And thus am presuming either he reads part of the internet I don’t, or is misinformed)

  • BootStar

    I have mixed feelings about Chris and his opinions, but it sounds to me like Pia’s current style right now is pretty much in keeping with his suggestions — not that she responded to him per se, but maybe that’s been part of her growth as an artist.

  • jammasta

    I may be a bit in the minority here, but I kinda agree with Chris Sligh based on these videos (except for The Prayer which I thought was fantastic). She has a fantastic voice, but I’m skeptical.

    She overdoes it on most of these songs. I’d imagine she has what it takes to make Top 12, but I kinda have a difficult time seeing her getting far in the Top 10, if even at all. I have a feeling she’ll be perceived as either too manufactured, too dated, or, probably the worst, too copycat and not enough of a standout among the other diva belters like Beyonce. The diva belter days are kinda done, and I don’t see one winning American Idol.

    That said, I was skeptical of Aaron Kelly at first, and I adore the guy. Maybe it’ll be the same with Pia?

    Still, I’m looking forward to her audition to see if she’ll prove me wrong.

    Still waiting on my Allison Iraheta or Siobhan Magnus (hell, even Gina Glocksen) of the season.

    Season, hurry up and start!

  • iluvai

    I’m surprised she didn’t make it through in S6 or S7, but this might her time to shine. I really like her.

  • Ratna12

    She is good, very pretty; now we’ll see if she also has ONE of the most important factor which is likeability and enough of it that people want to spend time voting for you.

  • MaryS-NJ

    Pia’s really pretty and has a nice voice but every song I viewed she’s mimicking the original artist’s cadences… I think it’s kareoke, but very good kareoke.

    Having said that, her version of Rehab she sounded a little like Dolly Parton mimicking Amy Winehouse so that was interesting, lol.

    I’d like to see what she does with an original song. I think she’s likely to go far because she’s got the look and has “moldable” stamped across her forehead in invisible ink.

  • cacity87

    She reminds me of Lea Michele from Glee! Especially on The Prayer. Which is good, we all know Lea can SANG! :)