Pia Toscano’s Single ‘This Time’: What Critics Say

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Pia Toscano Premieres Debut Single 'This Time' (AUDIO)

When expected front-runner Pia Toscano was booted off the tenth season of American Idol, the judges and the public were shocked by her short-lived run.

But with her first single, “This Time,” released this week, will critics agree that this vocal powerhouse can have a long and healthy music career post-Idol?

Toscano premiered “This Time” live on the American Idol Live! Tour. The song was then officially unveiled on Ryan Seacrest’s KISS-FM radio show on Monday, July 11.

STORY: Pia Toscano Premieres Debut Single 'This Time' (AUDIO)

Some critics praised the song’s powerful lyrics, which speak of a woman wronged.

“Lyrically, Toscano finds her strength -- from what sounds to be an emotionally or even physically abusive relationship -- on the midtempo pop ballad,” wrote Billboard.

Likewise, Entertainment Weekly praised the ballad, calling it the “kind of song we expect to hear Rachel Berry singing the next time Finn screws up: Sad, relatable, and a touch awe-inspiring.”

Other critics, however, felt that her problems on Idol continue to fester on the track. “Her perceived weakness on Idol was her utter perfection, and there's no lack of it here, either; with nary a hint of a sob or crack in her powerhouse voice, ex-victimhood doesn't totally suit her,” said Chris Willman of Reuters.

Willman also described the track as “a compendium of comeback clichés that almost reads like a parody of the whole I-will-survive genre.”

The track is the first song off Toscano’s debut album, which will be released by Interscope Records later this year.