Pia Toscano Wants to Release R&B Influenced Pop Album

The ousting of Pia Toscano on last week's 'American Idol' has fueled water cooler conversation and blog chatter all week, proving the point that you don't necessarily need to win the 'Idol' title in order to have a successful career. The credits were just about rolling when rumors began to circulate that Toscano had a record deal with Interscope in-hand already, while her fans showed an outpouring of support, and anger over her exit from the show.

The day after her elimination, Toscano spoke to the press about her future and dropped a bit of a bombshell, revealing that she is considering doing an R&B influenced album. This is surprising, since she stuck to diva-like ballads during her time on the show and was voted off after attempting Tina Turner's upbeat 'River Deep, Mountain High.'

Toscano said, "Moving forward I would definitely go in the pop genre with an R&B influence. I definitely want to have those big, power ballads as well as those dance hits." It looks like Toscano is not afraid of challenging herself and that she has learned a lot from her 'Idol' experience.

Ballads were certainly Toscano's strength, as well as her comfort zone, on the show. Judge Randy Jackson warns singers to avoid singing songs by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. However, Toscano didn't heed his advice on the show, saying, "I like to challenge myself, and I like to take risks. Those are singers that I've grown up listening to, so I just tried my best with them, and they went over well. So I'm just thankful that everybody enjoyed my performances."

In other news, the forthcoming 'American Idol' tour is ahead of Toscano and she can't wait to get on the road to sing. "The tour is going to be so much fun … it's kind of more of a laid back situation. You just go out there and perform. I'm definitely looking forward to that, and I'm going to do my uptempos, and I'm going to do my ballads. I'm going to put a nice mix into the tour." We can't wait to see Pia Toscano back onstage when the 'Idol' tour kicks off later this year.