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Pia Toscano may have been rejected by “American Idol,” but booted contestant Pia Toscano has found someone who is happy to accept her in “Dancing with the Stars” pro, Mark Ballas.

In addition to their recent reported romantic pairing, Pia and Mark will team up for a performance on “Dancing with the Stars” next week, when the New York native will lend her pipes to ABC’s hit dance competition while her beau takes to the dance floor.

As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, reports in early April claimed Pia had landed a record deal with “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope Records for her debut album – but Pia said she is not working on a single “yet.”The ballad-loving beauty also revealed she had auditioned for “American Idol” four times prior to making the cut on her fifth shot.

“I kind of just said to myself, ‘I really want to go all the way,’” she told Billy and Kit, when asked why she thought she finally made it through on her fifth try. “And I’ve been sent home so many times – so, I applied everything that the judges told me on what I needed to improve, and I worked really hard, and this is my year.”

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.