Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Now here’s a pleasant surprise just in time for the holidays.

Pia Toscano has released a five-track EP called “Belong.”

And it truly was a surprise, released last Friday with no advance fanfare.

Yet Pia’s fans almost immediately launched “Belong” into the Top 50 on the iTunes pop albums chart.

This is actually Pia’s first major release since capturing our attention with her voice and star quality back on Season 10 of American Idol.

The EP features five tracks, including the two singles — “You’ll Be King” and “Pyro” — that Pia released back around the time of the American Idol finale.

The new songs include “Liar, Liar,” a great kiss-off to a lying lover; “Go Missing,” an addictive dance tune; and the powerfully emotional title track.

In a Facebook address to fans, Pia calls the project “the most personal thing I’ve ever done” and says the song “Belong” is particularly autobiographical.

Pia says she wrote it about a year ago with Bryan Ellis “at the most vulnerable and uncertain time of my life.”

“I was hiding behind this idea that I had to be perfect all the time when I was really dealing with so many internal demons,” she explains. “I felt like an outsider. I felt like I was never good enough, ever. I would say no to so many opportunities because I felt I wouldn’t do well.

“In this industry, it gets really hard because there’s so much competition and there’s so many people and so many artists that are amazingly talented. I had a record deal, I went on tour and all those things. But life throws these curve balls at you and you go on this roller coaster ride, and I was on that roller coaster ride for some time.

“And I’m still on it,” she adds. “But I’m not going to let it get the best of me. I refuse.”

That message — one she thinks will resonate with lots of listeners — is reflected in the lyrics.

“My favorite lyric in the song is: ‘I used to run from the rainy days, but now I love lightning. Face to face with all the blame; I don’t fight it. I break free from all the change that kept me bound and I’ll learn to love again.’ And when I say love again, I mean I’ll learn to love myself again,” Pia explains.

You can follow Pia through her Facebook page and website, where autographed physical copies of the EP are available. On Twitter, she’s simply @PiaToscano. And on Instagram, she’s posted a quick behind-the-scenes look at each song on the EP.