"It's a great song," says Pia, shortly after finishing her dress-rehearsal performance at the Maverik Center Tuesday night. "It's about growing into being a woman, being independent. It can apply to so much, whether it's me on American Idol or being in a relationship."
Pia recorded the mid-tempo number (no, it's not a ballad), which was written and co-produced by Esther Dean, about a month ago. "I literally learned it a few hours before I went into the studio," she says. "It was one of the fastest songs I've ever recorded. We had the vocals done in less than an hour and a half -- that's how we knew it was the song we wanted."
And that's not the only thing Pia has recorded. "I'm eight to nine songs into my album," she says. Collaborators include Rodney Jerkins, with whom she has recorded three songs; Harvey Mason Jr., who worked on This Time; Rock Mafia and singer-songwriter Heather Bright.
Pia says she's looking forward to giving This Time its public debut Wednesday, though the prospect of taking the stage with an unknown song does make her nervous. "No one has heard my single, so it's a little scary introducing it to everybody without them having heard the song," she says. "But I love this song. I have so much fun singing it -- it's so catchy."