Pia Toscano Eliminated From 'American Idol'

April 8, 2011— -- Jennifer Lopez is in shock over Pia Toscano's "American Idol" elimination.

"She was one of the most talented singers we had," Lopez said, calling into Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM radio show Friday morning. "I'm still shocked."

Lopez told the "Idol" host that she can't understand why Toscano was voted off.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened," she said. "[Maybe] people thought she was safe, as I did ... Maybe there was something that wasn't connecting [with the audience] that we didn't see."

Toscano's Thursday night elimination was one of "Idol's" biggest surprises. The announcement came after a rollicking performance by Iggy Pop, in which he shed his shirt to belt out "Real Wild Child."

But as host Ryan Seacrest said Toscano's name, the crowd's enthusiasm disappeared. The audience shouted "no" and the judges looked stunned. Lopez, on the verge of tears, said she was angry and speechless. Randy Jackson echoed her anger and Steven Tyler told America their "lack of passion was unforgivable."

If Americans didn't respond during the vote, they certainly did after the results. Twitter lit up instantly with messages of outrage and disbelief.

Toscano remained poised as she accepted the news, tearing up only during a video clip when she talked about how her now deceased grandfather had inspired her to sing. Then she took the microphone from Seacrest and belted out "Stand By You."

Toscano, a native of Howard Beach, N.Y., had once been considered the contest's front-runner. The judges had often compared her vocal chops to divas Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion.

This week, she departed from her trademark ballads to take on her first up-tempo number, Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High," as the contestants performed songs written by inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Looking less than comfortable moving around the stage, she nonetheless brought the same level of vocal acrobatics to her performance.

Nearly everyone looked surprised when Seacrest announced she was in the bottom three, along with Stefano Lagone. Jacob Lusk took the third seat. Secrest sent Lusk back to safety, leaving Toscano and Lagone, who nodded his head as if he knew he would be going home. Instead, it was Toscano, whom many had presumed could win the competition.

"She's the presumptive winner at this point," The Hollywood Reporter's music editor Shirley Halperin told ABCNews.com a few weeks ago. "Everybody loves her. She can do no wrong, she's a great singer, she's beautiful -- she's got the whole package. You see both guys and girls react to her when she sings."

"She's got to be in the lead by a long mile," Halperin said.

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