Pia Toscano is looking more and more like the contestant to beat this season on American Idol. During Wednesday night's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame themed show, Toscano broke away from ballads and chose Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High," which was the standout number of the night. Her infectious performance garnered nods of approval from Randy Jackson, and energetic bobbing from Jennifer Lopez (pictured), who appears to be her biggest fan. "You are spectacular, spectacular,” she told her. "There's a million guys out there in a million bars, having a million drinks about you tonight," Steven Tyler added. Overall, the judges encouraged Toscano to continue to challenge herself with her vocal choices, in order to showcase her versatility as a performer. "I'm going to keep pushing you, because when you see greatness, I'm here to help you," Lopez explained.

Other contestants who showed new sides of themselves were Casey Abrams and Scott McCreery. Abrams broke out the bass for his take on the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" to the delight of Jackson ("Casey is making the upright bass cool!” he exclaimed), while McCreery applied his country sensibility to Elvis Presley's "That's All Right Mama." The Top 9 will learn their fate on Thursday night's live results show. –EMILY EXTON

Watch Pia's performance below:

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