Tough week on Idol this week – not only was it “disco week” but the final seven had the threat of TWO dismissals hanging over them, following last week’s save of Matt Giraud. Would the judges’ faith in Matt be rewarded? And if so, who would fall prey to disco fever?

Lil Rounds opened the show with Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman. Her singing was drowned out by the backing group and once again she proved she is no Chaka Khan, just like two weeks ago when she showed that she’s no Tina Turner. But that’s not the main problem with Lil. Her trouble is, she’s no Lil Rounds either. That is, no-one knows who she is. Week after week the judges say the same thing. You can really sing, but that wasn’t the right song for you, or you’re trying to be something we know you’re not.

Here, once again, is the difference between an artist and a good singer. Lil is just a good singer. She’ll probably go on to have a pretty good career in musical theatre or clubs. But she’s not original, and she can’t make other people’s songs sound original. I’m Every Woman sounded like a poor imitation of Chaka Khan, and that’s been the same every week, for each different song.

Simon predicted it was her last shot, and he was right. Lil was the first to be eliminated this week.

It’s hard to imagine a starker contrast between Lil and the next singer: Kris Allen. Kris is the epitome of what the judges mean when they say an artist “knows who he/she is.” Like him or not, you know what you’re going to get, and if you close your eyes, you’ll still know it’s Kris singing. He did Donna Summer’s She Works Hard For The Money, but he did it his own way, and it sounded pretty cool.

Aside from Simon’s wilful misunderstanding of Paula’s comment about “shopping in the women’s section” (she meant women regularly sing guy songs, but it’s a brave guy who’ll take on a chick song – seemed pretty clear to me) he got uniformly positive comments from the judges and is a good bet for the final.

For me, we flipped back again after Kris to the dark side of Idol when Danny Gokey took the stage to do September, by Earth, Wind and Fire. At this stage of the contest, sorry but I expect more stage craft than just stomping about to left and right and holding a few hands. And on the vocal front, Danny’s one of those contestants – and we see them every year – who starts off very strong and immediately plateaus. His singing is no better now than in week one, which is boring and – given the amount of vocal coaching he must have been receiving – inexplicable.

He’s clearly a popular contestant, but I don’t think his place in the final is assured.

Next up, Allison Iraheta with Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff. I thought it was a nice arrangement – very different – with her usual strong vocal. Judges didn’t like it though, although they continue to like her. I was astonished to see Allison in the bottom three this week – there were grossly worse performances (see below) – and I think this underlines the influence the judges can have on the voting. I’d like to see her in the final but I’m not sure she’s got the level of popularity to make it. It will depend heavily on her choosing the right song in semi-final week.

The anticipation of Adam Lambert’s performance is palpable. Each week he brings something new. Something daring, fresh, unique and astonishingly well delivered. This week he chose If I Can’t Have You from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and turned it from a frothy disco classic into a hauntingly slow and soulful tale of utter heartbreak. There is, quite simply, no-one to touch Adam in this year’s competition. I’m sure he will quickly become Idol’s most successful contestant ever. He’s already the most original.

In a night of many contrasts, the gulf between Adam and the next singer was wider than the Grand Canyon. Listening to Matt Giraud murdering the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive all I could think was how the judges must all be sitting there wondering why on Earth they used their save on him last week. It was simply awful. Clichéd and dull, and no different from anything he’s done so far.

And then, incredibly, they delivered their verdicts, and they all liked it! Were they listening to the same thing as me? Or have they already decided who they want to keep in the contest? Weird. I was convinced he’d be going home, but in the end he wasn’t even in the bottom three!

And finally, Anoop Desai gave us a totally meh rendition of Dim All The Lights (Donna Summer did well this week!) – utterly forgettable and bland. He was so gone.

Which leaves us with five, and another two weeks before we’ll know who’s in the final. At this stage it’s looking like it’ll be Adam, with either Kris or Danny. Next week the remaining five get to sing two songs. Whoop-di-doo.