Congratulations, Matt Giraud: you’re the first-ever American Idol hopeful in eight seasons to be rescued by the new we’re-not-just-making-up-the-rules-as-we-go-along policy known as the Judges’ Save. Sucks to be you, everyone else (oh, and Matt Giraud!): two singers will be going home next week, and as Simon Cowell pointed out at the end of last night’s show, it’s going to be a doozy: disco week. Allow us to remind you of Barry Gibb’s guest spot on Season Six which yielded a slew of horrific Bee Gees covers by Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis and Co., or the ’70s dance theme week from Season Four, where Constantine Maroulis and Carrie Underwood attempted a similar feat, or the disco week in Season Three (which landed ultimate winner Fantasia in the bottom three) and of course the time it rained men in Season Two (no, Clay Aiken actually sang “Everlasting Love”). Batten down the hatches, people: next week Adam Lambert will be encouraged to be flamboyant. Are we excited? Oh, yes.
Last night’s elimination featured a group performance of “Maniac” that was pretty good, and ironically showcased Giraud. After some shameless promotion of Zac Efron’s new movie 17 Again (hey, did we ever mention that young heartthrob was on our cover?), Anoop Desai was placed in the bottom three yet again. Jennifer Hudson made her first appearance back on the Idol stage since she was eliminated (only now she’s got a Grammy, an Oscar and a reality-show fiancé) and belted “If This Isn’t Love” off her self-titled debut — and promptly put the Top 10 to shame.
Lil Rounds joined the bottom three, as did Giraud, before Miley Cyrus attempted to class the joint up in a gown while singing “The Climb.” Were we just saying something about shame? Ryan Seacrest announced 36 million votes were cast Tuesday night, and Matt received the bad — then good — news. Since it looks like Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta won’t be landing in the bottom three anytime soon, Cowell must have felt it was time to pull the trigger on the Save. There are still seven Idol finalists, but after next Wednesday there will only be five.

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