Carrie Underwood Is Returning to ‘American Idol’ to Mentor the Top 5: ‘Can’t Wait!’

It’s been 17 years since Carrie Underwood stood on stage next to host Ryan Seacrest as he announced her to be the winner of American Idol season four, causing her to burst into tears. Since then, she’s gone on to earn eight Grammys, four Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits, and has sold tens of millions of albums.

Safe to say, the remaining contestants on this year’s season of Idol probably want to achieve all of that for themselves. Lucky for them, Underwood is returning to the show to give the season 20 hopefuls some pointers. As announced Sunday (May 8) on the show’s official Twitter account, the 39-year-old country star will appear live on the next episode to mentor the top five singers as they fight for a spot in the grand finale.

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“Well, here’s a dream come true!” the announcement read. “#AmericanIdol icon @carrieunderwood will mentor the Top 5, live from the home of her Las Vegas residency ‘REFLECTION’ at @resortsworldlv! Who better to help our hopefuls earn a place in the Grand Finale?”

The “Before He Cheats” singer also shared her excitement for her return to the Idol stage by retweeting the post, writing, “Can’t wait!”

The lucky contestants who get to learn directly from her are Leah Marlene, HunterGirl, Nicolina, Fritz Hager and Noah Thompson. Jay and Christian Guardino just barely missed out on the opportunity, having been sent home by voters on the Sunday (May 8) episode after spending most of the season impressing viewers as well as judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.

Check out American Idol‘s announcement that season four queen Carrie Underwood is returning to the show below:

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