Your First Look at Mariah Carey on Empire Is Here, and It's Fabulous

Get excited, Lambily!
Fox has released the first footage of Mariah Carey in her upcoming guest star spot on Empire, and though it's brief (and we mean brief), it looks like creator Lee Daniels has given Mimi an appropriately divalicious role that will be worth the three season wait we were forced to endure before she made her way to the show.
We get just a glimpse of Mariah's character Kitty, a singer with ties to Empire Records, as she records in the studio with Jamal (Jussie Smollett)—we want that duet on our iPhones, like, yesterday—and tells Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), "You've always got a trick up your sleeve."
The teaser also gives us a look at some of the season's other big plot points, like the return of Shyne (Xzibit, now a series regular) and Lucious' (Terrence Howard) half-brother Tariq (Morocco Omari). But come on—we're all here for Mariah and you know it.

Mariah will make her long-awaited debut in the October 5 episode of the show's third season. As Fox revealed when announcing her appearance, Kitty's duet with Jamal will encounter obstacles that will lead the superstar to help Jamal dig deep and overcome personal difficulties to reach a musical breakthrough. Working alongside Mariah was likely something of a dream come true for Jussie, who once told E! News that the legendary singer was his dream guest star.
"I keep saying, and I hope they can make this happen, because she's one of Lee's closest friends, I really want to see Mariah Carey on the show," he said.
Ms. Cookie herself dished about Mariah's time on set, telling press at the 2016 Television Critics Association summer press tour, "She was great. She's fabulous, she's beautiful to look at. Wish I could wear a leotard like that…What Mariah brings to the music industry, she brought to the show. I'm grateful she spent time with us."
If Mariah on Empire isn't enough for fans—and let's be real, one can never get enough of Mariah—they'll be treated to a double dose of the diva this fall when her eight-part event docuseries Mariah's World debuts on E! on December 4.
Empire returns on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. on FOX.