Of COURSE this is how Mariah Carey came on-stage at TCAs to discuss her new reality show. OF COURSE.

I would have expected nothing less. Well, wait, I don’t see very much body glitter on anyone in this assemblage, but beyond that it’s all right on-message. I assume a thousand Man-Chariot Pinterest boards were just born, the better to help us plan for what we’ll do when we hit retirement age and want to blow all our savings on hedonistic but environmentally safer transportation.

But, seriously: This is sort of a smart approach for her. Embrace the diva thing. J.Lo already tried the No Seriously I’m Really Real malarkey, and while she still sometimes trots out portions of that, she isn’t very committed to it anymore. On Britney, it comes off fairly authentic when she says her kids prefer it when she’s just mom and not full Britney Spears, and she seems genuinely content to be a sports mom when she isn’t performing. But Mariah? Would ANYONE believe that Mariah Carey takes her kids to sports practice and digs on laundry and doesn’t bother brushing her hair on weekends? No, she might as well play up the other side of the coin. Be the diva. Embrace the diva. It’s been a while since Mariah Carey has REALLY felt like a capital-letter affair, so it makes sense that she’s trying to get back to being MARIAH DAMN CAREY any muscular way she can.

This is a nasty bit of one-upmanship, though, unless she passed out Champers to the entire crowd of tired reporters.* Perhaps delivered by more lubed-up dancers. If you’re going to do it, Mariah, then do it all the way.

*We have received intel from the wonderful Linda Holmes that, in fact, Mariah DID give Champers to the reporters.

[Photos: Getty]