Is Shania Twain on the comeback trail?

With new albums on the horizon from Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey snaring much of the mainstream press, there’s one leading lady of pop music who could easily steal their thunder. Shania Twain will guest judge on “American Idol,” it was confirmed Monday, in what was the latest quiver of action from what’s been a rather quiet Twain camp of late.

A Twain return couldn’t be better timed. The artist is one of the most responsible for broadening Nashville’s pop appeal. It’s Twain’s songs such as “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” that fostered a country landscape that’s open to everything from Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” to Taylor Swift’s “Picture to Burn.” Right now, with young country darlings such as Carrie Underwood and Kellie Pickler dominating the scene, the window is open for Twain to storm right in.