Wednesday 15 February 2006

Emancipation for "Mimi"

Keith, I have a question regarding Mariah Carey's "The Emancipation of Mimi", which was a Grammy nominee for album of the year. It was released on April 12, 2005, and was therefore eligible for the recent Grammy Awards' since an album must be released between October 1, 2004, and September 30, 2005.

However, the album was re-issued in November 2005 with four bonus tracks, including the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "Don't Forget About Us". Would this song, as well as the other three additional tracks on the re-release, help in determining whether this album would have won album of the year?

Thanks, Thomas Kitson Erie, Pa.

Hi Thomas, No, they would not. Since the revamped edition of "The Emancipation of Mimi" came out after the cut off date of the eligibility period, the version of "Mimi" that was up for album of the year was the original edition.

I posed this question to the Recording Academy, which said that if both versions had come out during the eligibility period, then it would have been the label's choice which version they ultimately submitted, but noted it could not submit both for consideration.

The Academy also went on to say that the re-issued album would not eligible for next year's awards - although the new tracks would eligible in the single/track categories along with other album tracks that were not previously submitted for consideration.

But, since "The Emancipation of Mimi" won for best contemporary R&B album, all of its singles and tracks are no longer eligible for any of the single/track categories in the genre categories in the future. However, a single or track from the album could still be considered for the record and song of the year categories.

This is what happened with Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" this year. The song was up for record of the year, but not eligible in any of the genre categories. Why? The song's parent album, "American Idiot", won the best rock album award a year ago. That's also why "Holiday", another hit album track from "Idiot", wasn't nominated in any of the rock categories this year.

OK, so, what does all of that mean for a song like "Don't Forget About Us?" Because it was on the "Platinum Edition" of "Mimi" (which is not the version of the album that was nominated and won this year), "Don't Forget About Us" can be submitted into all of the appropriate single/track categories for next year's awards.

Whew! Hopefully I've explained this well enough - it can be somewhat confusing.

(Ask Billboard)



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