Mary J's 'Mighty River' is competing against entries by equally talented songwriters.
Will upset wins add excitement to this year's Oscars?
Mary J Blige's people treat her like the queen of R&B - and it felt like we were in the company of royalty at the iTunes Festival on Thursday.
Thankfully, it was only Mary J's entourage enforcing the law.
She's Queen B
Mary J Blige: Yes, I've been working out really hard.
I went to a club once and they had a Mary J Blige lookalike contest.
INTERROGATION: Mary J Blige - Hail Mary; Don't be calling funky songstress Mary J Blige a diva. The high priestess of R'n'B says she's left her days of being `difficult' behind her - now she's in love, looking good and feeling great..
After more than ten years in the business, R&B diva Mary J Blige has just clocked up the most successful record of her career.
Produced by NWA founder Andre Young, better known as rapper Eminem's mentor Dr Dre, Mary J's funky Family Affair spent over six weeks at the top of the US pop singles chart last November, while also becoming her biggest hit so far in the UK, reaching number 3 in our charts the previous month.
Mary J Blige is in the middle of her 40-date No More Drama world tour, taking in the USA, Japan and Europe, which arrives at Birmingham's NEC Arena next Friday (April 19) for her first British show for over five years.
The prospect of catching Mary J Blige in concert should be enough to persuade every self-respecting modern soul fan to make a beeline for the NEC box office, as anyone who witnessed the woman's explosive performance of No More Drama which climaxed this year's Grammy Awards, or who owns a copy of her incandescent live album The Tour, from the Summer of 1998 will agree, but the September 11th tragedy has left the 31 year-old singer with a wariness for her own safety.
'Mary J Blige is not really commercially flying right now,' she reveals.
The tour is titled after Mary J's acclaimed new album No More Drama, multi-platinum in the US and approaching platinum sales in the UK, and recently re-released with brand new cover artwork and three additional tracks, Rainy Dayz featuring Ja Rule, He Think I Don't Know and exclusively for the UK, The Girl From Yesterday, plus extra remixes of No More Drama featuring her old nemesis P Diddy and her latest single Dance For Me featuring Chicago emcee Common.
Pop Music: Return of the Drama Queen; Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Mary J Blige tells John Whishaw why she's no longer happy to play the bad girl
Portsmouth features the final of the Beauty Box at
Mary J's Golden Muzzle over 438m, where connections of Jicky will be hoping kennelmate Droopys Es does not prove too much of a hazard early on.
Greyhounds: Open Check: Rebel's cause a hopeful one; Masters winner a worthy favourite for Muzzle final
Mary J Blige proved she is R&B royalty - by acting like royalty at the iTunes Festival on Thursday evening.
She's Queen B
ONE of the rarest sights in greyhound racing has to be that of a Category One winner in action at Portsmouth, but that is just what is in prospect tonight when Reading Masters winner Jicky goes in the third heat of the Beauty Box At
Mary J's Golden Muzzle over 438m there tonight.
Greyhounds: Open Check: Jicky's prospects are all golden
Angie - the lady with the most magnificent Afro in modern soul - could certainly have pruned this 70-minute-plus epic, and her Time Of The Month is a virtual re-run of
Mary J's recent PMS.
Music: cd releases - Out this week