After her last single Bye Bye went just that- without a single legitimate remix, some fans began to wonder if Mariah Carey had turned her back on a genre of which she was once a unique supporter. Now, she’s making an effort to please those jaded fans with a remix contest for her newest single “I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time”.

The contest couldn’t have come at a better time. Sales for her album E=MC2 haven’t come anywhere near the success of Emancipation (2005), so Mariah has to spark some interest. Personally, I think “…Long Time” is the best single she’s had since Shake It Off, and allowing the fans to be a part of the single is something that flourishes in the internet age. Allowing fans to vote at mariahcarey.com only adds to the interest in the single and hopefully will allow Mariah to return to the charts and the clubs in a similar style to current radio king Jesse McCartney. McCartney hadn’t had a hit in years when he ran a similar contest for his recent single Leavin’, but fan response to the contest and single were so huge that the song currently sits at #1 on radio and peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Generally, remix contests get flooded with computer-made mixes that have no musical integrity to them at all. To make sure the best remix wins, the top 3 will be picked by Mark Sudack, the co-executive producer of E=MC2, and Billboard dance columnist, Kerri Mason. The prizes are pretty fabulous, with 1st place not only having their remix promoted on Mariah’s myspace, Island DefJam’s site, and Mariah’s official site, but pick up $5,000 as well. 2nd place is a ProTools LE Recording System, an awesome package for any aspiring musician, courtesy of sweetwater.com.

Since the early days of her career, Mimi pushed for many of her songs to be remixed, re-singing vocals to fit the structure of a dance mix (something that’s relatively unheard of in the music business). Frequent Mariah remixer, David Morales mixed Emancipation era singles It’s Like That and Say Somethin’, but with the release of Touch My Body, the remix he completed never saw an official release. The lack of remixes for the next single Bye Bye fueled concern that this era wouldn’t see a club anthem from Mariah.

Here’s hoping ….

For any of you Morales wanna-bes and master DJ’s out there, download the a capella and instrumental of the original over at indabamusic.com.

If you want to stay updated on all the remixes that are sure to be pouring in for this track, head to mariahcarey.com and download their remix widget.

For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, here’s the video for I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time, a surefire summer jam.

And, just for nostalgia sake, check out this awesome interview Mariah gave back in ‘98. It’s on the Rosie O’Donnell show and Mimi was promoting “My All”. Dig on the total foreshadowing Rosie does when she says remixes are “good for the club scene”. Represent us gays girls!