When discussing her new The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition on Saturday, Mariah Carey casually plugged the release date (it dropped Tuesday) after stating the title.

"Rappers do it, why can't I?" she asked, as dozens of rappers were probably doing just that at the Vibe Awards taking place around her.

These days, after the success of the original The Emancipation of Mimi (4 million sold in the U.S. alone), Mariah can do just about anything she wants. The question, then, is what will she do next?

"I'm definitely gonna take some time off," said the singer, who's been promoting the album nonstop since its April release. "I'm totally excited for the holidays, which is like ... I'm queen of festivities, that's my bag, but I think I have to figure out what my next thing is gonna be."

While she determines where to go with her Mimi follow-up, Mariah plans to keep promoting Ultra Platinum Edition with at least one more video. (She refused to reveal for which track.)

Currently, she's enjoying continued airplay with "Don't Forget About Us," which was the initial reason for re-releasing the album.

"'Don't Forget About Us' was a song that Jermaine [Dupri] and I started writing and didn't finish, and L.A. Reid heard it. He was excited about it and he was like, 'We should re-release the album,' " Carey recalled. "And I'm happy 'cause I got to do another video, I'm gonna do some more videos, and I got to do some more exciting collaborations, so it's cool and really a thank-you to my fans — that's kind of like a constant theme in my life."

Along with the new single, the Ultra Platinum Edition features three other unreleased tracks, "So Lonely (One and Only Part 2)," a remix of "We Belong Together" featuring Jadakiss and Styles P., and "Making It Last All Night (What It Do)" featuring Jermaine Dupri.

The re-release also includes a link to download the "Don't Forget About Us" video, which re-teamed Mariah with Paul Hunter, who directed her favorite video of her career, "Honey."

"It deserved an MTV Award, but once again I got shut out, as would be the standard," Carey, who lost again at this year's Video Music Awards, complained. "But I was so happy to work with him again 'cause ever since 'Honey' I've been trying to relive the splendor of that moment. It's more of just a plain beauty piece with sentimental overtones, but it was great to work with Paul again."

Mariah has called "Don't Forget About Us" a basic love song (see "Marilyn Monroe Inspires Mariah To Shed Clothes For New Video") and chose not to elaborate further on Saturday.

"I try not to get too specific so that people can apply the lyrics to their own lives," she explained. "When I was growing up and listening to the radio and I would hear a song that reminded me of a certain person or a situation or whatever, I would want to be able to completely connect it to that moment. And then if I heard someone explaining it and making it into something totally different, it ruined it for me. So I kind of like to keep it open for people's imaginations."

Carey will perform the song at Tuesday's American Music Awards as well as on Thanksgiving during halftime of the Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons game.