Бренди - "Жақын Емес" (Brandi - "Jaqın Emes")

1999 single by Brandy

"Almost Doesn't Count" is a song by American singer Brandy Norwood. It was written by Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche and recorded by Norwood for her second studio album, Never Say Never (1998). Atlantic Records consulted Fred Jerkins III to recut the song to be more consistent with the overall sound of the album. He would subsequently share production credit along with Roche. A pop and R&B ballad combining elements of country, it incorporates Latin flavored riffs. The song's lyrics are based on an on again, off again relationship that Peiken had experienced during her college years. The song was released as the fourth overall single from Never Say Never on March 23, 1999. "Almost Doesn't Count" received a positive response from most music critics, who called it one of the album highlights, with major praise for Norwood's vocal performance. A commercial success, "Almost Doesn't Count" hit the top twenty in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and on the US Billboard Hot 100. It earned Norwood her third Best Female R&B Vocal Performance nomination at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards and was awarded a BMI Pop Award in 2000. The accompanying music video for "Almost Doesn't Count," filmed by Kevin Bray in the Lancaster area, depicts Norwood as an unnoticed wedding guest in the backyard of an expressway hotel, following the breakdown of her car in the Mojave Desert. Norwood performed the song in the 1999 made for television musical drama film Double Platinum, directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, and starring Diana Ross and herself. She included the song in the set list of various live shows and future tours, including the Never Say Never World Tour, the Human World Tour and the Slayana World Tour.

"Almost Doesn't Count" was written by Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche. Peiken recalled her emotions during a writing session with Roche decades later when she "dug up that laundry list of all the 'almosts' I felt we had, and we put it into the song." Written in the thirty two bar form structure, which the pair considered "very sort of country," Peiken and Roche put the song on the back burner since they were not sure how to finish it, feeling undecided about the genre that they were looking for in the song.

In his review of parent album Never Say Never, Shaheen Chughtai, editor for The Daily Star Lebanon, wrote that "Brandy does have a fine voice, drenched in sex appeal, and in good form on tracks like 'Almost Doesn’t Count'." San Francisco Chronicles Lee Hildebrand described the song as "haunting" and added: "Brandy takes her time with the ballad, wrapping her warm, melismatic alto pipes around their melodic contours with womanly nuance." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic cited the song one of the album's highlights along with "The Boy Is Mine" and "Have You Ever?." Billboard editor Chuck Taylor wrote that "breezy, sensual, straightforward, and drenched with those gorgeous harmonies that are recognizable in an instant, Miss Norwood serves up a tasty slow jam about letting go of love. While the single is a certain bull's eye at mainstream R&B radio – where it'll first be worked – top 40 will undoubtedly be waiting in the wings, licking its chops." Less impressed, Lorraine Ali from Rolling Stone declared "the Spanish guitar and chimes in "Almost Doesn't Count [ ] the cheesiest moment" on Never Say Never. Her colleague Rob Sheffield ranked the song 67th on his The 98 Best Songs of 1998 listing for Rolling Stone and called it a "a doleful weeper where Ms. Norwood comes close to true love – but alas, not close enough – over a flourish of Latin acoustic guitar." Music Week labeled the song a "smoochy ballad" with "its typically Smooth production, Spanish guitars, Lazy groove and Brandy's breathy vocals." The publication also felt that it could be commercial success like her previously released singles from the same album. In 2020, Lela Olds from Vibe, ranked the song eighth on his Brandy's 15 Best Songs listing. One of the most performed songs of the year, "Almost Doesn't Count" was honored with BMI Citations of Achievement at the BMI Pop Awards in 2000. In addition, the song earned Norwood her third nomination in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, though she lost to Whitney Houston's "It's Not Right but It's Okay."

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref. (Reference) United States March 23, 1999 Rhythmic contemporary, urban radio Atlantic April 13, 1999 Contemporary hit radio United Kingdom June 7, 1999 CD, cassette Japan June 9, 1999 CD

In March 2000, American country music artist Mark Wills released a cover of the song as the second single from his third studio album, Permanently. Hisversion reached number 19 on Billboards US Hot Country Songs chart. Wills's cover marked his second R&B cover following his late 1999 cover of Brian McKnight's "Back at One" (1998). An accompanying music video was directed by Michael Salomon and premiered in March 2000. It was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. There are two different videos, both with the same concept but with different scenes.

In 2007, the song was sampled by Ali & Gipp in the single "Almost Made Ya," featuring vocals by LeToya Luckett and production by Jermaine Dupri. In 2023, singer Alex Vaughn covered "Almost Doesn't Count" as part of Spotify's Black Music Month. Her version was produced by Bryan Michael Cox.