Dit is geen MySQL manier om te bereiken wat je wilde. Ik heb een JS manier om te bereiken wat je nodig hebt.
var a = [{"id":1,"tags":"tag1, tag2, tag3"},{"id":2,"tags":"tag2, tag4"}];
var expected =[];
a.forEach( function (eachObj){
var obj = {};
for (var key in eachObj) {
if (eachObj.hasOwnProperty(key) && key ==='tags'){
obj[key] = [eachObj[key]];
}else{
obj[key] = eachObj[key];
}
}
expected.push(obj);
});
console.log(expected);