Mariah Carey ends 2016 on a low note with a 'disastrous' and embarrassing New Year's Eve performance, just 20 minutes before the year ends.
The iconic pop singer performed on the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve television event, which airs in the US run-up to midnight on December 31. Taking to the outdoor stage at New York City’ Times Square, Mariah Carey’s performance was notably marred by technical issues.
After opening with a snippet of the New Year’s eve traditional "Auld Lang Syne" , her performance lead into her 1991 hit "Emotions". Carey remarked throughout the song that she was unable to hear her backing track. As the instrumentals to the song was playing, Carey just awkwardly stood there and asked the crowd to sing. While she did that, her trademark melismatic vocal whistle can be heard in the backing track, revealing that she could have lipsynced the parts and no one would notice.
On her second song, "We Belong Together", she briefly sang the song without incident, but abruptly stopped —revealing that she had been lip syncing. After the disastrous performance, Carey, in true diva fashion, walked away.
A representative of the singer claimed that Carey had alerted production staff that her in-ear monitors were not working, but that they refused to address the situation, and alleged that they were "[setting] her up to fail. Dick Clark Productions denied any wrongdoing, stating that they "had no involvement" in the incident, and that the allegations by Carey's management that they had intentionally sabotaged her performance were "defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd."
“As the premier producer of live television events for nearly 50 years, we pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists,” Dick Clark Productions’ statement read. “To suggest that DCP, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.
“In very rare instances there are of course technical errors that can occur with live television, however, an initial investigation has indicated that [Dick Clark Productions] had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance. We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms. Carey as an artist and acknowledge her tremendous accomplishments in the industry.”
Mariah Carey addressed the incident on Twitter, a few hours after it happened.
Shit happens ? Have a happy and healthy new year everybody!? Here's to making more headlines in 2017 ? pic.twitter.com/0Td8se57jr
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) January 1, 2017
#rhythmofthecity #y101fm #alwaysfirst #entertainment