Mariah Carey battles technical problems leading to awkward New Year's Eve performance at Times Square

'That was... Amazing'

Jack Shepherd
Sunday 01 January 2017 10:27 GMT
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Mariah Carey's performance disintegrates on New Year's Eve

In the years to come, no doubt people will look back at 2016 with disappointment: the UK voted Brexit, Trump became the next President of the United States, and the world lost David Bowie.

Global megastar Mariah Carey - singer of that Christmas song you’re glad you won’t have to hear for another year - will likely be one of those people. Not because of her political stance, but because her New Year’s Eve performance was, unfortunately, a technical mess.

Appearing on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, Carey took to the stage in New York City’s Times Square to sing a medley of hits.

Entering via a tunnel of feathers, she belted out NY classic “Auld Lang Syne,” yet something was clearly wrong from the beginning: her lips weren’t quite in sync with the vocals.

Moving into the song “Emotions,” Carey addressed the problem, saying “Well, happy New Year! We can’t hear, but I’ll just get through the moment, okay.”

Unfortunately, though, things did not get sorted, with the singer failing to sing the majority of the song, revealing there was no sound check beforehand, finishing the song by sarcastically saying: "That was… Amazing.”

Taking on the ballad “We Belong Together,” Carey was visibly struggling to stay in sync with the pre-recorded vocals, finishing by telling the audience “It just don’t get any better,” and walking off stage.

As expected, Tweeters were quick to comment on the performance, calling her sync a disaster. However, the best comment probably came from Run the Jewels’ El-P, who wrote: I don't think I've seen anyone ever give less f***s than Mariah Carey lip syncing on TV tonight and it makes me like her more.”

Carey used the social media platform to brush off the performance, writing alongside a GIF of herself: “Shit happens. Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here's to making more headlines in 2017.”

Just before Christmas, Carey made headlines by posting a video to her Instagram account showing her and her daughter singing along to “All I Want For Christmas”.

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