Mariah Carey made headlines around the world after she suffered a series of technical difficulties during a performance on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest on Saturday, December 31. But what went wrong?
“There was a production issue and technical difficulties,” the pop diva’s rep tells Us Weekly. “There unfortunately was nothing she could do to continue with the performance given the circumstances.”
Carey’s performance in Times Square was amiss from the start. She kicked off the evening with her rendition of “Auld Lang Syne,” but viewers quickly noticed that her backing vocal track didn’t match up with what she appeared to be singing. She then transitioned into her 1991 single “Emotions,” but told the audience she was unable to hear the music due to a faulty earpiece. (Carey’s rep also confirms the earpiece wasn’t working.)
A source tells Us that the five-time Grammy winner and her team “only had a quick run-through” ahead of the televised performance and that the wrong “Emotions” backing track played, adding to Carey’s confusion on stage. “She was so thrown off she couldn’t go through with it,” the insider explains. “Without the right tracks, it messed her up and threw her off from even faking it.”
As Carey awkwardly sauntered around the stage during her final song, “We Belong Together,” she appeared to admit defeat, lowering her microphone away from her face as the prerecorded number continued to play. “This is the album version,” she admitted before exiting the stage. “It just don’t get any better.”
Many social media users criticized the performance as “disastrous” and a “train wreck,” prompting the singer to explain the snafu in a post of her own. “S–t happens,” she tweeted on Sunday, January 1. “Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.”
