Mariah Carey’s mic malfunctions mar NY New Year’s show
Mariah performs during a concert in Times Square on New Year's Eve in New York. - Reuters
NEW YORK: Mariah Carey is surely hoping that 2017 goes better than her 2016 ended.
The pop music diva endured an embarrassing technical meltdown during a New Year’s Eve show witnessed by thousands in New York’s Times Square and millions more across the United States.
The huge malfunction happened during her performance on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest,” billed as “the last big performance of 2016 by Mariah Carey.”
Carey is one of the world’s biggest-selling recording artists, with a boatload of Grammys and other accolades to her credit.
But the sound system malfunctioned badly late Saturday from the opening notes of her performance of “Auld Lang Syne,” leaving Carey flummoxed and visibly defeated.
Wearing a flesh-tone, sheer sequined dress with plunging neckline and stiletto platform shoes, Carey paced along the front of the stage while her backup dancers performed acrobatic moves, in what was supposed to have been the evening’s headlining event minutes before the ball dropped to mark the start of the new year.
”Well, Happy New Year. We can’t hear,” the 46-year-old star told the crowd as her entourage of male backup dancers continued their performance.
”I’m going to let the audience sing, OK?” she says, as the high-spirited crowd went on without her.
At one point, an audio track of Carey singing could be heard, even though she clearly was not singing.
”That was -- I’m leaving,” the singer said in the microphone as the first number ended.
She stayed -- but things did not go better during her performance of “Emotions,” one of her biggest hits, and she halfheartedly mimed her way through the number.
Twitter gleefully erupted in Schadenfreude over Carey’s woes.
”Even Milli Vanilli is embarrassed by Mariah Carey’s debacle,” tweeted @JimmyTraina, referring to an earlier singing duo cruelly mocked for its failed lip synching efforts.
”Mariah Carey just summed up 2016 in a nutshell,” wrote another tweeter, @MatthewLush.
The woeful performance comes at an unfortunate time. Carey’s career recently had been on the ascent.
In addition to the high-profile New Year’s Eve gig, she has been appearing in a new reality TV show “Mariah’s World,” billed by the E! television network as a show that goes “beyond the flashbulbs and fame and into the private life of one of the most celebrated pop divas of all time.”
Hours after Saturday’s disastrous outing, Carey posted a rueful, but somewhat hopeful, tweet.
”Shit happens,” she wrote on Twitter Sunday, with a frownie face emoticon.
”Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.” - AFP
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
Mariah Carey suffered what can only be described as a train wreck live on television as 2016 came to a close. The diva was the headline act of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve but her performance ended up turning into one technical failure after another that meant the star spent more time pacing up and down the stage and talking to the crowd than actually singing.
As Carey took the stage in the final pre-midnight act in the annual Times Square show, the problems were evident from the start, with the classic “Auld Lang Syne.” Carey looked flustered and at one point removed her ear piece. All in all though, she soldiered through.
The real trouble began when she was supposed to start singing her 1991 hit “Emotions.” Right as the music started she sent out a cry for help: “We can’t hear.” The pop diva stood still for a second, with her hand on her hip, seemingly thinking someone was going to do something about the situation. But no one came to assist as she stood by in front of the more than one million people who had gathered in Times Square to watch the ball drop. “We didn’t have a [sound] check for this song so we’ll just say it went to number one and that’s what it is,” she said. Carey tried to sing a bit but then gave up again and decided to “let the audience sing.” Carey’s commentary continued, with highlights including “I’m trying to be a good sport here” and “I want a holiday too, can I not have one?” When it was over she said: “That was … amazing.”
And then things got even worse when her third song came on and she essentially admitted it was going to be a lip sync affair: “this is the album version so I’m just going to … sing along with it. Well not sing, but just have a moment.” At first she seemed to try to mouth the words to the track, but then just gave up and let the recording play. “It just doesn’t get any better,” she said as she left the stage.
Shortly after the performance, Carey sent out a tweet recognizing what a mess the whole thing was while also maintaining a sense of humor: “Shit happens. Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.”
Have a happy and healthy new year everybody!
Here's to making more headlines in 2017 
Twitter obviously had a field day with the whole thing.
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