Since 1974, Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve has been on almost every television set on Dec. 31. The show was hosted by Dick Clark originally, but since the industry legend’s demise due to a heart attack in 2012, popular television personality Ryan Seacrest has stepped in as the main host. He is assisted by Jenny McCarthy and Fergie as well. The program ranges from a fantastic television event to background noise, depending on the particular performances. Not all musical acts presented can be perfect, but this year (or rather, this past year), one musical act landed itself in the news for being astonishingly bad.
The vocalist whose performance has been a topic of negative discussion is Mariah Carey. When Ms. Carey entered the stage, she was dressed in a sequined outfit, surrounded by male dancers. Like most performers, she began by yelling out “Happy New Year,” and other various greetings. Throughout the performance it became clear that she did not know what was going on. She rarely sang or even attempted to lip sync. She just sloppily went through the choreography, occasionally spouting phrases like “Let’s go,” “I’m trying to be a good sport here,” and “Get the feathers up.”
After the unfortunate incident, Carey’s press team has furiously tried to save face with the public. They released statements claiming that Carey did everything she could to have a successful performance. They reported that she showed up for rehearsals early and was on time for her performance. The problem, according to them, lied in the earpieces she was wearing. As they were coming closer and closer to the performance, Carey kept telling tech workers that the sound coming into her earpiece was either distorted or not there at all. She couldn’t hear the music. According to her publicist, Carey was repeatedly told that when they went live, the sound through her earpiece would be perfect. When they went live, the sound through the earpiece was less than perfect. She reportedly removed the earpiece to see if she could hear through the speakers, but due to the roar of Times Square and the way New York skyscrapers distort sound, all she heard was pandemonium. Carey’s team has stated that she did the best she could under the circumstances.
Mariah Carey herself went out of her way to blame the production crew of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest for her misfortunes. She claimed that if Dick Clark were still alive and there, he would’ve never let it happen. She even went as far to say that she was sabotaged. The producers of the show stated that Carey’s claims are “absurd.” Carey has vowed that in the future she will only use her own team to work her performances.
We all know all Mariah Carey wants for Christmas is you, but what do you think she wants for New Years? Probably a better ear piece.