The final moments of 2016 did not go according to plan for Mariah Carey.
Her New Year’s Eve performance in Times Square in New York City on Saturday night has gone viral, for unfortunate reasons. It took an unusual turn because of apparent technical difficulties.
Carey struggled to get through her headlining set on the ABC broadcast of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” It was clear that something was off when she tried to sing her early hit “Emotions.”
“We can’t hear,” she noted.
Carey continued to try to explain the situation to the crowd: “We didn’t have a [soundcheck] for this song, so we’ll just say it went to #1 and that’s what it is.”
A little later, she pointed the microphone toward the fans and announcing that she would let them sing.
The technical issues apparently persisted as she moved on to her song “We Belong Together.” She decided to stop singing, but a prerecorded vocal could still be heard.