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ABC/ Lou RoccoMariah Carey says a malfunctioning ear piece was to blame for her botched performance during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.
The singer opened her set Saturday night with the New Year’s classic “Auld Lang Syne,” but she stopped singing altogether during her performance of her 1991 hit “Emotions.”
“We can’t hear,” Mariah told the crowd in Times Square, trying to continue. “We didn’t have a sound check, but it’s New Year’s, baby. It’s OK, guys.”
The singer seemed to brush off the mishap hours later on Twitter. “S*** happens,” she wrote. “Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here’s to making more headlines in 2017.”
Reps for Mariah at BWR told ABC News that the singer was dealing with many technical difficulties.
“Last night, just prior to taking the stage, Mariah alerted production and the stage managers that her ear piece was not working,” the statement reads. “They told her it would be fine once she was on stage. However, that was not the case and they were again told that her ear piece was not working. Instead of endeavoring to fix the issue so that Mariah could perform, they went live.”
And although Mariah tweeted that she “didn’t have a sound check,” her reps said that the singer did have a rehearsal before her big performance.
A rep for Dick Clark Productions denied any implication that the mishap was intentional.
“We pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists,” the statement reads, in part. “To suggest that dcp, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.”
The statement adds that “an initial investigation has indicated that dcp had no involvement in the challenges” Mariah faced.
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