live performance on ABC’s annual New
Year’s Rockin’ Eve broadcast from New
York City’s Times Square. After starting
off her three-song set with “Auld
Lang Syne,” Carey, 46, complained
that her earpiece and monitor
weren’t working. Grinning awkwardly,
she spoke to the crowd
over the pre-recorded soundtrack
of her singing—clear evidence she
was supposed to lip-sync the performance.
During her hit “Emotions,”
Carey explained in a
noticeably scratchy voice, “We
didn’t have a [sound] check for this
song, so we’ll just say it went to
No. 1. We can’t hear, but I’ll just get through
the moment.” Carey’s representatives later
said they warned the producers that her ear
monitors were not working, and said she
was “set up to fail.” Dick Clark Productions
called that claim “defamatory, outrageous,
and frankly absurd.”