Mariah Carey recently had a disastrous performance in Times Square during New Year’s Eve. She still won’t take responsibility for the performance and even claims to have been sabotaged by her producer.  Her reason is that her earpiece was not working so she could not hear the song.

It was already shocking that she was allowed to lip-sync her own song, especially if it was watched by thousands of people in Times Square and millions of people around the globe. She had to lip-sync to her own voice since her voice is not as it used to be. Shouldn’t someone whose voice is still strong be the one performing?

At first the show started off well enough with “Auld Lang Syne,” but it quickly turned catastrophic during “Emotions.” While watching her performance, it was obvious that she completely gave up. She didn’t even try to recover, while the dancers around her were performing like nothing had happened. Every performer learns at one point, the importance of continuing and not giving up. One must be able to overlook their mistakes and continue no matter what. Instead, Mariah Carey just started commenting while her own song was playing in the background. She gave commands to her dancers such as, “Just flip me because you know how to do it.” Her following song was no better, as she attempted to sing “We Belong Together” for a few seconds before going back to talking. She ended her performance with the comment, “It just don’t get any better,” and walked off stage.

Her performance brings up the question: Are stars allowed to mess up anymore? Yes, the show was faulty, but is it really worth attacking just Mariah Carey? If what she says is true about her earpiece not working, then the tech crew are the ones who are partially to blame. As mentioned, it was one of the most viewed performances of the year. Therefore, the problems with the earpiece should have been fixed before the performance or even during. Carey claims that her performance was sabotaged, and although it is possible, it is not certain. Paige Richey (10), commented that when she saw Carey perform she thought, “Mariah Carey could’ve handled the situation better than she did, but the techs are to blame, not her.”

It’s still ridiculous how Mariah Carey could not sing along to her own songs. She sang them and most likely practiced for hours beforehand. Furthermore, one of the most important things that a performer learns is that they must keep going no matter what. In other words, the show must go on. One of the main reasons for the media criticizing Carey is that she seemed to have completely given up when she found that her earpiece was not working. Overall, Mariah Carey could have better handled the situation she was in, despite the technical difficulties that caused her troublesome performance.