It feels like Mariah Carey’s disastrous New Year’s Eve performance happened five years ago, but it was just one year ago, NYE 2016. Mariah came in at the last minute to perform on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, and the performance was an unmitigated disaster. Very little of it was actually Mariah’s fault, actually – Dick Clark productions f–ked it all up, and then they hung Mariah out to dry, like it was all her fault. What happened? The wrong backing track was queued, Mariah was incapable of vamping, and it didn’t seem like anyone told her what to do when everything went sideways, like there was no one saying “throw to commercial!” Mariah’s people were mad about it for months, and in a New Year’s miracle, I ended up defending Mariah because I honestly didn’t think what happened was her fault.
So for some reason – The Redemption of The Elusive Butterfly Chanteuse – Mariah agreed to perform again on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve one year later. She came to the rehearsals. She knew her spots. She performed with the correct backing tracks. Everything went off without a hitch… except no one brought her the hot tea she requested.
Mariah Carey asking for hot tea during her NYE performance pic.twitter.com/IHOxdCoIke
— mariah carey archive (@mariaharchive) January 1, 2018
“Happy New Year, I just want to take a sip of tea, if they let me. They told me there would be tea…Oh! It’s a disaster. Okay, well, we’ll just have to rough it. I’m going to be like everybody else, with no hot tea.” Again, it’s another New Year’s miracle: I’m defending her. They should have given Mariah her TEA. She was performing in subzero temperatures, she’s worried about her voice, and of course she needed her tea. BRING HER SOME TEA. Anyway, this is now “the first meme of 2018.” Enjoy.
If Mariah Carey can make it through that performance without her hot tea, then I can make it through another year
— jaden (@jadenalana) January 1, 2018
honestly, best way to sum up 2017:
“They told me I would get my hot tea. What a disaster.”
-Mariah Carey
— Diana (@dmincolla) January 1, 2018
The first time life throws you a curve in 2018 just remember: Mariah Carey made it through without her hot tea. You can make it through too.
— Jason Pederson (@KATVJason) January 1, 2018
“They told me there’d be hot tea.” —Mariah Carey/me going into 2018
— Tim Federle (@TimFederle) January 1, 2018
Found my tea! 🍵 pic.twitter.com/r5EIIbT5Zw
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) January 1, 2018
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I would have poured that hot tea on all that exposed skin to keep it warm. Everyone else on stage was bundled up, no skin showing and there was Mariah.
Imagine Dragons had on tee shirts. 🙂
I only saw her performance. By accident as we were channel flipping. But everyone on stage with her had closed coats, scarves, some hats and gloves – except the pianist and I worried for his hands.
Imagine dragons were in NOLA
And it’s below freezing in NOLA!!
There’s a big difference between 30 degrees and 2 degrees. I’ve stood outside in t-shirts or without a coat on days when the temperature is at or just below freezing. If you’re moving around, it isn’t so bad. But arctic cold like we have had in the northeast? Such exposure is dangerous.
If those implants froze — yikes!
She paid for them so she can buy more. Jeesh. I know laughing at a women’s fake boobs is supposed to imply a woman is a cheap tart but post-Weinstein I’m just not in the mood. Shall we discuss Seacrest’s permafrozen forehead?
I did NOT even recognize Seacrest when I saw him on TV.
I said the same thing to my husband. I did not recognize Seacrest.
@enough already I know right! We kept pulling up pictures on google to look at his old face. Eye work and Botox for sure.
Not to mention Jenny ‘here’s my new face for 2018’ McC. It was literally painful watching her mug for the camera.
I’m pretty sure the stages in both locations were heated somewhat. Nick Jonas’ band/backup singers were all without gloves and in 10 degree weather that’s going to cause some issues right quick.
I’m sure they had tower heaters or something, but it was windy and cold, so they wouldn’t help that much.
I want to pretend that the tea would have brought back those notes. I want to pretend that there wasn’t supposed to be vodka in the tea. Still, Mimi forever and ever! When she finished I found myself sighing and smiling beneficently with clasped hands. Hang in there, glitter bomb.
All this.
She may be over the top, but there’s room in the world for Mimi.
I agree. I enjoyed her performance. I find nothing wrong with her “asking” for tea. She did not “demand” it as I’ve seen posted online. She simply asked where it was and said that she was told hot tea would be available. That’s not being a DIVA, it’s being human, IMO.
Hell, I sit by the window and sip hot tea when I WATCH my husband shoveling snow.
I wasn’t really feeling the vision of love part, but she did a pretty good job with Hero.
I’m sorry but I think she’s hilarious. I enjoy her extra persona.
Same here😁
Cidykitty, I agree with you. When I was younger I rolled my eyes at her antics but the older I get the more I enjoy her and her craziness.
You go Mariah. I’d do the same if I were in your shoes! Diva all the way.
Add me.
She’s like…. if Anthropologie made a weird but wonderful cat toy.
Never change, Liberty.
Ditto! I have a friend who reminds me so much of Mimi that I can’t hate. Between her hot tea and Steve Harvey’s NYE ensemble, I had a couple of really good laughs over the weekend!
I have always enjoyed her. Her extra, diva personality is very entertaining. I always liked her Cribs episode when she walked on the treadmill in stilettos. A childhood friend of mine posted “can we just cancel Mariah Carey already?” after her performance, and I had to fight every urge to say something snarky lol.
A treadmill in stilettos, I love it!
I loved her closets! Especially her lingerie closet that was larger than my favorite lingerie store.
For some reason,I can’t stop laughing over the way she’s asking for that tea,oh Mariah!Vocally the first song I was worried,but she more then redeemed herself on “Hero”..Brave Of her to go out there again!
Love her. You do you, Mimi.
I thought the tea thing was a joke. The way she said it, was kind of cheeky. Like “hey you guys expect a diva moment from me so here ya go!” Either way, I don’t blame her. I’m in DC and it is COLD. Can’t imagine what it was like being in New York, wearing…well… whatever that was she had on. Good job Mariah!
Thats what I thought too, she was poking fun at herself because she knew 99% of viewers were only tuning in to see if she would melt down again.
Mariah was freezing her behind but she DID look pretty in that glittery little outfit she was wearing.
0 degrees Fahrenheit is the freezing point of ocean water. So what happens if it gets so cold that the saline in Mariah’s implants freeze?
LOL, good joke, thanks I needed it. Oh yes her implants must have been close to frozen ha ha.
If Mariah needs her hot tea…give her hot tea!!! I’m here for it all. Lol, I’ve always enjoyed the extra Mariah brings.
Are usually watch but missed it this year. I can’t imagine how anyone performed in that weather, it has been so brutally cold.
For real. It is freezing still! I’m in the D.C. area and the HVAC system in my apartment is so not up to the challenge of counteracting this cold. Thank God for space heaters!
I feel ya. I live in the suburbs of D.C. in Maryland and it’s freezing. We have space heaters in pretty much every room of the house and it’s still cold. And it’s only going to get colder.
Also, Mariah is my favorite forever diva.
I feel for you. I hate the cold and currently it’s -15C. We however, get a huge rise in temp this weekend. It’s supposed to go all the way to 0C. Never looked forward to a zero so much in my life.
I’m glad she finally ditched the dancers and skimpy outfits. However, she is no Celine or Adele. You would hope that just Mariah and a microphone would showcase her talent but….the talent is just not there anymore. She sounded off-key, couldn’t do any high notes. Ok, she wasn’t a complete disaster this time, but to say it was a succes.. no.
Adele? Honey, Adele better hope she can do it for as long as Mariah has.
Ok, Adele might not have been the best comparison. But I do think that right now, she is a better singer than Mariah. But agreed, who knows for how long.
Mariah is almost 20 years older than Adele though. If you want to compare late 90s Mariah to Adele, that’s fair, but we will see how Adele sings in her late 40s.
Good point.
Like, not to start the new year off with some singer discourse, but Adele and Celine don’t have the vocal range that Mariah did. Even Adele already messed up her vocal cords before, and it shows, I’m not sure how plausible it was to expect Mariah to keep up the level of talent she had.
I disagree,She still has it…I just think she has to “work for it more”now,as to when she was younger.She is,& will be “Thee voice”…Sorry.
I was hoping she’d make it through and she did (mostly). What I thought was a totally unnecessary and unprofessional slam was brought by Jenny McCarthy who later commented on air that she was so glad that Mariah had done well and how gracious it was of Dick Clark Productions to have “given Mariah another chance” and how everyone deserves another shot at redemption. The narrative still seems to be that DCP was completely without fault and that Mariah was completely to blame. Slow clap for DCP for their gracious and generous gesture. 🙄 No clap for McCarthy.
TRUE icon. I can’t believe the woman who had me singing notes I had no business trying to hit as a kid, is still bringing me so much joy in my 30s.
Used to be a fan but she so unprofessional and out there, I can’t stand her. I know, I know, like she cares what I think. 🤣
I get you. She is less singer and more “performer” — now living in Professional Diva Land…where the “Great Ones” go to retire. That’s the place where residents demand a lot of extra …and tip the little folks with extra big sighs of exasperation.
She’s still an icon. Yes, she isn’t the singer she once was and sings lower than she used to and can no longer sing the high notes and even the vocal gymnastics she used to do don’t sound nearly as good. But so what? She’s an entertainer.
Give her tea. The vocal cords struggle to hit the highs and lows when exposed to very cold air.
I just came to say I enjoyed it, missed notes and all. And dare I say it—she looked gorgeous. Crazy for not bundling up but diva throwback gorgeous.
For all the talk of her being a total Diva, when things go bad, Mariah stays put and toughs it out , usually to her own embarrassment. A real diva would walk off stage rather than deal with it. There’s something about that that I enjoy.
She sounded awful…has for years. Is she a drug user or a smoker? I don’t understand why her voice deteriorated at such a young age. I’d think she’d take better care of it.