Mariah Carey is stepping back into the New Year’s Eve spotlight once again, and this time, she’s doing it on her own terms. The pop icon and former “American Idol” judge is set to appear on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” a return that has fans buzzing years after her infamous on-air mishap, with many curious to see how this latest performance will play out as the countdown to the new year begins.
Mariah Carey Doing It Again
ABC announced the list of performers for “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” earlier this month, and many people were shocked to see Mariah’s name on that list. After the big mishap during New Year’s Eve 2017, would she really be doing it all over again?
Yes, she would be, but not like she did in 2017. Mariah’s performance for tonight was pre-recorded from Las Vegas during her Christmas residency, “Christmastime In Las Vegas” at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
There can’t be a botched performance when it’s pre-recorded, right?
UPDATE: Mariah performed “Obsessed” for her NYE 2026 performance. Was it better? You be the judge from this clip!
The 2017 Mishap
Mariah Carey appeared on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” in 2016. Her highly anticipated performance took place right before the ball dropped, and we were ready to welcome in 2017.
However, the night got off to a rough start for Mariah. The music seemed to be off, and it appeared that she was supposed to be lip-syncing. As her first song continued on, she started saying that she couldn’t hear.
Meanwhile, her dancers continued to carry on with their performances while she just walked around on the stage. She seemed to be only slightly going through the motions.
Clearly over it, Carey said she was just going to let the crowd sing instead. She tried to explain that the vocal track was missing, and she couldn’t hear. She seemed to have given up on the performance. Once that first song ended, there was still another song to be performed.
However, that second song did go better for Carey. However, she was not happy with things, saying, “I’m trying to be a good sport here.”
Once her performance was done, she left the stage. She added one final sarcastic statement, “Guess it doesn’t get better than this.”
Carey kept up that sarcasm as she went to social media after the performance. She wrote, “[expletive] happens. 😄 Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! 🎉 Here’s to making more headlines in 2017 😂.”
We shall see what happens tonight. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” kicks off live at 8/7c on ABC and will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.
