Mariah Carey Gave 2016 The Send-Off It Deserved

The singer’s lip sync debacle closed out 2016 in the most fitting way possible

It was the lip-sync botch heard ’round the world as Mariah Carey confusedly stumbled through most of her Times Square New Year’s Eve concert last night. But considering what an absolute dumpster fire shitshow this year was, her performance was fitting in every way.

Basically, if 2016 were a musical performance, it was Mariah Carey last night.

Miss Mariah started things off semi-OK, lip-syncing her way through a clearly prerecorded rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Though she wasn’t singing live, it was still passable.

And then, all hell broke loose.

The opening notes of her famous hit “Emotions” blare from the speakers as Carey looks visibly thrown. She can be heard saying that she’s having trouble hearing, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Carey claimed during the performance that her vocal track was missing. As she fumbled her way through the opening of “Emotions” and then took a similar approach to “We Belong Together,” she said, “I’m trying to be a good sport here,” probably alluding to the lack of cooperation from whatever sound guy is likely out of a job on this first magical day of 2017.

Of course, Twitter took notice of the snafu, laying into Carey for her inability to make it work. But the overall consensus? Mariah Carey’s performance last night was the only way to close out a year as fucking ridiculous as 2016.

As we watched, mildly horrified as Carey embarrassed herself, we couldn’t help thinking this was pretty much all of us over the last year. Dazed, confused, and eventually just saying “fuck it” and giving up. 2016 was a complete mess, and Mariah Carey was only keeping with the theme by turning in this disaster of a performance.

In the end, it was the diva herself who summed it up best. You do you, girl. Let’s hope 2017 is a little kinder to all of us.