Grammy winning singer-songwriter Mariah Carey became a trending topic for all the wrong
reasons at the end of 2016, thanks to her disastrous New Year's Eve performance.
But that was just the latest episode in a bizarre and tumultuous year that had fans
everywhere concerned for the diva.
Here's why we're worried about Mariah Carey.
That New Year's Eve mess
Plenty of performers secretly lip synch when they take the stage, and a few have even gotten
busted doing it.
But it's hard to think of another live performance that ever went off the rails as spectacularly
as Carey's Times Square debacle on New Year's Rockin' Eve.
"The performance spiraling into disaster."
"We can't hear but, I'll just get through the moment, ok?"
"Mariah Carey standing on stage not singing.
Speaking to the audience while her vocals could be heard."
Yikes.
After the train wreck performance, Carey immediately started trending on Twitter, Facebook, and
just about everywhere else.
One Twitter user commented, "ISIS just took responsibility for Mariah Carey's performance."
Another blamed Russian hackers.
Some folks complained of "secondhand embarrassment," while others rushed to see who could get the
best meme out first.
Blame game
Sources close to Carey told TMZ she suspected she was "sabotaged" to nab higher ratings.
Insiders claim she repeatedly told Dick Clark Productions that her inner ear monitors weren't
working throughout the night, and her TelePrompter was reportedly broken as well, leaving her
without audio or video for the performance.
"You're getting ready?"
"Me?"
"You're always ready."
Carey's manager, Stella Bulochnikov, griped to Us Weekly that she was "furious" with the
show's producers.
"Mariah did them a favor.
She was the biggest star there and they did not have their s**t together.
They acknowledged that they knew her inner ears were not working.
They did not cut to a commercial.
They did not cut to the West Coast feed, they left her out there to get ratings."
Of course, Dick Clark Productions strongly denied the allegations, calling the sabotage
talk "defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd," while the owner of the company that makes
the sound equipment told the Los Angeles Times, "Every monitor and in-ear device worked perfectly.
I can't comment beyond that and don't know what her nontechnical issue may have been."
Fox News provided a unique theory about those nontechnical issues: weed?
Carey herself maintained a sense of humor, posting this tweet and writing, "Have a happy
and healthy new year everybody!
Here's to making more headlines in 2017."
Bad breakups
Of course, Carey had been making plenty of headlines long before she took the stage in
Times Square.
In 2014, Carey's split from then-husband Nick Cannon directly affected her live performances,
including a taping of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting, so it's possible
her September 2016 split from billionaire fiancé James Packer may be taking a toll
on her yet again.
She reportedly found out through the media that her engagement to Packer was over, and
shortly after, Carey canceled a South American tour, citing emotional distress.
Unstable?
After her breakup, sources close to Packer told People Magazine, "It's typical Mariah
to just twist things that don't sound good to her.
They split because she has issues…Mariah has had mental breakdowns in the past.
She hasn't been acting very mentally stable lately."
It wouldn't be the first time.
After the failure of her movie, Glitter, and a bad breakup in 2001, Carey underwent psychiatric
treatment, with some sources claiming she even attempted suicide at the time.
Carey's own close friend, Lee Daniels, told the Bevelations radio show in May 2016, "She
is very fragile, and she has been through a lot.
She has been used, she has been abused…
She is misunderstood."
Unhelpful helpers
Carey insiders blame a lot of her recent failures on her management team, especially manager
Bulochnikov, who joined the team after Carey parted ways with her longtime management and
publicity teams.
A source told Page Six: "It seems as if Mariah has allowed a complete stranger, her new manager,
to run her life, and others believe this woman is toxic."
Some believe Bulochnikov also manipulated Carey into doing the reality show Mariah's
World, with a source telling Page Six: "Stella is the furthest thing from a manager.
She's a TV producer.
She's practically moved in with Mariah and now she has so much stuff on her that she
can get her to do anything.
She's pulling the strings, and Mariah does whatever she says."
Bulochnikov has denied all these claims.
Downmarket moves
Aside from her reality show, some longtime Lambs are worried Carey is just taking anything
offered to her in order to make a quick buck, possibly at the expense of her legacy.
She made an admittedly hilarious ad for Game of War, but she also shilled Match.com in
her "Infinity" music video, and fans criticized her in January 2016 for blatantly promoting
an app on Facebook.
It seems a little unnecessary for someone of her stature.
She can turn it around
It looks bad right now, but Carey will have every chance to spin things in her favor.
Besides her ongoing reality show, Carey is also heading on tour with Lionel Richie in
the spring of 2017, giving her the opportunity to prove she still has the chops to put on
a top notch show.
If she puts in the work and displays her patented sense of humor, there's no doubt that Carey
can turn this into a truly rockin' new year.
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