Mariah Carey is ready to redeem herself, and Ryan Seacrest thinks she deserves the chance to start 2018 on the right foot—or at least the right note. The longtime New Year Rockin’ Eve host told Billboard he is excited for Mariah Carey’s return to ABC’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Time’s Square one year after she rang 2017 in with a rocky performance on live TV.
For New Year’s 2017, Mariah Carey famously struggled through a performance of her song “Emotions,” at one point dancing awkwardly as music played behind her. Mariah later said her earpiece didn’t work, and her manager at the time even accused Dick Clark Productions of sabotaging Carey on purpose with the hopes of getting a “viral moment.” The production company blamed Mariah Carey for the live TV debacle, revealing the superstar singer skipped the all-important sound check and sent a stand-in in her place instead, according to Vanity Fair .
Mariah Carey was still talking about the New Year’s Eve mess nearly two months later. In late February, Carey told Rolling Stone her fans would never be able to comprehend what went wrong behind the scenes at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest , saying most people wouldn’t understand her job because “it’s not what they do.” Carey also blamed others involved in the production as well as herself.
“This was out of my control, and had everything not been such a total chaotic mess, then I would have been able to make something happen,” Carey told Rolling Stone .
“Even the dancers should have stopped dancing and helped me off the f—ing stage. I’m sorry. It was a mess, and I blame everybody, and I blame myself for not leaving after rehearsal.”
While the hoopla marred Mariah Carey’s picture-perfect holiday persona, Ryan Seacrest says the star will attempt to erase the bad memory from fans’ minds with this year’s blockbuster performance.
“We’re excited that she’s coming back,” Seacrest told Billboard .
“It’s actually the perfect thing to do this year because you don’t want last year to be the memory because it wasn’t what everybody wanted to have happen. So the fact that she will come back, and we’ve seen her do this 100 times, she’ll be amazing.”
This is not the first time Ryan Seacrest toasted to second chances. The American Idol host recently told Good Morning America that Mariah Carey deserves a new beginning after 2017’s rocky start.
“New year [is] about new beginnings,” Seacrest told GMA . “She’s a legendary, iconic artist—so we’re excited to have her back to do it again.”
Ryan Seacrest’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve co-host, Jenny McCarthy thinks the bigger struggle this year will be the cold weather expected in New York City on December 31.
“We will struggle,” McCarthy said of the frigid temps. “But I do think that the whole concept of giving someone a second chance like Mariah, who got, you know, really beat up in the press, for Dick Clark productions to say ‘come on back’ you know, give it a second try… I think it’s wonderful.”
In the meantime, TMZ reports that Mariah Carey plans to make the sound check herself this year.
You can see Mariah Carey’s disastrous New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2017 performance below.
