2016 was a year of mourning for the music industry. We were shocked at the sudden death of the artist formerly known as Prince and equally devastated after David Bowie passed away after his secretive battle with cancer. However, on New Year’s Eve at approximately 11:38 p.m., we may have seen the death of another iconic artist, or rather, her career.
Unless you abstain from social media completely and did not tune in to watch Dick Clark’s New tear’s Rockin’ Eve on Dec. 31, you’re probably aware of the train wreck that was Mariah Carey’s performance. Surrounded by dancers parading around stage and waving feathers at her, Carey failed to perform her hit single, “Emotions.” Instead of astounding audiences in Times Square and around the world with her iconic high-notes, Carey pranced on stage and interjected with complaints about being unable to hear the music despite her dancers remaining completely on beat. She also attempted to save the already doomed showcase, however her voice continued to fall flat. Additionally, some of her pre-recorded high-notes and vocals played while she continued to mention her inability to hear. Carey is no stranger to disastrous public performances after isolated vocals of her 2014 Rockefeller Center performance in which her cracking voice struggled through “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Knowing her tendency to be a diva, it’s no surprise that the situation unfolded the way it did.
The world of live television performances, while ideally perfect, has the potential to take a turn for the worst; and it certainly has in the past. Mariah Carey’s snafu on New Year’s Eve is very reminiscent of Ashlee Simpson’s lip-syncing debacle in 2004. As Simpson prepared to perform a second song on Saturday Night Live, the track to a previous song she performed that night, “Pieces of Me,” began to play in which her pre-recorded vocals were programmed. At the end of the show, Simpson issued a shallow apology while simultaneously blaming her band for playing the wrong song despite the track revealing that she had seemingly lip synced the song before. This event has been attributed as the nail in the coffin for Simpson’s career as a singer.
What’s interesting about Simpson getting caught red-handed is that artists have been caught lip-syncing before, yet it often does not lead to the death of their careers. Sometimes lip-syncing is a safe option for live television and a performers vocal cords when dealing with minimal preparation and extreme temperatures. Beyoncé admitted to lip-syncing at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2013. The temperature outside was frigid and she added that, “[she] did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra,” and that, “due to not proper sound check, [she] did not feel comfortable taking a risk.” After receiving criticism for her decision, Beyoncé surprised the audience at a press conference for her Super Bowl performance with a spot-on rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner,” thus proving that she was more than capable of singing the song with proper preparation.
There have been several other instances where artists have come clean and admitted to this common industry practice. What’s interesting is that these accounts of lip-syncing had a minimal effect on these artist’s careers. The overarching theme here is that whether or not an artist lip-syncs is not necessarily the main reason why someone gets career crippling backlash when caught. The driving factors that determine the impact of backlash are how an artist handles the controversy, how established they are in the industry, and whether they prove their talent within a short time after getting caught.
While Carey is a revered performer and certainly has the ability to sing well (although whether she is still able to sing as well as she could in her heyday is debatable), the way she handled the controversy could cause an issue. When Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-syncing, she was quick to use her band as a scapegoat. Carey and her team were also quick to place blame on the Dick Clark production team who have since refuted their claim that anything regarding production went haywire. Simpson putting blame on her band for her own shortcomings ended her career because she was relatively new to the industry, and potential listeners were thrown off by her dishonesty and failure to prove her talent. Simpson’s situation may not be identical to Carey’s, but nevertheless, it could have an effect on ticket sales for future live shows and has earned her a reputation as a decaying pop star desperately attempting to climb back to her career’s peak.
