‘All Was Well at Rehearsal’: Mariah Carey Rep Says the Singer Attended Sound Checks for New Year’s Eve Performance
Mariah Carey‘s not so rockin’ New Year’s Eve performance was not due to a lack of rehearsal, a representative for the singer tells PEOPLE.
The rep says that Carey rehearsed at 3 p.m. “She went through vocals and her team ran through sound. All was well at rehearsal. She was prompt for rehearsal and her performance.”
In photos and a video posted by TMZ, Carey can be seen rehearsing with backup dancers prior to her performance for the ABC special Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest on the Times Square stage.
Host Ryan Seacrest can also be seen in the clip saying, “So, the stand in? Out of work. the real Mariah right there!”
As soon as Carey took the stage Saturday, sound problems plagued her performances of “Auld Lang Syne,” “Emotions” and “We Belong Together.”
The singer addressed the issue during “Emotions,” saying to the crowd: “We didn’t have a check for this song, so we’ll just say it went to No. 1 and that’s what it is, okay?”
She continued, “Well, Happy New Year! We can’t hear, but I’ll just get through the moment.”
Though Carey was able to laugh off the incident on Twitter, accusations are flying about who’s accountable for the botched performance.
“ knew her earpiece wasn’t working and sent her on stage regardless,” a Carey source tells PEOPLE.
“It was sloppy and unprofessional on their part. Their statement says they didn’t intentionally sabotage her but it doesn’t apologize for failing to do a good job producing her performance, which is what happened. Her team knows that there are sometimes technical issues with live performances.”
The source adds: “All her manager asked DCP for was an apology and support.”
In a statement to Billboard, Carey’s manager Stella Bulochnikov also openly blamed DCP for the performance, saying it “set up to fail.”
Bulochnikov added that she asked an official not to air the awkward performance on the West Coast, but her request was denied.
“I asked him why would they want to run a performance with mechanical glitches unless they just want eyeballs at any expense,” Bulochnikov said. “It’s not artist friendly.”
In response to the claims of “sabotage,” Dick Clark Productions said in a statement to PEOPLE: “To suggest that DCP… would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.”
“In very rare instances, there are, of course, technical errors that can occur with live television, however, an initial investigation has indicated that DCP had no involvement in the challenges associated with Ms. Carey’s New Year’s Eve performance.”
