The fallout from Mariah Carey‘s disastrous New Year’s Eve performance continues.
It’s been a literal game of he she said/he said between the singer’s camp and producers of Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve.
And now, Team Mimi are taking an extra step.
Manager Stella Bulochnikov has given an in-depth interview, chronologically sharing her side of the entire episode – pre, during, and post performance.
Do you take to her account? Read below and let us know…
Via EW:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So first, let’s talk about the rehearsal. There are anonymous production sources quoted as saying Carey skipped it?
Stella Bulochnikov: Not true. Not only did she not ditch rehearsal, we got to Times Square at 2:30. They weren’t ready for her until 3:20. We waited around for their stage manager. We had the stage from 3:20 to 3:50. She had a dance stand-in for the musical number. She sat on the side of the stage with her ear-pack and her in-ears and her microphone to make sure she could do the sound check. The most important thing to her was the sound. The sound was coming in choppy. She was assured it would work by the evening.She did an interview with Ryan Seacrest at about 10:35 where her in-ear was very choppy. She could barely hear Ryan. She was struggling to hear him through the noise of Times Square.
We then went to [producer] Mark Shimmel’s assigned talent executive to Mariah. And I said, “Her in-ears do not work, it’s choppy, we need new ears for the performance.” She said, “Those are not the ears she’ll be working with for the performance. The ears she will be working with are in the trailer.” We went to the trailer at 10:45. She did touch-ups because she’s supposed to go on at 11:38. We put in the ears and did the mic pack. We walked to the holding tent about 11:20. We told both stage managers — remember this is not our production team, we’re out-sourcing our team which we never do — we told them the mic pack is not working. She can’t hear it, it’s faint. They brought her a new one, and that one didn’t work either, the mic pack was dead. They changed the battery pack. She said she still couldn’t hear. The second stage manager said, “It doesn’t work here in the tent, it will work on the stage.” She said, “Great, let’s go to the stage.”
It’s now four minutes to showtime. She says, “I hear nothing in my ears, my ears are dead.” The other stage manager says, “It will work right when we go live.” Then things start to get chaotic. They start counting her down — four minutes, three minutes. Mariah: “I can’t hear.” Them: “You’re gonna hear when it goes live — two minutes!”
So, right when it goes live, she can’t hear anything. The ears are dead. They’re dead. So she pulls them out of the ear because if the artist keeps them in their ears then all she hears is silence. Once she pulled them off her ear she was hoping to hear her music, but because of the circumstances — there’s noise from Times Square and the music is reverberating from the buildings — all she hears is chaos. She can’t hear her music. It’s a madhouse. At the point, there’s no way to recover.
On the third song when she could hear her track playing it was so bad she said, “F— it, I’ve had enough.”
Was there an attempt from her team to get her off the stage earlier? At one point one of her backup dancers seemed to motion her to get off the stage.
She should have walked off and thrown the mic at somebody’s head — that would have been a great moment. After the show, I called Mark Shimmel — who begged her to do the show and had her cut her vacation short from Aspen. This is a verbatim conversation. I asked, “What happened?” He said, “I just talked to my guys and I confirmed her in-ears didn’t work. Couldn’t she just wing it?” I’m like, “What are you talking about ‘winging it’? Are you on glue?” He’s like, “What do you want me to do?” I said, “I want you to cut the West Coast feed.” He calls me back and says, “We can’t do it.” So I’m like, “You would prefer to air a show with technical glitches so you can have a viral moment rather than protect the integrity of your show and Dick Clark Productions?” He said, “We just won’t do it. Do you want to do a joint statement?” And I said, “No, I want you to go f— yourself.” And that was it. I don’t think it was an unfair ask to ask them to cut [the segment from] the West Coast feed after they had this huge mechanical glitch.What happened with Carey after she left the stage?
She was gracious enough to walk over to Seacrest and do the ball-drop moment and then she left.How’s she feeling today about all this?
She’s just ignoring it. She’s got so many more important things to do. And this goes under the heading of “no good deed” because she was doing them a favor. Shimmel’s direct request was, “I’m begging you to do this. America needs this moment after Donald Trump, etc.” What a bunch of nonsense.I can understand the frustration there if they knew her audio wasn’t working and then sent her out live on stage anyway.
But even when it didn’t work [when live], when she pulled her ears out, they should have cut to commercial. That says to me they wanted a viral moment at any expense. And that’s not a company with integrity for 50-something years. That’s not who Dick Clark was. He loved artists.Fans are also accusing her of lip-syncing. From watching the video, it looked like part of the performance was meant to be lip-synced and part of it wasn’t?
No. It’s not lip-syncing. Lip-syncing is when people don’t sing at all. This is what people should understand. Every artist sings to a track, especially in circumstances like that when it’s really loud and impossible to have a great musical performance. You’re not singing at the Philharmonic. Every artist who goes out there sings to tracks. What Mariah was doing was singing to tracks. What you heard on the second song, “Emotions,” was her going to sing it live. That’s why you heard no vocals. It’s a song she sings every other day.At least they are acknowledging there was a technical problem on their end, though, so they’re admitting there was a problem on their end.
But to not apologize to her formally? That’s disgusting. We live in this viral world where anybody will do anything for a viral moment.
We’re torn.
See, on the one hand, Stella’s words shouldn’t be disregarded. Sure, she’s defending her artist (and likely her own job), but her account is thorough and makes the whole melee make a lot of sense.
That said, Mariah has amassed a vast fortune and legend status thanks to her credentials as a singing/songwriting performer. Hence, she should be ready-prepped, under any and every circumstance, to deliver. Where the clear issue lay here is the fact that she wasn’t able – and perhaps isn’t able – to do that.
Like, what would kind of sounds would have come out of those speakers had she attempted to sing ‘Emotions’ live? Because those ad-libs she tried sounded a hot, fried, and frazzled mess.
In a way, once this has all blown over (which it will), she’ll have likely been saved by the fact she didn’t try and sing live. The irony.
![Extended Trailer: Prime Video's 'Cruel Intentions' Series [Starring Savannah Lee Smith, Sarah Catherine Hook, & Zac Burgess]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cruel-intentions-prime-trailer-tv-adaptation-thatgrapejuice-2024-464x260.jpg "Extended Trailer: Prime Video's 'Cruel Intentions' Series [Starring Savannah Lee Smith, Sarah Catherine Hook, & Zac Burgess].")
Some Mariah hating African fem queen continues to attempt to tear MC down everytime it makes a post about her. Sam, just admit you hate Mariah and we’ll call it good. You praise people like Ciara, J-Lo, Cheryl Cole, Brandy, and Rita Ora, but trash the best singer songwriter of a generation.
This site has ALWAYS supported Mariah, quit being such a cry baby. The moral of the story is even with the technical issues she still sounded TERRIBLE. And if you point to the crowd and tell them to sing you should be able to sing along with them. So they support Ciara and Brandy. AND? Your point? Go change your diaper.
DEAR SMH: your a hater and need to get laid. Your angry and nasty and rude. Mariah Carey didn’t sing at all, and even on HER WORST day, is an ICONIC 200 million selling artist. Elvis. Beatles. Mariah. Barbara. Your fave will NEVER reach her success. Ever. …………i’m done.
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeead!!!
No one is forcing you to come to Sam’s site. If you don’t like his post go to another site. I would not go on a site where my favorite artist was getting shitted on everyday.
Removed.
ABC could have cut to commerical or cut the WEST COAST feed. They did not. SHADE. Mariah Carey should have dropped the MIC and walked off stage. She is an Iconic Singer/Songwriter in the same lane as the Beatles and Elvis. They had a lack of respect. Aretha Franklin and Whitney would have Walked off Stage. Mariah Carey showed class and patience. Stop Hating.
Mariah won me with LOVE TAKES TIME to heal, no bad press will ever make me forget how that song helped me get through. Thank you Mariah wherever you are.
sooo if Mariah is half Black, how is your insult pertinent?
I’ll wait… ????
She is still Mariah F***ing Carey! Get over it and move on! I’m sure if this had happened to Beyawnce, y’all would easily forgive and move on! Mariah can still outsing your faves even on her worst day!
Beyonce lip synchs all the time
Quit mentioning Beyoncé because she would never. Stay pressed. ??
I think most people are ready to move on. Why this site and TMZ keeps posting about it I have no clue. I guess this will be forgotten about once Trump’s inaguration day hits.
From someone who was with Mariah.From Facebook.
Because many of you know where I was/who I was with last night, and because the headlines and comments can be so vicious, I want to tell you what I saw. Because of sound, mixing, and logistical constraints, a performance like this needs a pre-recorded background track; the talent typically “sings along” with this background track, which they hear through their in-ear monitor(s). When the live performance started last night, it was clear she didn’t have audio in her ear monitors. Not being able to sing along to an accompaniment she couldn’t hear, she pulled the ear monitors out, but there was still nothing in real-time that allowed her to hear the track in sync. Thus the “lip sync flub” and the talking instead of singing…it was, at that point an unwinable situation. ABC continued to play the backing track live, so going rogue/singing a Capella was not a workable option. It was bad, yes. But this was not some unprepared diva moment (and I assure you we were all fully sober, having been holed up in the hotel all day without bubbles to drink). Despite what you may have heard, she DID come to rehearsal, on time and attentively. Her monitor didn’t work then, and she told them. When she came to the live interview with Seacrest, she again said there was no audible sound in her monitor, and said afterward that she couldn’t even clearly hear his questions. Despite this, she was again sent onstage without fully working sound, and an avoidable technical glitch is now a headline out of context. I’m personally disappointed that the network/show didn’t release a statement, but I have to say that I appreciate MC’s social media comment; that’s her, in spirit and attitude. It was a heartbreaking event, even if it was a fitting end to 2016. Onward.
Please you were not with her and watching what she had to drink or not all day long, yet you have time to hop on this site and bad mouth the writer.
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Get a life you troll! ??
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Fact is regardless of any tech issues she acted like a horrible person and could have walked off stage if it was that bad and if she didn’t want a viral performance that last that long. I think people would understand more if she walked right off stage at beginning than if she stayed and missed cues and didn’t pick up anything from the monitors feeding. Her the lyrics and or vibrations of the beats of songs she wrote thru the stage ever for the whole song, false. She could hit the notes in “Emotion” so she felt down and must have been drunk to continue to stay on stage after all these repeated mistakes by the crew.
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Something isn’t adding up… on HER side.
He copied that status from here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155028687603029&id=729208028, this idea that show was drunk is dumb. She was interviewed by Seacrest, with her children. You really think D*** clerk Production would let her drunk on stage with her kids? Stop being naive and hateful. Stop being f****** dumb, people would have not understood had she walked of stage.the headlines would have been Mariah having a diva fit blah blah blah. Be logical
I’m glad we got more detail. I thought about this and honestly it made no sense for her to sabotage and embarrass herself like. I believe their was a glitch, however I still felt she was lazy and didn’t care to at least attempt. A mess and lack of professionalism from all parties.
Well if she was too drunk to care that could be self sabotage without her true knowledge. She does like to sip sip.
She had plenty of chances to cancel her performance though. If her ear-ins weren’t working all day then she should have had the sense enough to just cancel. Why walk on stage when you know there’s still a technical problem?
Madonna would’ve handled it like a pro
Mariah is an alcoholic unprofessionalmess
Those vocals were still a mess. And im tired of people and their excuses. People just need to get over it. And to insinuate that she was practically begged to do it says that she and her team need to get over themselves. Let’s call a spade a spade. Mariah may be a “legend” but she hadnt done anything legendary since 2008. Come with something new please.
Exactly like she getting to headline is a win for her more than them. And she certainly was paid.
“Giving me excuses why you had a bad show
Giving 99 excuses why you missed every note
Giving a million excuses, giving a million excuses.”
-A Million Reasons Remix by Lady Gag Gag
If she wasnt sure about the earpiece working, then you should have cancelled dahhhhling
Regardless Mariah carey still handled it poorly. And I still don’t believe her. Mariah is the type of artist who would walk off of a stage and not stay for two additional songs after an issue like that.
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She is that diva.
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I think Stella is just trying to not get fired but Mariah fires mangers every year. Here is your time to retreat and say “Bye Bye” Stella.
Why is Beyonces name being mentioned? She would never.
Now hopefully this humbles Mariah because her stank-above all-diva attitude is very offputting, especially when she can’t even deliver a live vocal these days.
Ummmm Beyonce lip synced @ President Obama’s 2nd innauguration & got caught.Took out her in-ears as well like she was singing live & she wasnt.
https://youtu.be/apfzFKobnGY
Embarrassing performance? Yes.
Mariah still being a legend? Yes.
Love her still? HELL YES.
*Catwalks away*
However, she needs to stop with these outfits.
This story is tired already its 2017 you wack bitttches need to get on ya grind
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Mariah has sung this song live across her residency. So she’s good on that. She shouldn’t have gone on to perform. They should have had everything prepared for her. Sam there are plenty of performances where she has recently sounded great. So your uglyyyy a** can go somewhere. You should really stop writing these long a** essays about nothing. A male shouldn’t ever be this jealous of a woman.
I know right. Mariah has had so many great performances this year but I’ve never seen any of them posted on here
Mariah has delivered great vocals live recently. So shut your dumb a** up. Beyonce always lip syncs herself..
Always?? ???
Bih please the LIES you tell. Give Bey a stool, a guitar and a fan (lol) and she will MURK!
Give Mariah the same and she will lip sync. So once again, stop mentioning Beyoncé. She’s a perfectionist and would NEVER! ??
Sorry babe, there’s documented proof of beyonce lip syncing on several occasions.
no matter what Mariah chose to do y’all would’ve had a problem with it. If she cancelled she would’ve gotten called a stuck up diva, if she decided to sing despite her earpiece not working and she was off-key or pitchy she would’ve been ridiculed for it, if the performance went off perfectly she probably would’ve been accused of lipping anyway. The whole situation was unfortunate but everybody should just move on
Why is Beyonce being brought up? She is the new standard of excellence (obvious since y’all run up to mention her) but this is about Mariah. She didn’t even try to save her performance. This is on her. But since y’all want to bring up Bey, she kept on performing through a bloody ear and falls. She would never not just try. When Bey had her lip synch issue, she killed it a few days later with a performance. Mariah needs to stop with the endless excuses and just own this already.
No shade, but some of you people have never even touched a microphone in your entire lives and now you wanna try to school someone who’s been in the industry for 26 years on what she “should” have done? FOH! Telling Mariah that she should’ve just sang and went on performing is the most ludicrous thing to say. Do you realize without working ear-in’s and monitors an artist can’t even hear the music being played around them. Mariah was basically blind up there on stage because she had no idea what point the music was at during the entire performance. If she just started singing randomly and it wasn’t on key with the music and the backing track it would’ve looked even crazier!!!! When you’re in a situation like that and you’re in front of a million screaming people the only thing you can hear is the crowd, she couldn’t even hear herself for gods sake. But you know, all of you have CLEARLY been in that situation before so it’s clear you should DEF be judging lmaooooo riiiiiiiiiiight! The fact that she even stayed on stage at all is a miracle and shows that she’s a professional…..if she would’ve walked off stage people would’ve been up in arms about that too, people are just miserable and get an emotional boner trying to drag someone else down.
Thank you!!
Sam you should really eat a d*** forreal. You are duch a pressed ass buttom. This was in no way Mariahs fault. All 2016 she showed great vocals and never a post on her successful tour, yet you have no problem attacking this legend as if shes like the basics pop b****** out here. I’ve seen this s*** before years back when muthfuckzs were attacking Whitney, then when she died everyone including your ass and Wendy wanna cry from guilt and will do the sama again when its Mariahs turn. FOH im giving Mimi her flowers while she can still smell them.
Its ridiculous how this generation is quick to insult and attack the Legends yet they don’t have s*** to offer or promise but a few artists. Trying to tarnished their legacies like they did MJ, Whitney, Amy, Prince, David ect.
She is indeed a legend but a legend knows when to give it up. Her voice has clearly been gone for years and using backing tracks for performances is not acceptable. Period!
Other people brought Beyonce into this idiot..
Mariah was drunk & she still WAS PAID!!??♂️
I can’t with you emotional queens. Sam is allowed to express his opinion on his own site. Her people are just trying to do damage control.
F*** out of here with your emotional selves.
Beyonce has nothing to do with Mariah’s failure to put on a decent performance.
Everyone is dragging her ass on every other platform.
I can’t take the lambs and their delusions. I mean this woman showed the entire world that she wasnt planning on singing a note and you’re lashing out at everybody but her.
Typical lambs.This woman could just sit and stare at them and they would swear she’s the best at that.Be mad at Mariah not everybody else dragging her. She deserves it.
You all care about this way more then Mariah does. She’s Mariah God damn Carey and can do whatever the hell she pleases. We all know next Christmas she’ll be back in the top 20 once again, right?
This story is staler than Mariah herself. She will be irrelevant again for the next 11 months.
She should have walked off and thrown the mic at somebody’s head — that would have been a great moment.
As long as she keep getting this “advices” from her team, she will behave like a Diva instead of being a professional in situations like these, she was very unprofessional regardless of how things were.
Oh, please! You stan for a woman who shows up hours late to most of her concerts, cuts performances short or just cancels the show when her video screens, or special effects don’t work properly. Don’t come here giving us these damn lectures about Mariah’s professionalism!
Give me a break! Every major booking is an opportunity to deliver your skills to a mass audience. Madonna, Prince and MJ know/knew the power of this.., and to a lesser extent you can believe Mariah knows this too. To expect a major artist to not be pissed at such a major f*ck up (knowing they alone will be dragged across the coals the following morning) then to act sweetness and light is beyond delusional. As a Madonna fan, don’t act like heads wouldn’t have rolled at her behest had some backstage sound guy ruined her Superbowl performance.
Yes, Madonna would have been pissed but would’ve handled it like a pro, like she has done many times and she can’t sing, Mariah can, so what was her excuse to not give people a good performance or at least try to do so, she was unprofessional, period.
The performance was awful and she was responsible for it. I don’t care if there were “technical” issues, all they did was expose that she was pretending to sing. Mariah’s silly looking drunk @$$ is no legend. She’s a fraud. An old ass Ashlee Simpson, who is well past her prime and embarrasses herself every time she’s seen. I don’t know why she was even booked to perform that night. She’s not trendy or hot. Getting up on stage performing some old ass songs, one of them from half a century ago. Please. Go away, woman. You’re done.
I can’t with all these pathetic excuses. Mariah’s so called “legend” status is NO EXCUSE for that performance. She does not get a pass for that mess just because she’s Mariah Carey. If anything, she should KNOW BETTER than to try and pass off that BS as “technical difficulties”. If Madonna can get dragged across the stage by her cape on national TV and still get up and finish singing, Mariah has no excuse. If Diana Ross can perform in a torrential downpour (with lightning) and STILL keep on singing, Mariah has no excuse. And yes, even Beyonce flew down a flight of stairs head first-and still got up and finished singing. Mariah has no excuse. And as long as her delusional fans keep making bullsh*t excuses for her unprofessionalism she’s going to continue to deliver messiness and continue to damage what little bit of “legend” status she has left.
Nice