It’s hard to believe that it’s been a whole year since we all woke up, blearily picked up our phones, and saw New Year headlines dominated by Mariah Carey’s unsalvageable set at Dick Clark’s New Year's Rockin’ Eve. She handled the whole thing like a perfect diva, and it wasn’t necessarily her fault, but the whole mini-catastrophe felt like a perfect introduction to a the shitty year ahead: awkward, poorly orchestrated, and globally televised.
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Carey returned to Times Square last night for a Rockin’ Eve do-over, and everything was fine. Her voice held up, no earpieces were harmed, no backing tracks interfered with proceedings, and nobody’s going to have to quarrell about any embarrassing incidents. She played “Vision of Love” and “Hero”—sappy ballads both—and made what seemed to be a gentle reference to last year between the two. Not having hot tea on stage on a cold night, she said, was a “disaster.” Aside from that, it was remarkable in its unremarkableness. Watch it at the top of the page.Congratulations to Mariah Carey, who is 1-for-1 in 2018.Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.