Mariah Carey performs at the 82nd Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Mariah Carey opened the show at the live NBC telecast of the annual Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the pop singer, it was not her best performance.
Carey, who performed her Christmas classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” seemed to struggle to cover her signature vocal range. The 44-year-old diva strained to hit certain notes and appeared to choose to avoid others all together.
By the end of the performance, Carey seemed out of breath – rare for the talented performer.
Thursday morning a video surfaced on the web that seemed to have isolated Carey's vocals from the background music track. Fox News Latino cannot verify if the so-called "un-edited" vocal video is real.
Carey was actually supposed to pre-record her performance on Tuesday night, but left fans waiting in the rain after arriving more than three hours late. TMZ reported she was delayed at a nearby hotel on a call with her lawyer to discuss her impending divorce from Nick Cannon.
According to several reports, the show’s executives were quite angry with the singer and almost pulled the plug on her.
Shortly after the news of her lateness came out, Carey took to Twitter to offer a mea culpa.
“Last night’s situation was beyond my control, I apologize to all that showed up, you know that I would never want to disappoint you,” she wrote. “You’ve kept me here, in your hearts, and I keep you mine always. We are #Iambily! #ThereFor Me. I will be opening tonight’s live show in Rockefeller center with 'All I want For Christmas Is You'!!!”
The tree-lighting ceremony on Wednesday took place just hours after a grand jury decided not to indict a police officer in the choking death of Eric Garner. Mayor Bill de Blasio canceled a scheduled appearance at the tree lighting in order to meet with elected officials and activists on Staten Island as citywide protests over the grand jury decision started to gather steam.
Police presence was heavy in the Rockefeller Center area as hundreds of protesters stood behind rows of police barricades, jamming the sidewalks on Fifth Avenue within sight of the holiday revelers. A block away on Sixth Avenue, police in riot gear faced off with protesters held back by metal barricades.
But the ceremony went on as planned.
LeAnn Rimes, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet, Cyndi Lauper, Seth MacFarlane and Sara Bareilles and Idina Menzel also performed before the 85-foot tree was lit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trending
Who's making headlines in television, music, movies and more from Hollywood to the Heartland.