Mariah Carey took to her Twitter last night after people couldn’t stop being mean about her admittedly rough performance of “I’ll Be There” during yesterday’s Michael Jackson memorial service at the Staples Center: “Trying to sing today was basically impossible for me,” she thumb-typed. “I could barely keep myself from crying. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to pull it together and really do it right, but I was literally choked up when I saw him there in front of me. One thing I know is, we will never really have to say goodbye to MJ. His legacy lives on through his music and the millions of people he inspired with his timeless music. He will be forever in our hearts.” To be fair, I’d feel pretty freaked out about being onstage with a person I was paying tribute to… never mind sharing the spotlight with that person while he was in a coffin. In case you missed Mariah’s performance yesterday, it’s after the jump.
You know who else needs to apologize? The sound guy who forgot to turn up Trey Lorenz’s microphone in time for his entrance.
Raw Video: Mariah Carey Pays Tribute To Jackson [YouTube]
Mariah Carey [Twitter]
[HT: That Grape Juice]
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Mariah Carey Apologizes For Getting Choked Up
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I’m not a fan of Carey, or Jackson, nor did I watch any of the circus. But this is the internet, pure ignorance is no reason to refrain from comment. I give anyone and everyone except Joe on that stage a pass. For someone like Carey who *actually knew him* it had to be incredibly hard to just stand up and say anything let alone perform a song so laden with emotion in that context. I respect her for just making it through without completely breaking down.
I’ll be the cruel one — choked up, my ass. Carey’s voice has been disintegrating into a whisper for a decade now.
And while I surely grant that she’d understandably be off her game under yesterday’s circumstances, what I heard emanate from her mouth is symptomatic of where her voice has been headed.
Is it fair that she’s getting older and losing access to those dog-whistle pipes she commanded at age 20? No, and it’s less fair for people to be mean to her. But I can’t let her slide on, “I was having a bad day, y’all,” either. Her bad day was equivalent to Billy Joel’s bad day singing the National Anthem at the Superbowl a few years ago — yeah, yeah, the rain and the wind and the acoustics, but c’mon, Billy; that’s pretty much what you sound like now. Let it go.
@Chris Molanphy: Gots to agree.
It was a funeral… it’s about the family and honoring the deceased, not about the quality of the performance. I thought that Stevie Wonder and Jermaine Jackson seemed choked up as well. And then there’s Lionel Ritchie…
@Chris Molanphy: I hate Mariah Carey’s music with every fiber in my being but it is painfully obvious that she was choked up and holding back tears during that performance. She LOOKS like she’s about to burst into tears, it makes sense that she’d sound like it too. How anyone could argue otherwise is just looking for reasons to bash someone when they’re down.
@LostTurntable: Yeah, cuz y’know, I’ve made a career out of Carey-bashing. That’s me, prime hater.
@Lucille_K: They maybe should have gone for boring and solemn and saved the all-star tribute concert for a later date.