Mariah Carey fans are amused after the singer was seemingly captured using a teleprompter during her performance of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.
On Thursday 24 November, Carey celebrated the holiday with a performance at the annual Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City, which saw her sing her famous Christmas song while dressed in a red off-the-shoulder gown and a tiara.
During the performance, Carey was flanked by dancers as she stood singing in the middle of the stage while holding a red umbrella. However, according to a TikTok uploaded of the singer’s concert, Carey appeared to rely on a teleprompter to follow along with the lyrics of her popular 1994 song.
In the clip, uploaded by a user named Sydney, who goes by the username @sydneybarinas, Carey’s dancers could be seen performing on stage as a teleprompter displayed the lyrics to the song. Although Carey was not seen in the clip, the location of the teleprompter would have meant it was in her line of vision.
“Yes, Mariah Carey is using a teleprompter for lyrics of her most famous song at Macy’s Day Parade,” the caption on the TikTok reads.
As of Monday 28 November, the video has been viewed more than 6.4m times, with fans expressing surprise and amusement in the comments.
“Iconic,” one person commented, while another said: “The song that gets replayed. For hours on end. Every December. Every year.”
While some fans were amused by the realisation, others pointed out that the teleprompter was likely used as a precautionary measure, as the tool is often relied on during live performances, where a number of production issues can occur.
“People don’t understand how live TV/performances work. If the audio in her ear fails, she won’t know where she’s at in the song. There’s echo,” one person noted, while another TikTok user wrote: “TV production employee here, the entire broadcast has these running in the script. For her, it’s probably a failsafe in case her in-ear fails.”
“It’s loud, chaotic, and live,” someone else said. “They’re lip-syncing and the teleprompt is for safety in case they lose their place or something distracts them.”
The defence comes after some viewers called Carey out for allegedly lip-syncing during the Macy’s parade performance. “@MariahCarey girl you weren’t even trying to convince them you weren’t lip-syncing,” one person tweeted.
However, others noted that it is also common for performers to lip-sync during the parade, with another person writing: “Mariah Carey received unnecessary flak for her Thanksgiving parade performance. Lip-syncing is common during that parade.”
John Legend previously confirmed that performers lip-sync during the Thanksgiving parade in 2018, after Rita Ora faced similar reactions from viewers who spotted her lip-syncing.
“Fun fact. We all have to lip-sync on this parade because the floats don’t have the capacity to handle the sound requirements for a live performance,” Legend tweeted in response to a fan who noted that the “All of Me” singer and Ora had both lip-synced. “Hope y’all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100 per cent live!” he added.
Carey’s popular Christmas song broke a Spotify record on 25 December 2020 for the biggest single day streams when it was streamed 17.223 million times.
In a statement to Insider, a representative for Macy’s said the teleprompter was used to give audience members “the opportunity to sing along”.
The Independent has contacted Macy’s and a representative for Carey for comment.
