Mariah Carey on New Year"s Eve: Did She Redeem Herself?

We really should have known, people.

We should have known a year ago at this time that 2017 would be a debacle, considering the way it kicked off:

With a Mariah Carey performance from Times Square that was, to put it simply and bluntly, the worst thing we had ever seen or heard.

We"re very sorry to remind you of what transpired, but refresh your memory of the debacle below:

The sound was off. Mariah clearly didn"t know the words. It was a mess.

Carey proceeded to blame anyone but herself for what happened, but after seemingly hiding from her transgression and not taking responsibility for her total failure… the legendary singer went out and faced the music last night.

Literally.

She took to the Times Square stage once again on Dick Clark"s New Year"s Rockin" Eve.

This time around, Twitter did not react with laughter and vitriol.

The artist performed two songs and remembered the lyrics to both.

The iconic diva wowed with an impressive medley of "Vision of Love" and "Hero" and even made a quip at her own expense, telling the audience that the night was a "disaster" because she didn"t have her hot tea.

"I"m just going to take a sip of tea, if they"ll let me," Carey said, turning away from the crowd and adding:

"They told me there would be tea. Oh, it"s a disaster. OK, well, we"ll just have to rough it. I"m going to be just like everybody else.

"There"ll be no hot tea."

Indeed, it was FREEZING in New York City.

Was Mariah"s performance red hot?

Not really. She definitely lost a bit from her prime.

But the bar was set so low to conclude 2016 that as long as Carey didn"t trip 12 times on stage, she was likely to clear it.

When the cameras stopped, sources tell Billboard that Carey was all smiles and gushed “I love you” back to her adoring fans.

Check out the quasi triumphant return below:

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Mariah Carey Performs Live: Did She Redeem Herself?

Mariah Carey returned to the scene of her biggest crime on Wednesday night.

In a manner of speaking.

About six weeks ago, the legendary artist made a fool out of herself in Times Square, stumbling through a performance on New Year"s Eve as the result of some technical difficulties…

… along with some lazy practice habits and a seeming lack of knowledge when it came to her own song lyrics.

In the aftermath of this debacle, Carey"s team floated this weird conspiracy theory about how she was set up to fail by producers.

"I came to New Year’s Eve in New York in great spirits and was looking forward to a celebratory moment with the world,” Carey said in a nearly two-minute audio recording posted to her Twitter page afterwards, adding:

“It’s a shame that we were put into the hands of a production team with technical issues, who chose to capitalize on circumstances beyond our control."

It was a nightmare all around for the singer.

But Mariah was back on a stage to try her vocal chords once again this week, appearing as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

With help from rapper YG, Carey belted out a rendition of latest ballad, "I Don"t," in front of a sold-out studio audience; the track was inspired by the star"s public and ugly split from Australian billionaire James Packer.

Rocking a curve-hugging and plunging red gown that flaunted her cleavage in a major way, Carey taunted Packer via such lines as you “probably think I’m coming back, but I don’t, I don’t.”

As for how she actually sounded in her return to live performing?

Stop. Watch. And listen for yourself:

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