Seeking to dispel doubts about her live performances after her New Year’s Eve Times Square debacle, in which poorly functioning earpieces forced her to stop singing and revealed a lip-sync track, Mariah Carey gave a rousing rendition of her new song “I Don’t” Wednesday night on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Clad in a low-cut red, floor-length gown for her first public performance since the incident, Carey, 47, was joined by the recording’s featured artist, rapper YG, 26, shirtless and sockless in a white suit and white sneakers. Abetted by three backup singers, the duo closed the late-night talk-show with the song about a woman’s recriminations after a breakup with a caddish lover.
At one point late in the performance, with YG directing a rap break at her, Carey gave a laugh and seconds later a delighted “Oh!” as if to indicate they were indeed recorded live.
The music video for “I Don’t” premiered Feb. 3 and starred pop icon Carey evidently singing about her breakup last summer with billionaire fiancé James Packer.
On Jan. 8, after her attempts to sing her hits “Emotions” and “We Belong Together” in a televised New Year’s Eve performance, Carey said in an audio tweet, “It’s not practical for a singer to sing live and be able to hear themselves properly in the middle of Times Square with all the noise, the freezing cold, the smoke from the smoke machines, thousands of people celebrating — especially when their ear monitors were not working at all.” Her management team and producers Dick Clark Productions exchanged accusations of blame for the incident.
