After Halloween, Thanksgiving is the last holiday roadblock standing in the way of full-blown Christmas festivities. So, Mariah Carey made sure she was at the biggest Thanksgiving event to say bye to turkeys and hello to mistletoe with a performance at the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday (November 24).
Performing in the street, Carey stood on a star-shaped platform, holding an umbrella and donning a tiara and red dress as she sang “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” All the while, dancers added some visual interest with choreographed dancing, all making for a fun holiday spectacle.
.@MariahCarey performing her global smash-hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” at #MacysParade pic.twitter.com/6tmN9JWW4e
— MCI (@MariahCareyITA) November 24, 2022
As for how the performance went, some people online thought Carey’s appearance lacked energy or enthusiasm:
Mariah Carey lip syncing in place with this umbrella at 78% energy while her dancers perform like their lives hang in the balance on the Thanksgiving Parade is pure CAMP!!
— Ryan (@Lindyyy777) November 24, 2022
mariah carey getting paid to just stand there at the thanksgiving parade and not even pretend to be actually singing to the backing track lmfao queen behavior
— toffeee
(@ventisigh) November 24, 2022
mariah carey performing at the macy’s thanksgiving day parade pic.twitter.com/cXzZqd2THM
— Erik (@noterikcastro) November 24, 2022
Some also criticized Carey for apparent lip-syncing, but one user pointed to a 2018 tweet from John Legend that notes, “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.” Carey was not performing on a float, but perhaps similar technical limitations still applied.
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. Hope y’all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live! https://t.co/C2bGj63AF6
— John Legend (@johnlegend) November 22, 2018
Announcing her performance a few days ago, Carey wrote, “My childhood dream is coming to life! I’m going to be opening for the one and only, SANTA CLAUS, at this year’s @macys Thanksgiving day parade!”
Check out the performance above.