Bringing in the New Year with Mariah Carey is a wish most of us dream about. But for the New Year revellers waiting at Times Square for the megastar to perform, it turned out to be nothing but a damp squib.

The diva kept missing her words as the wrong lip-sync track was played as she took to the stage.

But she was not bothered and told the audience: "I'm trying to be a good sport here. We didn't have a check for this song… we're missing some of the vocals, but it is what it is.

"I'm just going to let the audience sing. We didn't have a sound check for this New Year's baby, it is what it is. Get these monitors on please."

She nonchalantly went over to one of her dancers and said: "just for laughs, do the lift."

She then lifted her leg in the air and said: "I wanted a holiday too, can't I just have one" just as the first song finished.

After the second song came to an end, she sarcastically said before walking off stage: "Bring the feathers, it just don't get any better".

The 46-years-old appeared to shrug off the incident on Instagram, writing "s*** happens".

Stefania Moran, from Puebla, Mexico, and five friends, who are nannies for families in the US, travelled to New York to watch the ceremony in one of the 35 metal pens where re-entry is prohibited.

"I've always wanted to come to New York, and this is one of the must-dos before you die," she said.