Viraldice: Mariah Carey Demanding Hot Tea on NYE Is Twitter’s New Favorite Thing

ven though 2017 was by all accounts a giant Dumpster fire, it wasn't hot enough to make it any less freezing on New Year's Eve, especially in Times Square. With temperatures hovering around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, we rang in 2018 while our brains froze over and our teeth chattered. And no one, not even our beloved performers and TV personalities, was immune from the cold.

Mariah Carey was back in the saddle for New Year's Eve this year. She performed live in Times Square, and for the second year in a row, things just didn't quite go according to plan. It wasn't the debacle that was her 2016 performance, but it was no walk in the park, either.

If you'll recall, Mariah Carey's performance for the 2016 New Year's Rockin' Eve show was sort of kind of a disaster.

She claimed that she couldn’t hear through her earpiece, and her backing track went on without her in what turned out to be one of the most cringe-worthy performances of the year.

It was tough to watch.

With 15 minutes remaining, 2016 claimed its final victim: Mariah Carey's career

— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) January 1, 2017

Everyone sort of thought that although the performance was pretty much on par with everything else that happened in 2016, that might be the end of Mariah Carey.

But it most certainly was not, thank you very much!

Mariah Carey, diva extraordinaire, was not going down without a fight, and so she returned to that New Year’s Eve stage once again for the 2017 broadcast. Some said she was brave to do so, others thought she was being reckless.

But thanks to what we're sure were endless stringent rehearsals, Mariah Carey's performance this past year went off without a hitch...almost. At one point during the show, Mariah took a moment to reach for a cup of hot tea — understandable considering it was super cold and she's a superstar who always gets what she wants.

But the tea…it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

“Happy New Year!” Mariah exclaimed to the cheering crowd. “I’m just going to take a sip of tea if they let me. They told me there would be tea,” she continued as she futilely searched around her immediate area for a mug. “Oh, it’s a disaster!” she bemoaned. “OK, well we’ll just have to rough it. I’m going to be just like everybody else with NO HOT TEA!” The emphasis was hers.

And with that, the Internet exploded.

I woke up for a few minutes (it's 1:30 here).

Mariah Carey demanding hot tea is exactly how I hoped the year would begin.

I now think 2018 is going to be amazing.

Happy New Year to all. Especially @MariahCarey.

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) January 1, 2018

For many, Mariah Carey’s demand for hot tea was exactly how they’d hope the year would start. Some who may not have had hope for 2018 when the night began were suddenly renewed and joyous as the potential this new year now held.

Others speculated as to who…or what…could have taken Mariah Carey’s tea…