Mariah Carey close to tears after New Year's lip-sync failure

Mariah Carey appeared to hold back tears after a lip sync failure during her New Year's performance in Times Square.

The "All I Want For Christmas Is You" singer struggled to recover after the wrong song appeared to be played while she attempted performing live on ABC.

At one point, Carey stopped singing and began pacing the stage - visibly upset - while encouraging fans to finish off the lyrics to "Emotions" for her.

She told the crowd: "I'm trying to be a good sport here," adding that she couldn't hear what she was supposed to be singing.

In front of more than a million new year revellers, Carey said: "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."

But the pop-star was spared no sympathy on social media, with fans picking up on the technical failure.

Some suggested that Russia had "hacked" Carey's performance, while Piers Morgan wrote "RIP Mariah Carey's credibility."

A representative for the singer confirmed there had been technical difficulties.

Carey took to Instagram after the performance saying: "Here's to making more headlines in 2017."