Mariah Carey came under fire after her televised New Year’s Eve performance went wrong.

The singer’s live appearance in New York’s Times Square was beset by problems as she complained of sound difficulties and struggled to sing.

Mariah Carey’s representative told Billboard the producers “set her up to fail”.

However, Dick Clark Productions (DCP) said any suggestion it would “compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd”.

Mariah Carey was live on ABC just before midnight and began with Auld Lang Syne, but hit trouble during her 1991 hit Emotions.

Complaining that she could not hear, Mariah Carey did not sing for much of the track and her dancers led her through an awkward stage routine.

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The pop star told the crowd: “I want a holiday, too. Can I not have one? I’m trying to be a good sport here.”

The problems continued during her next song, the 2005 hit We Belong Together. Mariah Carey lowered her microphone but could still be heard singing on a pre-recorded track.

“It just don’t get any better,” the singer said at the end of the song.

Mariah Carey’s spokesperson Nicole Perna told Billboard: “She was not <<winging>> this moment and took it very seriously. A shame that production set her up to fail.”

The singer told the production crew that her earpiece was not working in advance, Nicole Perna said.

“They told her it would be fine once she was on stage,” she explained.

“However, that was not the case and they were again told that her earpiece was not working. Instead of endeavoring to fix the issue so that Mariah could perform, they went live.”

Mariah Carey went on stage but was “flying blind”, Nicole Perna said. Referring to the backing vocal track, she said: “It is not uncommon for artists to sing to track during certain live performances.”

Nicole Perna added: “Any allegations that she planned to lip sync are just adding insult to injury.”

However, DCP said: “As the premier producer of live television events for nearly 50 years, we pride ourselves on our reputation and long-standing relationships with artists.

“To suggest that DCP, as producer of music shows including the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and Academy of Country Music Awards, would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd.”

DCP said technical errors could occur with live TV in “very rare instances” but that an initial investigation indicated it had no involvement in the problems during Mariah Carey’s performance.

“We want to be clear that we have the utmost respect for Ms Carey as an artist and acknowledge her tremendous accomplishments in the industry,” the production company added.