Mariah Carey performs at the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square on Saturday in New York. (Photo by Greg Allen/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK - Mariah Carey has ushered in 2017 with a botched performance on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest on ABC.

The singer appeared to have technical difficulties during her live performance Saturday night in Times Square. She even stopped singing her song Emotions, paced the stage and told the audience to finish the lyrics for her.

She told the crowd, "I'm trying to be a good sport here.''

Carey headlined the festivities in Times Square, where about a million revellers jammed in to greet 2017.

After the song finished Carey looked exasperated.

She started saying, "That was,'' then she paused and finally finished by saying, "amazing''.