--- title: Mariah Carey New Year's Eve Hot Tea Becomes Viral Meme description: Mariah Carey blessed us with the first meme of 2018 after she innocently asked for a cup of hot tea during her New Year's Eve performance. canonical: https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-02T16:41:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:43:56.861Z og:title: Mariah Carey's Tea Disaster Is the First Meme of 2018 og:description: "They told me there would be tea" og:url: https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0a492dd13dd39bc/6988f6c4096a94344a6a0f49/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mariah Carey's Tea Disaster Is the First Meme of 2018 twitter:description: "They told me there would be tea" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0a492dd13dd39bc/6988f6c4096a94344a6a0f49/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve Tea Disaster Is the Hottest Meme of 2018 So Far > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Mariah Carey Was Told There Would Be Tea [Watch (HLS stream): Mariah Carey Was Told There Would Be Tea](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4DwyDaPB.m3u8) (0:13)  _Published 2018-01-02. Mariah Carey says there isn't any tea for her during her New Year's Eve performance in Times Square._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 2, 2018 4:41 PM UTC Mariah Carey says there isn't any tea for her during her New Year's Eve performance in Times Square.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 2, 2018 4:41 PM UTC [Mariah Carey](http://time.com/4340106/mariah-carey-jennifer-lopez-nicki-minaj/), elusive chanteuse and [patron saint of all things festive](http://time.com/4587954/mariah-carey-christmas/), had a triumphant return to the _New Year’s Rockin’ Eve_ stage on Sunday night, where she effectively redeemed herself from last year’s [disastrous and technical difficulty-plagued performance](http://time.com/4622824/mascot-mariah-carey-parody/), but perhaps more importantly, served up [a diva moment so fabulous](http://time.com/4419460/mariah-carey-instagram/) that it gave us the [first meme of 2018](http://time.com/5078331/mariah-carey-returns-new-years-eve/). During her New Year’s Eve appearance, the songbird flawlessly performed fan favorites like “Vision of Love” and “Hero,” but it wasn’t Mariah’s dulcet tones or her glamorous fur and crystal ensemble that resonated with her fans. Instead, it was an innocent request for hot tea between sets that [stirred up joy in the hearts of her fans, “lambs” everywhere](http://time.com/4887472/mariah-carey-cowboy-hat-country-songs/) and captured the attention of the furthest corners of the Internet. The viral moment (and we all know [how much Mimi loves a “moment,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka%5Fb9sB1GmA)) happened when she discovered that there was no hot tea to keep her vocal cords limber, despite the fact that she was told that there would be hot tea. “Happy New Year! Just want to take a sip of tea if they’ll let me,” she said. “They told me there would be tea. Oh, it’s a disaster. Okay, well, we’ll just have to rough it. I’m going to be like everybody else, with no hot tea.” > [](https://twitter.com/imkennybrian/status/947937690242007040) As might be expected, the Internet couldn’t contain itself after hearing that Mariah was going to “rough it…like everybody else.” > [](https://twitter.com/Milmiskew/status/947691338778234880) > [](https://twitter.com/sharontharp/status/947691376543764480) > [](https://twitter.com/KimDPike/status/947690722911752197) > [](https://twitter.com/KATVJason/status/947705691225063425) > [](https://twitter.com/EmmaHerlong/status/947691480507977729) It also might be worth remembering at this point, that this is a woman who has a strict rule that [she will not be seen in harsh fluorescent lighting without sunglasses](http://time.com/4337905/mariah-carey-mariahs-world-trailer/) and has an _MTV Cribs_ episode where [she works out on a Stair Master while wearing stilettos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1BUHTcUQQ&feature=youtu.be&t=9m57s). With or without her hot tea, there’s little doubt that Mariah will ever be like “everyone else,” but it was still kind of her to pretend otherwise. Thankfully, however, Mariah finally got her hot tea, post-performance. > [](https://twitter.com/MariahCarey/status/947733819553181696) May we all live our lives in 2018 as graciously as Mariah Carey did while performing without tea this New Year’s Eve. ## Transcript [00:03] She is so let me hey Tony good eighteen. Disaster. [00:08] OK well we'll just have to rough down and be just like [00:11] everybody else was no hot seat. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/"},"headline":"Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve Tea Disaster Is the Hottest Meme of 2018 So Far","datePublished":"2018-01-02T16:41:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T08:43:56.861Z","description":"\"They told me there would be tea\"","url":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","celebrity","Mariah Carey","memes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0a492dd13dd39bc/6988f6c4096a94344a6a0f49/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0a492dd13dd39bc/6988f6c4096a94344a6a0f49/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2018","caption":"Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2018","creditText":"Taylor Hill—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/","name":"Mariah Carey's New Year's Eve Tea Disaster Is the Hottest Meme of 2018 So Far"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Mariah Carey Was Told There Would Be Tea","description":"Mariah Carey says there isn't any tea for her during her New Year's Eve performance in Times Square.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4DwyDaPB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-02T17:23:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4DwyDaPB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/","duration":"PT13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5084034/mariah-carey-hot-tea-meme-nye-2018/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```