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When a major music idol makes an appearance on a music competition show, what do you think is going to happen? He or she may make a few jokes, maybe they’ll tell a cute story, but they will absolutely give a live performance, right? That’s not what happened when Mariah Carey stopped by Beat Shazam.
As a whole, Beat Shazam has been performing far better than you would expect from a collaboration between a major TV network and an app. The series has averaged viewers in the 3.4 million range, which is pretty solid for the first season of a summer game show, and it has already been renewed for a second season. It’s a pretty fun series that I recommend everyone giving a shot if you’re in the mood for some light-hearted game show fun. However, watching Mariah Carey’s guest spot should be required viewing just for its awkwardness.
Appropriately, Carey made an appearance during the “Divas” category, and the show’s studio audience — as you would expect — lost their minds. She then does the things that stars do. She hugs her fans repeatedly, smiles serenely, and looks graceful and fabulous in an outfit that would destroy us mortals. Once things settle down, host Jamie Foxx leads Carey to a piano and compliments Carey with the sincerity of a true fan, saying “Your music has defined an era.” She thanks everyone and cheers along with the show’s audience.
Then Carey, who is sitting at a beautiful piano surrounded by candles, gets up and leaves. There is no performance of “Always Be My Baby,” the song that sparked her appearance. The star just walks in, accepts the praise, and walks out.
A Billboard article from May chronicles the surprise appearance, claiming that there was actually a musical number. Whether because of copyright constraints or runtime, that performance didn’t appear on the broadcast version of Beat Shazam. It’s certainly a shame because we could all use more diva-fueled tunes in our life, but I like this version better. I love the idea of Carey drifting in, thanking everyone, then waving away game show guest appearance norms just to leave, performance-less. Try to watch and not fall in love with the shameless oddity.
