Written by Maina Carey|

Picture from Awesomedl

This year was our first New Year’s Rockin’ Eve without Dick Clark, who passed away at age 82 on April 18th, 2012. Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy took over this year, and it was a great show in terms of performers. This show always has a star-studded lineup, as well as the biggest performer of the year, Taylor Swift.

Picture from Zap2It

Taylor Swift’s performance of I Knew You Were Trouble started out shaky, which is understandable, as she is standing vulnerable in front of thousands of people in the cold. As the performance grows, she becomes more confident and the performance no longer seems weird and uncomfortable. Her voice also becomes stronger as the song goes on. Her second performance, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, was better, vocally. Maybe she was getting more feedback from the crowd, or because the entire song was consistent as an anthem unlike IKYWT. Overall, not Taylor’s best performance, but her red motorcycle jacket definitely stole the show!

Don’t Stop The Party, Pitbull’s latest club hit, was a fairly good performance. He looked like he was having fun, and his rapping was consistent. He engaged the crowd well. A perfect start to the Hollywood acts.

OneRepublic’s latest single Feel Again was beautiful. The lead singer, Ryan Tedder, blew me away with his voice. He did the song a lot of justice, proving he could perform it even better live. Possibly the best performance of the night!

Brokenhearted by Karmin was stepped up by the addition of drums, a great choice because it added to the catchy and bubbly feel of the song. The duo sang with great harmony – no wonder this was one of the most popular songs of the year. Definitely one of the best performances of the night.

Picture from the Toledo Blade

As Long As You Love Me was not the best from Justin Bieber. Probably because of all the fans overpowering his vocals which caused me to not hear him in some parts of the song. Otherwise, his voice was great, as always, and Big Sean also came out to perform with him. The dancers were a tad overboard, but it’s Hollywood!

Picture from Because I Am Fabulous

Put it Down by Brandy was a mediocre performance. I remember Brandy from past years – I never knew who she was. She never really stuck out to me, and she didn’t then, either. Vocally, her performance was great, but it was lacking in delivery. It just didn’t hold my attention.

Who knew country singers could rap? Jason Aldean’s performance of Dirt Road Anthem definitely had the crowd going wild. Mostly everyone knew the words, and he definitely had stage presence. A surprising song choice for a country singer, but it seems everyone likes it, including me, and I’ve never heard it before!

Flo Rida had luck this year, with songs such as Wild Ones (feat. Sia) and Whistle, and I Cry is his latest anthem. There was a special guest that joined him onstage during the performance, the unknown singer of the chorus to I Cry. The singers had great chemistry.

Picture from BAM’s Blog

Greyson Chance, only 13 years old, sang his new single Sunshine and City Lights to end the Hollywood performances. At some points, I could not understand what he was saying, but aside from that handicap, he had an amazing voice. It’s hard to believe he’s that young. He reminds me of the lead singer of Coldplay, although it will take some time for him to amount to Coldplay’s achievements. Hopefully he will!

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, told Jenny McCarthy: “.. It’s very sad: we’re going to lose 2012, but we’re getting a whole new year!” He is right. 2012 had its’ achievements, but I have a feeling 2013 will be the biggest year yet. Let’s hope it lives up to high expectations.

Picture from Zap2It