MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / MUSIC

What is Nelly doing at 'Dick Clark's New Year's Eve'? Confused fans ask if it's 2002 after 'Hot in Here' song

'I’m doing a couple of classics and things, we’ve got a medley celebrating the 20th anniversary of Country Grammar,' the artiste had said before the show

'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' is back for a live show like never before. The annual event brings in a significantly smaller crowd due to Covid-19 for the first time in nearly five decades since its first episode.

Ryan Seacrest returns as host for the 2021 event and is joined by co-hosts 'Pretty Little Liars' star Lucy Hale, Billy Porter and Ciara. As we see the camera panning out to the streets of Times Square and various stages for performers, the atmosphere is surreal. Much of the attendees are frontline workers and first responders who are all wearing masks. It's a "very different vibe" as Hale describes it.

Moving on to the exciting stuff, the annual show promised 37 performances from some of the most celebrated names in music, including Megan Thee Stallion, Machine Gun Kelly, Jenifer Lopez, Ella Mai, Saweetie, Noah Cyrus, Brandy, Doja Cat, Jimmie Allen, Maluma, Nelly, Julia Michaels, Noah Cyrus, En Vogue, Lewis Capaldi and more.

Miley Cyrus kicked off the show as the first performer, singing 'Party in the USA' before Nelly gave a nod to his longtime fans with his classic 2002 hit 'Hot in Herre'. Before his performance, Nelly said, “I’m doing a couple of classics and things, we’ve got a medley celebrating the 20th anniversary of Country Grammar, coming out of 2020 and thanking everybody for helping to make that a Diamond album and one of the biggest projects of my life.”

He continued, “And also getting the chance to rock out with ‘Hot In Herre’, as well, perfect party record. But also, getting the chance to debut my new single featuring FGL called ‘Lil Bit’, which is just a great record, great energy, and it is off of my EP called 'The Heartland', which will be out next year.”

Although Nelly's performance was fire, it has brought a lot of mixed reactions from fans including several jokes. "Is it 2021 or 2002? Why is nelly performing 'Hot In Here'?" asked a fan while another said, "Nelly performing must mean that we’ve collectively rearranged 2020 to 2002 in hopes of fooling ourselves into having fun."

One fan wrote, "Not gonna lie...I was jammin' to Nelly like it was 2002 not 2020." Another added, "You know you're old when Nelly is one of the has-beens they roll out for the prime-time portion of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."

One fan dropped a gif with the caption "ABC waking up Nelly to play Hot In Herre for the 18th year in a row." "My old ass right now to nelly #RockinEve," said another fan to an animated gif. "When you walk into the house after work and Mom is taking down the Christmas Tree and Nelly is singing 'It's getting hot in here' on TV," wrote a user.