Oh yes, Akon has faked New Years, thanks to the wonders of television. Akon this first week of December performed at a New Year’s Eve party. “Wattup! Happy New Year!” said Akon to a crowd of teens holding 2008 glasses.

Akon taped this week his appearance on a (taped) section of “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”. The singer appeared on a soundstage, made to look like a club, along with Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Kingston. Their taped performances will be mixed with live segments during the Ryan Seacrest hosted special on Dec. 31 for ABC.

Akon performed “Don’t Matter,” “Smack That” and “I Wanna Love You.”

Each song was dry run, then taped, then producers played a canned version for the cameramen to get dancing close-ups of the audience.