Florida Georgia Line released their first-ever original holiday song, “Lit This Year,” in October, and the duo performed the song for the first time during the CMA Country Christmas special Monday night on ABC. Bandmates Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley and several musicians set up on the show’s holiday living room-themed set for the track, Hubbard and Kelley seated on stools while Hubbard played the guitar.
“That Christmas tree ain’t the only thing getting lit this year,” they sang, referencing their whiskey line. “There’s Old Camp in the eggnog and that fridge is full of cheer / Got some good old Christmas spirit in this cup right here / That Christmas tree ain’t the only thing getting lit this year.” A preview clip for the show found the pair unwrapping presents on the set’s couch, Hubbard opening a sweater featuring a unicorn in space and Kelley holding up one that read “I’m with Scrooge” before switching their gifts.
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“Lit This Year” was written by Hubbard and Kelley along with frequent collaborator Corey Crowder.
“BK, Corey, and I had a good time writing this one,” Hubbard previously said in a statement. “We felt like we were writing the modern-day version of ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’ meets Christmas Vacation. The only thing that would make this Country Christmas song any better is if we could shoot a video and feature ‘Cousin Eddie.’”
“Get your holidaze on, y’all,” Kelley added. “This is a new one for us. T and I always felt our first holiday song would come at just the right time – we’re excited for fans to have something FGL to cheers to the season with!”
Florida Georgia Line is currently working on their fifth studio album, though fans got a little worried about a potential split earlier this month when Hubbard temporarily unfollowed Kelley on Instagram. In an interview with Storme Warren on SiriusXM’s Exit 209 with Storme Warren, the bandmates confirmed that all is well, Hubbard declaring that he and Kelley are on “great terms” and are feeling “stronger than ever.”
“It’s not all sugar-coated,” he said. “And so the truth is — and I think this is important to talk about — me and BK have done work. We’ve [gone] to therapy, we’ve sat with each other and wanted to kill each other at times. But by the end of it, we were hugging it out. You know what I mean? Because we’re brothers and that’s what brothers do. And brothers don’t always get along.”
