With the addition of festive bells and beats, Egmond’s debut single This Morning was rereleased in 2017 as the artist’s first Christmas single. (He would eventually do the same a year later with his first Afrikaans single V’more!)

Ironically, the new extended title was already in the lyrics, and whilst it was never considered a Christmas song to begin with, the opportunity to release a seasonal tune became a reality after Sandy Robbie took on the challenge to update the original song.

The release followed shortly after the Lights Blinding EP was out, right at the start of the festive season in 2017.

When Egmond wrote the song in 1997, he chose to incorporate the reference to Roxette’s first Christmas single from 10 years prior, as part of the words of his own song, which despite its clear reference to Christmas, was never treated as a Christmas song – until 20 years later!

Egmond reached out to producer Sandy Robbie with the project. And while Roxette would omit their Christmas references a few years later, having it in the lyrics worked to the song’s advantage. Says the singer, “We worked against a very tight deadline as the digital distributors were closing for the festive season and we had to rush to get it done. But we met the deadline and it was magic!”