Ronan Keating has re-recorded one of the most famous Christmas songs

Irish pop music royalty, Ronan Keating, has partnered with Rockshore to release the most refreshing anthem of the season, which sees Ronan head back to the studio to celebrate the best of St. Stephen’s Day, by getting together for some playful banter with mates.

Keating shares the mic with ‘Rocko’ to lay down their own distinctively witty lyrics to the Christmas classic, ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,’ crammed with affectionate slagging and having the craic at the expense of each other on their way to the pub.

Surviving Christmas traditions and family rituals is an extreme sport – board games, finding the perfect gift for granny, not burning the turkey – and for a third of people in Ireland, simply surviving Christmas dinner is their main focus when it comes to avoiding Christmas chaos over the holidays. Almost one in six adults (14%) admit they’ve skipped family Christmas traditions to meet their friends in the pub, with the same number admitting telling tales to family during the holidays to sneak off to meet friends.

Research commissioned by Rockshore discovered one third of adults in Ireland can’t wait to reunite with their lifelong mates over the holidays. So, it’s unsurprising that 48% adults rank St. Stephen’s Day and Christmas Eve above Christmas Day as the top days for celebrations over the holidays. One in four people (25%) would even rather do all of the Christmas tidying up than miss Stephen’s Day pints with their mates.

Speaking to OnlyMassive Ronan Keating said: 

There really is no better place than Ireland and it’s always lovely to come back, especially to celebrate St. Stephen’s Day and what it represents – getting back together with all your mates and enjoying a drink in your favourite pub, catching up and having banter over a pint like only close mates can.’