I'm a big fan of symmetry, and apparently Vista Blue is as well. In 2024, Vista Blue has done something very cool: release a song on both the first and last day of the year. That's right: Vista Blue will go down in music history for bookending 2024! Has any band ever done this before? The back half of the bookend, "Next Christmas," is not exactly a Christmas release. Then again, it's not exactly not a Christmas release. The A-side is more of a post-Christmas song. There's a funny story behind its creation. Mike's family had watched the "Last Christmas" documentary the other day. Afterwards, they switched to the radio and heard "This Christmas." Mike's kids took this as a sign that he had to write a song about next Christmas, and so here we are! The song is about resolving to do all the things next Christmas that you didn't manage to do this Christmas. I can relate, especially since I've spent the past two-and-a-half weeks fighting an ear infection. I have to admit to feeling inadequate when I watch those Hallmark movies and see how those folks go all-out for Christmas. At least I've been drinking my hot cocoa daily! "Next Christmas" finds Vista Blue at its punkiest — blazing through this toe-tapping number about holiday regret and ambitious redemption in just a few ticks over a minute. Consider this song a long-term New Year's resolution. You can bet that when I cue up my Christmas 2025 playlist next Thanksgiving night, "Next Christmas" will be one of the first tracks I play. It will be my Christmastime "Eye of the Tiger" — my pump-up music for being super-festive next Christmas!
But wait! There's more! Since "Next Christmas" is a New Year's Eve release, the B-side is a New Year's song — with a twist! "(It's Not the Year) It's You" is classic VB to the core. Hilariously, it looks at a situation where you might blame all your troubles on a bad year instead of taking personal accountability for all that went wrong. Think of this as a more light-hearted and family friendly version of the Sex Pistols' "Problems." Listening to these lyrics, most of us will think of someone in particular this song applies to! Mike and Mark went down to the wire to get this single released for New Year's Eve, and I really appreciate that. The record books will show that my first and last posts of 2024 were Vista Blue reviews!
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