Backstreet Boys Welcome Santa With 'It's Christmas Time Again'

The holidays are back, all right! On Monday, in anticipation of all the holiday madness that is soon approaching, the Backstreet Boys dropped their joyful Christmas tune, "It's Christmas Time Again."

The upbeat track is all about the happiness that comes with the holiday season. Full of acoustic guitar, orchestral strings and a toe-tapping beat, the song pays homage to some of the sights and sounds of December. "And when the snow is falling down/down/down/ You know that Santa's back in town/town/town/ That's when it's Christmas again," the reunited fivesome sings on the chorus. The track marks the first release with Kevin Richardson, who rejoined the group earlier this year.

"We're so proud of this new song," Carter told AOL Music about the song. "There aren't that many original holiday songs out there — which is so crazy to say — and we really feel we made a timeless contribution to the season and a song our kids will be listening to. Plus, we have our boy Kevin back in the studio with us. This is a really exciting time."

The song was officially released on iTunes on Tuesday. In addition to gifting the track to the fans just weeks before the holiday season kicks off, the guys are set to perform the tune during the 2012 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade special which airs on Christmas Day on ABC. The group pre-taped the performance over the weekend.

This is hardly the first-ever holiday tune from BSB. Back in 1996, they released the holiday-themed ballad, "Christmas Time."

In addition to the new Christmas track, the guys are also hard at work on their next studio album set to hit retailers sometime next year. And, as it turns out, 2013 also happens to be the band's 20th anniversary.

"We all discussed, we want this to be a personal record," Richardson told back in July about the band's forthcoming release. "We want it to be authentic to us and who we are and where we're at in our lives. ... We want to talk about the things that are relevant in our life, and we want to be authentic and make a great record that we're proud of, and that's kind of where we're starting."

What do you think of the new track? Let us know in the comments!