Pokemon obsessive Ed Sheeran has teamed up with the creators of the video game series on his new single.
The song is titled Celestial and will be released on September 29, with the accompanying video animated by the creators of Pokemon.
Sharing a sketch showing him with the games’ character Pikachu, Sheeran wrote on social media that he “started” his Pokemon mania at the age of seven, collecting the themed cards.
He said he later progressed to becoming a fan of the animated TV show, and then on his eighth birthday he received a “Gameboy Color” handheld console.
“Obsessed was an understatement,” said the British singer.
He continued: “At 31, I still have the same color Gameboy and I still play Pokemon Silver on long-haul flights.
“I really, really love it. As a kid it gave me a proper escape into a fantasy world that seemed to go on and on, and in adulthood it’s the nostalgia that makes me feel like a kid again.
“I met Pokemon people when I was traveling in Japan and we joked about me writing a song for them. But now we’re here.”
The series, short for Pocket Monsters, was created in 1996, but has since expanded to include numerous television series, movies, and card games.
It focuses on trainers living in a fictional world who capture and train hundreds of different species of Pokémon before using them to battle each other.
In November 2021, Sheeran performed a performance that was available through a Pokemon app.
And in June this year, the four-time Grammy Award winner was named the UK’s most played artist of 2021 and also claimed the year’s most played single with Bad Habits.
It is the second time he has claimed both accolades, having previously achieved the double in 2017 with the release of his album Divide and single Shape Of You.