After the success of last year’s Pokémon 25 album featuring Katy Perry and Post Malone, yet another high profile pop artist is teaming up with Pokémon for their latest single. Ed Sheeran’s latest song, Celestial, is not only out on Youtube and streaming services today, but will actually be appearing in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet in some capacity when the games come out on the 18th November.

The ‘Celestial’ video is said to be “inspired by Ed’s childhood fascination with the franchise and features some of his favourite Pokémon such as Pikachu, Squirtle, Machamp, Snorlax and more.” It follows Sheeran through a supposed typical day in his life with an animated Pokémon twist direct by the award-winning Yuichi Kodama and art directed by Yu Nagaba in a style supposed to be ” reminiscent of the doodles that Ed drew of his Pokémon as a child”.

A more traditionally animated reference to the first Pokémon Movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, also features within the video, with Sheeran himself taking the place of Ash during the movie’s climactic battle.

‘I’ve played Pokémon since I was in primary school’ said Sheeran. ‘Me and my brother used to have different versions of the games and would trade Pokémon together ‘til we each completed our Pokédex. I loved the cards but the games are what I lost myself in. I loved the whole world they created; it kept me distracted if there was negative stuff happening in my life/school that I wanted to avoid. It was a world I could escape into and I’ve played it ever since. Even though I’m 31 now, I still own the same Game Boy Color and play Pokémon Yellow or Silver on planes and trains when I’m on tour. It’s such an honour to add a song into a Pokémon game and shoot a nostalgic video too. I hope you guys enjoy the song and video – it was a blast to film!’

The single itself will be released on the 3rd October, and in the UK, HMV are selling pre-orders now for signed copies of the CD. If the song appears in full within Pokémon Scarlet & Violet in November, it will be the first time a main series Pokémon game has featured an actual vocal track song within it. With the notable exception of the awful Gym Theme from Pokémon Black 2 & White 2’s Virbank Gym…