An Ed Sheeran pop song will be featured in the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, a first for the series.
According to Serebii, the song Celestial, whose Pokémon-themed music video premiered this morning at 10am CT, will be used somewhere in the games themselves. It’s not clear where in the game the track will be used or whether it will include Ed’s vocals, but fans believe it may be used during Scarlet and Violet‘s credits. Celestial was created as a collaboration between Sheeran and The Pokémon Company.
Alongside the song, Sheeran released a music video featuring a variety of Pokémon from the franchise. Classic Pokémon like Pikachu, Squirtle, Mew, and Charmander made appearances, as did more recent favorites like Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble from Pokemon Sword and Shield. The video swaps between animation and real life as Sheeran explores a town and comes up with an idea for a song. The video’s visual aesthetic was based on designs by artist Yu Nagaba.
Fan reaction to the music video was mixed. In the comments underneath Serebii’s post, many commenters derided Sheeran’s collaboration, calling him generic and somewhat jokingly threatening to cancel their preorders of the game. Others said that they would be turning the volume on their TV down whenever the song played. One fan compared it to Piers’ famous singing cutscene in Sword and Shield, saying they’d rather have another montage of the Team Yell boss singing than hear Sheeran’s song in the upcoming game.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will release on Nov. 18, 2022.
