One of Nintendo’s biggest properties is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021, so Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are pulling out all the stops to make Pokemon's milestone year special. As part of The Pokemon Company’s plans, a virtual concert featuring Post Malone was planned for Pokemon Day this year. With the concert wrapped up, more details are being revealed about other Pokemon musical plans for they year.
Last month, The Pokemon Company announced a special music program, called P25 Music, to celebrate Pokemon’s 25th anniversary in partnership with Universal Music Group. Pop icon Katy Perry was revealed as the headliner for P25 Music, and is considered the program’s premiere artist. While details have generally been hush, it was described as a year-long activation.
The Post Malone Virtual Concert aired tonight and showcased a digital version of the artist as he sang three songs to a multitude of mainly Pokemon audiences. At the end of the concert, The Pokemon Company revealed another artist that would be part of the P25 Music series is J Balvin, a reggaeton singer who is currently one of the best-selling Latin music artists.
Rolling Stone magazine has released more information as well, such as the fact that Pokemon 25: The Album will feature 11 different artists, and have 14 tracks. Balvin's track will be fully in Spanish, and his goal with the piece is to get "everybody to vibe with Pokemon." Katy Perry, J Balvin, and one other secret artist will also release music videos and merchandise later this year.
Pokemon fans got a taste of what the P25 Music program had to offer when Post Malone sang a cover of Hootie & the Blowfish’s 1994 track “Only Wanna Be with You." The original “Only Wanna Be With You” has a distinctly 90s feel to it, so it's fitting that it's the first song released for a series that originated in that decade. Malone’s cover is modern, but still features nostalgic Pokemon chiptunes, making it unique. If this track is anything to go by, then there will be plenty of cool music coming to fans’ way soon.
The Pokemon Company has made it clear that it wants to provide new content all throughout the year, and the P25 Music program will definitely work to that end. Pokemon will have new and unique celebrations across the entire franchise, and there are plans for numerous partnerships through the year, like the Pikachu skateboard from Bear Walker.
Fans have actually heard a small tease of Katy Perry's song, too, at the end of the nostalgic Pokemon 25th Anniversary video. While Pokemon fans may not like every song that gets released as part of the P25 Music series, there is so much to look forward to that something will be able to get any fan excited.
Pokemon 25: The Album will release in Fall 2021.
Source: Rolling Stone