Do you have these three distinct and specific interests? First of all, we love that about you, second: Post Malone covered Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You†for his performance at the Pokémon Day 25th-anniversary virtual concert this Saturday. Post Malone’s “Pokémon 25 Version†of the 1995 hit has a reverberating guitar and sound effects that take us back to the original Game Boy. The cover celebrates when the game that started it all, Pokémon Red and Green, came out in Japan, which was right around the time “Only Wanna Be With You†was rocking the charts. To mark the occasion, Posty-mon is headlining a virtual concert for fans, where he’ll perform the new track.
In the teaser for the concert, he transforms into a CGI version of himself, following in the futuristic footsteps of Travis Scott, Lil Miquela, and more. On Saturday, February 27, at 7 p.m. ET, you can watch the concert for free on the official Pokémon social channels and website. “Only Wanna Be With You†is the hip-hop artist’s first release of 2021 and his first single as a lead artist since his 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding. It went to No. 1 internationally that year while singles “Sunflower†(from the Academy Award–winning animation Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and “Circles†topped the Billboard Hot 100. Pokémon also teamed up with another hitmaker, Katy Perry, for a special 25th-anniversary playlist. Do a Simlish cover next, Posty!