Amin Abbas

DUBAI: Pokémon’s “Gotta catch ‘em all” singer Jason Paige spoke exclusively to Arab News Japan about his journey from studying music to singing what is one of the most popular anime theme songs in the world.

Paige said he was contacted by a jingle house called Paradise Music, who knew that his voice would be the “right one” for the demo.

“The public loved it and the TV show blew up. Soon after that, a full long form version was recorded and released,” he explained. “That version has gone on to great success on the radio Billboard charts and continues to this day to be the anthem of the Pokémon generations.”

Paige told Arab News Japan that he struggled with the fact that he was rarely credited for the theme song in the past 18 years since its creation.

“In a normal pop music scenario, when the song is attached to an artist, everybody who knows the song usually knows who the artist is. In this paradigm, the song was attached not to a person, but to the whole ecosystem of Pokémon,” he said.

Paige added that he was excited that the Pokémon franchise is celebrating its 25^th anniversary, saying that he has “profound gratitude for the good that Pokémon has done in the world.”

“I’ve been the voice of hundreds of products, projects shows, bands, vocal jobs/sessions. Pokémon has brought to the world its ability to unleash the imagination of the individual,” he said.

The American singer had always been inspired by music and rhythm, even writing songs from the age of 10 and recording them as acapella.

Paige said he is currently working on a 25th anniversary remake of the famous Pokémon theme song, which is to release soon.