BRITISH pop-rocker Ed Sheeran has been partying in Ibiza – with a fluffy friend – just as his latest single bursts onto the scene.
The Suffolk-born artist behind Shape of You has been working with the Pokémon Company and his new track, Celestial, comes complete with a video entirely dedicated to the animated series.
Ed Sheeran takes Pokémon cutie Snorlax on a trip to Ibiza ahead of his new record release. Celestial is a homage to the artist's favourite childhood characters (both pictures by Ed Sheeran on Instagram - @teddysphotos)
And joining him on his flight to the Balearic Islands was Snorlax, the cute blue-and-white character from the show.
Ed's travelmate is a furry one, the size of a small child, and pictured on his Instagram page on his lap on the coach, used as a cushion, and next to him on the plane.
Originally from the eastern UK village of Framlingham – famous for its castle, which Ed dedicated one of his earlier singles to – and where he has been spotted in the past landing his helicopter on the golf course, the artist, 31, says he started collecting Pokémon cards when they became 'all the rage' in about 1998.
The cards were the 'latest thing' for his class of seven-year-olds at Framlingham primary school, and were followed worldwide by the TV show.
Ed says he 'used to try to record it on the same VHS video tape every week'.
On the clip for Celestial, Sheeran is seen interacting with the magical world of the Pokémon characters as they breathe fire, water and even electricity, moving around with Snorlax and the series' and video game's most famous creature, Pikachu.
According to the self-confessed Real Madrid superfan, 'obsessed is just a euphemism' for his level of adoration for Pokémon, and that 'now, at 31', he still has 'the same colour Game Boy' and still plays Pokémon Silver on long-haul flights.
The games and series were his 'escapism' as a child, and gave him a gateway into a 'fantasy world that just seemed to go on and on'.
As an adult, Pokémon represents a form of 'nostalgia' that 'makes him feel like a child again', Ed says.
His latest crop of Instagram pictures from the day before Celestial was released on Thursday shows him not just on a plane, but dancing, sunbathing, and on a boat with Snorlax in Ibiza, including short videos of the pair enjoying the famous nightclub island.
“Snorlax needed a holiday,” Ed wrote as an Instagram video caption.
