I recently had the enormous pleasure of interviewing the legendary Jason Paige! If you are unaware, Jason Paige was the singer of arguably one of the most iconic theme song of all time - The Pokémon Theme. As well as being the voice of most of our childhoods, Jason also has performed alongside legends such as Foreigner, Meatloaf, Steven Tyler and Michael Jackson! Jason now travels 'across the land' meeting Pokémon fans 'far and wide' and performing his music. He has a song coming soon titled Top of the World so please look out for that, and follow him online! Now lets get into the interview with Jason Paige - 'the very best, like no one ever was!'
Did you have any idea that the Pokémon theme would be as massive as it is, and how does it feel being described now as the 'voice of a generation'?
There is no way to know the extent of things in the future. But I do my best to try to optimise and give every experience and session and work related experience my all, so that it reaches it’s own highest potential. We are all trying to reach our highest potential and have to commit to every experience even if we don’t know how big things are going to be. No one could have possibly foreseen how big Pokémon would be. How does it feel being described as the voice of a generation? I have profound gratitude for this title that was given to me by many YouTube comments before I finally accepted it. And I think it is a testament to the popularity of Pokémon across billions of people. An entire generation of children grew up to Pokémon and all of them have my voice living rent free in their head. So, profound gratitude.
You attend a lot of live events, what are some of your favourite fan interactions at these events?
I love that the fans bring me their own fan made artwork, original cards, sometimes they bring me clothing items. The fans are the best part. They have this incredible experience with Pokémon and very few human beings to give that energy to and I am one of them that they feel is responsible for a lot of their experience, because I introduced them to the TV show with my voice. There is an incredible amount of love that I get from them, and I am just trying to live up to their Pokémon experiences. I spent 4 hours recording the song. They spent 4,000 hours recording their childhoods into their memories, and I am just trying to catch up right now to all of the energy that wonderful fans have given.
Are you tired of hearing the Pokémon Theme? If not, do you think you ever will be?
No more tired than I am of hearing Happy Birthday. It is always an exciting and celebratory song that’s sung every year when we celebrate the birth giving day of our mothers (Jason Giggles). And there are so many incredible versions of it out online. Hundreds of remakes in every style imaginable, almost. And I have remade it quite a few ways myself and committing to the message makes it new every time I sing it.
What Pokémon do you most identify with and why?
I guess I most identify with Mr. Mime because he is almost human, a little clown like, but at least he has two arms and two legs. But I don’t relate to his silence though because I am a very loud person and he doesn’t talk at all. Except for saying “mime” [Jason does a spot on Mr. Mime impression].
Moving away from Pokémon, you have performed with some of the greatest artists in the world, such as Foreigner, Meatloaf and Enrique Iglesias. Who has been your favourite person to perform with and do you have any fun stories from that?
Well Michael Jackson has to be my most favourite person to perform with, because I grew up on Michael Jackson, much in the way that people grew up on Pokémon. Except Michael Jackson doesn’t have conventions, well now he does, he doesn’t have a tv show, cartoon, well actually he did have a cartoon. He doesn’t have plushies, he doesn’t have a card game. He doesn’t have the big eco system that Pokémon has, but he is as massive as Pokémon and I did grow up with his songs living rent free in my mind…actually I did pay for some of those songs so they weren’t free! And I sang a lot of those songs throughout my teens and 20’s at performance events and in my bands and when I performed with him in Madison Square Garden it was one of the most epic shows that ever existed in history. His reunion for the 30th anniversary of The Jackson 5 was incredible and all of the artists that performed for him for the first act whist he sat in the front row listening to Britney Spears, to Usher, to Witney Houston, to Ray Charles, to Liza Minnelli, to Luthor Vandross, to Beyonce sing Michael Jackson songs while he watched, and we sang background with all those artists. It is an unforgettable experience that has no rival in world history of a concert of that epic nature. And then I rapped during Black and White, which was one of my favourite songs of his newer material and it was an incredible experience. It was also really fun to perform with Steven Tyler who basically met me backstage, heard me beatboxing and said I am going to pull you onstage to beatbox during Pink and pulled me out in front of 40,000 people to beat box, which was incredible.
Which is better, the Pokémon Anime or the games?
I think the games, because the games continue evolve with the technology. The Anime is kind of stuck in Anime mode. The Anime has evolved a little bit but the games really empower people to be a little bit more part of it, not just passively watching but actually engaging in games that can build critical thinking, game theory and one of those games being the card game which teaches kids arithmetic, it teaches kids how to speak. I have met people who said they have learned English from playing Pokémon and the card game also teaches critical thinking because nobody does it the same way. Each individual has their own way of being the very best like no one ever was.
Aside from Pokémon, what is your personal favourite video game and why?
Well, I really liked Q*bert and Missile Command back in the day and I got one of those Intellivision game modules when I was a kid. It was Atari and Intellivision and I really loved the Intellivision one.
There are a lot of die hard Pokémon fans, what are you a die hard fan of?
I am a die hard fan of uncovering the truth about our human experience and our health. Optimizing my health through my understanding of the magic and miracles and secrets of water. I am a water type (Jason giggles) you could say. And water is what we are made of. Water is a very mysterious and very incredible thing and it is part of all life, it is the building blocks of all life and I think we need to research and understand water better to understand how to optimize our health and our happiness. Water is the ultimate creator. It is how all life is created - through structured water and elements and information. Water caries information, transmits information, and there is some really excellent studies going on, showing the magic and mysteries of water -which we are ALL made of.
What is next for the great Jason Paige?
I am going to the 7th out of 12th Collect-A-con
tomorrow. Collect-A-con is a Pokémon centric collectors Comicon, with mostly Pokémon
cards. I perform on a big stage The Pokémon theme song, the Pokémon
GO theme song and sometimes I perform Ash’s Last Goodbye. I am
working on releasing new products on my various platforms and I am going to the
Netherlands right after that for some incredible stores, where I will be appearing
at. And Defqon [.1], their hardstyle festival, where I will be performing the Pokémon
theme song hardstyle. You can look for new music coming out in the Philippines
that is not a Pokémon related song. It is called Top of the World and I
will be performing it in my sets. You can check out all my stuff happening
online where you can find autographed items and other great products that are
the same things that people buy in the normal Pokémon world but they will be
coming to some of my online shops as well. Card books, card protectors,
chargers and various other Pokémon related items. I will be continuing to
expand myself into my highest potential to be the very best, Jason Paige, like
no one ever was.
Website - Jasonpaige.com
Insta - @jasonpaige
Facebook - @jasonpaigeshow
Twitter - @jasonpaigeshow
Youtube - @jasonpaige
I would like to thank Jason for an incredibly interesting, insightful and fun interview and wish him all the best with his travels and new song Top of the World. Everyone comment down below! The first 3 people to comment will receive a Pokémon drawn by me. Just add your insta name and which Pokémon you would like at the end of your comment!
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