Post Malone Sings Hootie and the Blowfish Classic ‘Only Wanna Be With You’ for Pokemon Day

Post Malone just debuted a cover most of his fans may not even be familiar with: the Hootie and the Blowfish classic “Only Wanna Be With You.” Malone sang the tune in honor of Pokémon Day, an annual event hosted by the franchise to celebrate anything and everything Pokémon. Malone will be stepping into the Poké-realm for an animated concert on the big day, with is Saturday, Feb. 27. His new Hootie and the Blowfish cover is just a tease of what fans can expect, as it will be part of his set-list for the show.

Notably, Hootie himself, Darius Rucker — lead singer of the iconic ’90s band — has already stamped his seal of approval on Malone’s cover. The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome,” Rucker tweeted on Thursday morning. “My bro [Post Malone] bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!!” Notably, Malone made some small alterations to the song, such as singing, “…the Cowboys make me cry,” instead of the original, “…the dolphins make me cry.” This seems to be a reference to Malone being a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. The team ranked third in the NFC East conference for the 2020-2021 season, topping only the Philadelphia Eagles.

Malone is no stranger to cover tunes. Over the summer, he delivered an epic set of Nirvana covers which was streamed on YouTube. Malone was joined by Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker for the set, with the band — rounded out by bassist Brian Lee and guitarist Nick Mac — performing classic Nirvana songs like “Come As You Are,” “Heart-Shaped Box,” and “In Bloom.” The live stream event was a charity concert intended to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts.

Another cover the music superstar delivered came years before his epic rise, when he shared a clip of him singing the Bob Dylan classic “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” He published the video on YouTube under his real name, Austin Post, and today it has a total of 12 million views. Of course, Malone is most well known for his original songs such as “Circles,” Sunflower,” and the massive hit, “rockstar,” featuring 21 Savage. The Pokémon A Virtual Concert Experience Featuring Post Malone starts at 7:00 p.m. ET and 4:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, Feb. 27, and can be streamed live on the Pokémon YouTube and Twitch channels.