[Exclusive] ‘Pokémon Worlds’ Theme Composer AJ Sealy on ‘Ichiban,’ Reworking ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ and His Grammy-Contending Lullaby Album

Every big sporting event has a sound you recognize within seconds, and the 2026 Pokémon World Championships now have one of their own. ‘Ichiban,’ which means “number one” in Japanese, was introduced as the official Worlds theme for 2026 and beyond. It opened and closed the event in San Francisco, and fans have praised its intense, battle-ready energy.

The composer behind it is AJ Sealy, a musician whose credits stretch well beyond the Pokémon world. He arranged the orchestral and choir version of ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, performed with the Pokémon orchestra live, and arranged and orchestrated the ‘Love Medley’ on Pentatonix’s new deluxe album. He also played upright and electric bass on the soundtrack for ‘Star Wars Outlaws,’ and has written music for shows like ‘Project Runway’ and ‘Dee & Friends in Oz.’

Fiction Horizon spoke with Sealy about the broadcast-style brief that started ‘Ichiban,’ what it was like to hear his music played by a full orchestra, and the lullaby album with Scott and Mark Hoying that is now in Grammy contention. He also shared his top 5 favorite soundtracks and explained why he treats every project as a fresh creative challenge.

FH: “Ichiban” is now the official theme of the Pokémon World Championships. What was the brief like when you first sat down to write it?

AJ Sealy:  This was a request for like, a broadcast theme, similar to anything you’d watch on major sports broadcast events (basketball, football, etc)

FH:  How did you want it to feel different from previous championship themes? 

 AJ Sealy: I wasn’t familiar with any past championship themes (if there were any) and this was one I wanted to approach as organically as possible and not have any outside influence unless it was directly intentional.

FH: You also contributed to the 30th Anniversary version of “Gotta Catch ‘Em All.” What was it like reworking such an iconic piece of Pokémon history rather than writing something from scratch? 

AJ Sealy: This was wild! Definitely a highlight for me, as I grew up hearing this song play on TV all the time on the show. To be able to take this tune and arrange it for orchestra and choir, and to celebrate 30 years of Pokémon was a ton of fun!

FH: Beyond composing, you’ve performed with the Pokémon orchestra live. How does hearing your own work played back by a full orchestra change your relationship to a piece you wrote? 

AJ Sealy:  It’s pretty unique. I had performed with the Pokémon orchestra last year for Worlds, but doing it again this year was different because I hadn’t written any music for the event last year. When I’m playing with the orchestra and it’s my own original music, it’s almost like one of those “egg drop” experiments.

You spend time designing the best way to protect the egg and ensure it stays safe during the drop, but once you let that egg go, all you can do is watch it go down and test how good your engineering is. In a similar way, when I’m playing along with the orchestra to my music, I’m listening to see if everything sounds as I’ve envisioned it. And thankfully in this case, it did, and it made it that much more fun to play along to!

FH: What’s your favourite OST? Any media will do.

AJ Sealy: Oh boy, I definitely don’t have a singular favorite, but top 5 could be The Matrix, Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets, Mary Poppins, Happy Feet, and Spider-Man, specifically the Insomniac video game score by John Paesano.

FH: Your lullaby album with Scott and Mark Hoying is in Grammy contention this year. What drew you to the lullaby format specifically, and how does writing for that genre differ from your work on something like a championship anthem? 

AJ Sealy: This was such a special project! They approached me and said they were putting together an album dedicated to their baby Birdie, and with it, they wanted to collaborate with a lot of artists, songwriters, and producers, which made this such a fun project to work on. Scott and I started working together sometime in 2022.

From that point, we’ve worked on literally so many things together. We like to think of ourselves as one of the great duos you hear about in some of the old Broadway stories, since we really do work in very similar ways to them! The children’s album was a concept he brought to me earlier this year, and I had told him, “Absolutely, I’m in!”

I think the experience of having my own children was the biggest sort of inspiration I had as far as approach for this. My wife and I have four children, so we’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to babies, infants, and toddlers, so a lot of it was leaning into my real-world experience and tapping into that mindset when going into the production of the album.

The lullaby format is also one of those things I feel like we need to sometimes shift our way of thinking for; it’s not necessarily a celeste or glockenspiel solo playing softly (although we do put some of that in there!) – it’s just more of a focus on the music being super accessible to our younger audience. And that is really the common denominator when switching genres for me; ‘is what I’m doing going to be super accessible by the audience?’

FH: The Pentatonix deluxe album featuring “Love Medley” recently dropped — what are you most proud of as it relates to that single? 

AJ Sealy: The “Love Medley” was the only one I worked on for that PTX album, so naturally it’s one of my favorites! We had some really incredible musicians playing for that track, and I’m super proud of the work we all did. Arranging and orchestrating that medley was a big highlight for me.

FH: Your credits span Star Wars: Outlaws and Project Runway,  two very different worlds. How does your process shift between scoring a game and writing for a fashion competition series? 

 AJ Sealy: For Star Wars, I didn’t write any of the score, however I did play upright and electric bass for the soundtrack! It’s using a different skillset for sure, since I’m wearing the “session player” hat vs composer, but I think it’s really nice to play other people’s work, and not only be involved strictly in my own music. It’s a nice break from writing music for shows like Project Runway or Dee & Friends in Oz.

FH: Looking at everything you’ve got going right now – Pokémon, Pentatonix, Star Wars, a Grammy-contending album – is there a throughline connecting these projects for you, or do you approach each one as a completely separate creative challenge? 

AJ Sealy: For me, I like to approach everything as a separate challenge. I’ll for sure use knowledge I gained from previous projects, but starting fresh and from scratch helps me ensure I’m going to whatever length I need to be as creative and original as possible. 

Editor’s Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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