The weary but determined blues vibe of the song also provides a reprieve from the collection’s tendency toward driving, modern beats. Highlight “None Of Us Are Free” boasts a powerful vocal from the legendary Sam Moore of Sam & Dave fame. This emphasis on channeling charismatic and lionized performers of the past half-century brings real joy to the proceedings. Each takes on a life of its own, and infuses the character of its guest performer. The songs on Duets cannot easily be categorized as belonging wholly to Sting. More under-the-radar artists like Melody Gardot and Mylène Farmer appear early in the running order, while heavy hitters like Annie Lennox and Shaggy emerge in the middle of the album. The record succeeds in emphasizing collaborative magic over star power. As such, the songs should be appreciated individually as singular works. Instead it offers a collection of carefully cultivated pop vocal performances. The anthology is certainly no concept album, nor does it attempt to work from a theorem or happenstance to explore a particular mood or atmosphere. It’s not within the scope of Duets to present a particular musical direction or storytelling arc. Sting ventures into jazz, soul and international beats, highlighting lesser-known talents like Algerian raï artist Cheb Mami on “Desert Rose.” This sits alongside “Don’t Make Me Wait,” a song from his 2018 joint album with Shaggy, 44/876, a record which revitalized both artists’ sales. Duets nicely places more adventurous, obscure material alongside successful singles and unit shifters. During this period, hit songs were a rarity for Sting, but collaborations were frequent and fruitful. A look at the guest performers on his new compilation album, Duets, confirms the distinctive vocalist’s tenured clout as a musician’s musician.ĭuets covers roughly the past 20 years, exclusively focusing on Sting’s work with other major recording artists. Full album track listing is included below.ĭuets was Executive Produced and A&R’d by Guénaël “GG” Geay & Martin Kierszenbaum with all songs mastered by Gene Grimaldi at Oasis Mastering, Los Angeles, United States.Īt 69 years of age and over 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify, English musician Sting would appear to have a fair amount of pull in the music industry. The Duets album will also include the brand new, never-before-released song, “September” with Italian icon Zucchero, produced by Sting himself and mixed by 4-time Grammy Award winner Robert Orton. Blige, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, Charles Aznavour, Mylène Farmer, Shaggy, Melody Gardot, Gashi and more. To celebrate some of these joint-works, he has compiled a special collection to include some of his most beloved duets with collaborators such as Mary J. Always known as a musical explorer, pioneering genre-bending sounds and collaborations, 17-time Grammy Award winner Sting will release a new album, entitled Duets, on March 19, 2021.įrom the melismatic longing of “Desert Rose” with Rai music singer Cheb Mami and sultry groove of “It’s Probably Me” with Eric Clapton to the uplifting 44/876 with Shaggy, which yielded his most recent and 17th GRAMMY award, Sting’s collaborations have become nothing short of cornerstones in the canon of popular music.