Sting's studio saved his sanity during Covid-19 lockdown. He showed up to put in the work every day. The result is his new album - an album about transitions.
He talks to Charlotte Ryan about reassessing life under the shadow of the pandemic and how that influenced the making of The Bridge.
Sting Photo: Photo Supplied
"I would go and work every day with no idea of what I was going to write about - but just grateful that I was going to be doing something."
Taking that into consideration, if his new album has a particular flavour, it's an unconscious one, he told Music 101.
"I suppose the record is about people in a state of transition between things, between relationships, between life and death, between sickness and health. And unconsciously, that's what came out. This is the reason I called it The Bridge, because the bridge for me is a bridge to the future.
"I think all of us have been changed by this experience and I think as the years pass we will realise what an important time this was and hopefully we can make it a positive one.
"I think all of us have had to recalibrate who we are and what we do in life. It's given us an opportunity to reassess things, and I'm no different."
Given he has spent the past four decades travelling, being stuck in one place has left him life a fish out of water.
"Actually, I appreciated being in the same bed every night. I appreciated spending time with my lovely wife ... that was a different thing. I wasn't just getting in a different hotel every night and getting in an aeroplane. But I appreciated that."
When writing music, he writes first and foremost to amuse or distract himself, he says.
"It's what I do every morning. I sit, I play, then I go into the studio and whatever occurs to me is put on tape, so it's kind of an unconscious ritual that sometimes bears fruit and sometimes doesn't - there's no guarantee you're going to end up with a song."
You get nothing if you don't turn up, he says.
"At the end of the day, sometimes you have result."
Sting Photo: Photo Supplied
As for what drives him, he makes music because he loves it.
"Going into the studio and picking up a guitar or sitting down at the piano is just joy for me, and I'm very lucky to have that. What you're listening to on the album is that - the joy of playing."
Subconsciously, the album may be about self-reflection, but, he says, "it's just me having fun and following a line of thought to its conclusion".
Water is a theme that runs through the album.
"I have a very cold pool, and I wake up and no matter what state I'm in I jump immediately into the pool. It's a fantastic way to wake up, really gets the blood flowing, and you're glowing."
His latest tour kicks off soon - and the shows will be quite visual.
"I'm just about to start a residency in Las Vegas ... so we've got Caesar's Palace there, and it's going to be an amazing representation of my work."
Think projections, light shows, film and multimedia.
"I'm not really known for that but I have an amazing team of visual artists who have interpreted my songs in this way so it's going to be quite something."
Sting's also playing a show in the Acropolis in Athens, Greece for his upcoming 70th birthday.
The number doesn't feel that old to him.
"I feel like I'm 14 and a half in many ways, but I appreciate my age. Many of my friends haven't made it this far. I'm grateful and I'm also excited."
