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Sting’s enjoying fans’ reaction to his new album with Shaggy: “Wow, we didn’t expect that!”

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ABC/Paula LoboIn April, Sting released 44/876, a joint album with pop/reggae star Shaggy.  The former Police frontman says he’s been getting a kick out of the reaction the unusual collaboration has been getting from fans.

“I think almost everyone has said that: ‘Wow, we didn’t expect that!!'” he tells ABC Radio. “But they didn’t expect for us to be working together in the first place, so it’s all surprise. Surprise for me is the most important element in all of music, so I think we’ve already won!”

On Friday, Sting and Shaggy performed in New York’s Central Park as part of Good Morning America‘s Summer Concert Series.  And Sting says that looking into the audience, he could tell the new music has won him some new fans.

“When we did [our song] ‘Gotta Get Back My Baby,’ there were two little girls who must have been six or seven who were singing every word,” he laughs.  “They knew it better than I did!”

Also on Friday, 44/876: The Remixes was released.  Sting, who’s “remixed” his music in the past — remember that slowed-down 1986 version of “Don’t Stand So Close to Me?” — loves the idea of an entire album’s worth of musical reworkings.

“We sort of leave it to the mixers…to evolve the music outside of our own little prism, which is very interesting, because they usually take it somewhere that you maybe wouldn’t have tried yourself,” he explains. “So for me, you’re watching evolution in the music.”

In fact, Sting says if someone asked to remix his entire back catalog, he’d “be totally thrilled with it.” 

Sting’s music will undergo further remixing this fall, when he and Shaggy kick off a joint U.S. tour during which they’ll perform reworked versions of each other’s hits together.

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