Sting doesn’t understand all the fuss about musicians revamping their peers’ songs, insisting interpolating is “how music stays alive”.
Over recent years, there have been several copyright cases surrounding artists accused of stealing other people’s work – most notably Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, who were sued for allegedly stealing the hook for their hit Blurred Lines from Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up. In that case, Gaye’s family were awarded $5.3 million in damages.
But Sting, whose smash hit Shape of My Heart was sampled in the late Juice WRLD’s Lucid Dreams, has no objections to people putting a new spin on his creations – as long as they credit him.
“I find it interesting when people take what you’ve done and then make something new,” he told Billboard’s Pop Shop Podcast. “This is how music stays alive. There are copyright issues, and the creator of (the) copyright needs to be rewarded appropriately, but saying to someone you can’t work with my material – you know, all of us borrow from everybody.
“Every songwriter ahead of me I borrowed from. Whether it was Rodgers & Hammerstein or The Beatles or Mozart, we steal from each other. But, you know, we need to get paid, but also we should be open to seeing what happens when someone else takes your idea and puts it somewhere else.”
Lucid Dreams made Shape of Your Heart massively popular once again, but Juice tragically died of a seizure following a drugs overdose in December 2019.
Reflecting on the untimely demise of the rapper and his talent, Sting explained: “First of all when I heard it, I recognized something very special in that interpolation. I thought it was a wonderful interpretation, interpolation. And so of course I was supportive of it. I never met the man, and was horrified when he died so unnecessarily and so tragically. I think he was a great great talent and we miss him. I’d love to have worked with him. But as a tribute we sing his song as part of the original Shape of My Heart. I think they fit together beautifully.”
