Sting and Shaggy offer a new reggae song as musical medicine for a fractured world

NEW YORK (AP) — The affection between Sting and Shaggy is palpable from the moment they sit down together. When the two prolific recording artists are asked where the chemistry comes from, Shaggy simply says they make each other laugh.

The pals have worked together on several projects, including their Grammy-winning reggae album “44/876” in 2018 and on Shaggy's 2022 album “Com Fly Wid Mi,” where Sting encouraged Shaggy to depart from his trademark “toasting” on reggae/dancehall hits to sing Frank Sinatra songs.

Their latest collaboration is “Til A Mawnin” — an upbeat reggae track showcasing some of the pair’s playfulness released Feb. 27. Sting, 73, and Shaggy, 56, spoke to The Associated Press recently about the new song and finding friendship and musical inspiration in each other. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

STING: You know, you meet people sometimes and you recognize them immediately. I don’t know, chemistry maybe, but I recognized him as a kindred spirit. And yeah, we’re both students. We’re both curious about music. We’re both dads.

SHAGGY: Husbands!

STING: Good citizens!

STING: The first time I heard it, I started to smile. There’s a lot of joy in this song, and I feel it’s kind of necessary at this time in the world. ... The world is fractured and so we need music to be a medicine. We need something that makes us smile.

SHAGGY: It’s a feel-good track. But it’s a little deeper for me. There’s a cultural undertone here with this song. The original riddim track was from an old Yellowman song, “I’m Getting Married,” produced by a legendary producer by the name of (Henry) “Junjo” Lawes. He’s arguably the guy that was responsible for a whole genre, which is dancehall, because he did reggae music, but he voiced “toasters” on these reggae beats. And what he did was sound system music, which is these huge speakers they used to block the streets, and that sound system music was part of a deep part of the ghetto sound. Culturally, it’s the soundtrack to almost every inner-city person’s life in Jamaica.

SHAGGY: The reggae community and the Jamaican communities have embraced this track solid and they’re very, very proud of it. I like the fact that it’s going beyond just the range. There’s a lot of international eyes on it and ears on it. You know, people are really sending their comments in and you could feel it. There’s an energy with this record that we haven’t felt in a long time, and it’s just sunshine and joy.

STING: Absolutely. I — like him — am a student of music. I will be until my dying day and I’m here to learn. So I could teach him something and he can teach me something.

SHAGGY: And he’s taught me a lot. I’m a singer now. Did I mention that? (laughs)

SHAGGY: He has always had energy. There’s such a huge cultural background with him and with the Jamaican culture and the reggae culture, you know, obviously with the undertones of The Police, those reggae undertones from back then where he lived in Notting Hill. A lot of West Indian community, strong calypso and stuff like that.

STING: Ska, blue beat, rocksteady, reggae.

SHAGGY: On paper, it looks weird, Shaggy and Sting. But you come and catch a show or see us together, it actually works. We’re still surprised! (laughs)

SHAGGY: I’m in the digital age. At his house, he has a very expensive record player…

STING: I like the ritual of selecting an album, taking it out of the cover, out of the inner sleeve and then putting it down on the turntable and then hearing that lovely noise as the needle goes onto the vinyl and then the music starts. There’s something religious about that ritual, which I miss. I missed — for the CDs and the cassette era — I really missed that ritual. And then looking at the album cover and reading all the credits. Who played the bass on it? Who engineered it? I miss that information. I think modern music has become commodified by being just, you switch it on, you switch it off, so you don’t really know where it comes from.

SHAGGY: It makes you less interested in it, to be honest, the fact that I can’t read that anymore. Makes me not want to really buy full body of works like I used to.

STING: No one calls me by my real name.

SHAGGY: Really? Well, that’s my new name for you. I’m going to start calling you that, Gordon (laughs as Sting sticks his tongue out playfully). My wife calls me Orville.

STING: Only when you’re in trouble. (laughs)

SHAGGY: With something rolled up. (laughs)

STING: That is such a cliche.

SHAGGY: Is it? Why not?!

STING: You’ve never smoked weed in your life!

SHAGGY: I know, but you never tell them that. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. (laughs)

Sting poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Shaggy poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sting poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Shaggy poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sting, left, and Shaggy pose for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sting, left, and Shaggy pose for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sting poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Shaggy poses for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

Sting, left, and Shaggy pose for a portrait on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)