YES, STING IS RICH. BUT HE'S ALSO BUSY.

If you expect Sting’s answer to the question, “What are you going to do now that you’ve done your giant catalog deal with UMPG?” to be “I’m going to Disneyland,” you don’t know Sting.

Indeed, while some of us might be inclined under similar circumstances to go off and count our money, Der Stingel is busily indulging his eclectic musical proclivities.

He’s dropped a Spanish-language single, “Por Su Amor,” which he’ll perform on the Premio Lo Nuestro Awards (a huge event in the Latin music world), airing 2/24 via Univision. The English-language version of the song, co-written with manager Martin Kierszenbaum, appears on new album The Bridge (A&M), which streeted in November. He's slated to drop a new single with Swedish House Mafia, "Redlight." And he’s said to be cooking up something new with frequent collaborator Shaggy.

“Sting is always up for a challenge, especially a musical one,” says Kierszenbaum. “It seems like he’s having more fun than ever, so no, he doesn’t want to talk to HITS.”

Sting begins his world tour on 3/7 at Tampere, Finland’s Nokia Arena (cap 10k+). Continental dates will bookend his residency at London’s Palladium in April. He’ll return stateside 6/17 to begin round two of his “My Songs” residency at Caesars Palace—tickets are on sale now—then head back to Europe.

Nonetheless still apparently afraid of being called a slugabed, Sting also took a featured role in the French film Kaamelott, which happens to have come in second only to No Time to Die at the Gallic box office.

Meanwhile, it's mid-morning and we're only just now smoking our first bowl.

photo credit: Eric Ryan Anderson