“The Premise of the Show Is Frightening to Me”: Sting Gets Honest on His Reluctancy To Appear on ‘The Voice’

Before appearing on The Voice as a mega mentor, Sting was already great friends with judges Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani. However, that didn’t prevent him from feeling a little reluctance before agreeing to do the show. At first, he wasn’t sold on the competition format.

“I was reticent, to be honest” and “The premise of the show is frightening to me, this sort of competition. I think art and music aren’t really competitions,” Sting said on The Universal Studios set of The Voice. He also added, “If you win the U.S. Open, you are the best player at that particular time. But singing is different. Everybody’s voice is unique.”

Though Sting seemingly ate his words, as the experience seemed to be a delight for him, Stefani, and Snoop Dogg. Sting will serve as a mega-mentor for Stefani and Snoop Dogg in the Knockout round airing on Monday, November 11.

Sting Is Still a “Student of Music”

Kindly, Sting revealed that the participants were way ahead of the game and needed little to no coaching. “I’m still a student of music, but I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I can give them a tiny hint” and “The standard of singing is so high, there’s nothing you can say. They know how to sing.” He closed out his statement by saying, “There’s little bits of presentation or posture or the way that you present yourself I can probably help, but technically, they’re great singers.”

Between still being a “Student of music” himself and coaching other students, Sting found the show to be a very gratifying experience. “It was very nourishing to see a small piece of advice that you’re given and then their next run-through” and “They put that into action and the whole thing is raised,” shared Sting.

In addition to having great comments about the singer, Sting also praised Stefani. Stating, “I’ve been so impressed by how succinct she is in her comments about the artists, how compassionate she is, and her wisdom.”

In competition with Sting and company sits Jennifer Hudson as the mega mentor for Michael Bublé and Reba McEntire.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix