More than three decades after Juan Luis Guerra put "Estrellitas y Duendes" on record, Sting has sung it back to him in Spanish. The duet and its official video reached streaming platforms Thursday, with the clip shot at Power Station Studios in New York.
The song first appeared on Bachata Rosa, the 1990 album that carried Guerra and his band 4.40 well beyond the Dominican Republic. The single followed in 1991. It is a bachata with bolero touches, a love song built on loss, and it peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart, according to the magazine's chart archive. Guerra wrote it. Sting, who led The Police before a long solo career, had never been paired with him on record until now.
Sting Sings Juan Luis Guerra's Classic Entirely in Spanish
The choice to sing in Spanish was Sting's own. According to Billboard, the two recorded remotely, and Guerra told the magazine that what stood out most was Sting's insistence on doing the whole song in Spanish. Sting told Billboard Español that he approached the lyrics with care. "I had to try to sing them exactly as they were written," he said.
The magazine also reports that Sting's manager, Martin Kierszenbaum, a Spanish speaker, encouraged him to take the song on, and that Sting recorded his part in one afternoon at Night Bird Studios in Los Angeles. The announcement lists Sting as managed by Kierszenbaum and Cherrytree Music Company.
Both artists addressed the collaboration in the announcement. "Trabajar con Sting ha sido un honor inmenso," Guerra said, adding that hearing Sting sing one of his songs in Spanish is "un gran regalo y privilegio." Sting responded in kind. "Siempre he admirado el trabajo de Juan Luis Guerra," he said, describing the composition as having "extraordinaria elegancia y profundidad."
Guerra Films Puts Juan Luis Guerra and Sting in the Same Room
The video was directed by Guerra Films and filmed at Power Station Studios, the New York recording house. The announcement describes the clip as an intimate studio session defined by mutual respect and creative energy. That framing sits alongside the remote recording process Billboard describes: the voices were cut apart, and the camera brings the two artists together.
The credentials on the call sheet are considerable. According to the announcement, Guerra has won 3 Grammy Awards and 31 Latin Grammys. Sting, as a solo artist and with The Police, has won 17 Grammys, along with a Golden Globe and an Emmy, and has received multiple Oscar nominations. The artists' team puts their combined output at more than five decades of musical work.
The announcement also makes a larger claim for the original song. It says "Estrellitas y Duendes" helped Bachata Rosa reach international success and introduced bachata to audiences worldwide. That is the team's characterization, though the album's chart run gives it some footing. Wikipedia's entry on the record notes it debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Tropical Albums chart in January 1991.
What Comes Next for the Song
The release does not say whether the pairing will move beyond the studio or the screen. What it does show is how a 1991 single keeps finding new rooms. The original found its audience on radio and record shelves. This version arrives on streaming services with a second famous voice and a language that voice had to work to learn. Whether it repeats the original's No. 7 run will be settled on the charts, not in the announcement.
