José Feliciano might be best known for penning the Spanish-language Christmas hit, “Feliz Navidad.” But this Puerto Rican singer-songwriter has also hit the spotlight by putting exciting (and sometimes hysterical) Latin twists on classic pop/rock hits.
When José glitzed the stage of the Polar Music Prize’s 2017 award ceremony, he didn’t just cover The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”; he completely reinvented the hit, performing in front of Sting himself!
This performance, featuring Serbian singer Jelena Krstić and The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, has since gone viral on YouTube, amassing over 1.8 million YouTube views to date. And likely for all the wrong reasons.
José lifts the core elements of The Police’s hit and recasts them in a brand new light. The song’s classic, suspenseful guitar riff, smoked out on The Police’s 1983 original, is plucked on a banjo-like acoustic guitar, chilling the track down to a folksy ambiance. It’s a bold move to make, especially in front of Sting.
But that’s not the only twist José puts on the track. From his very first lines, José uproots Sting’s vocal melodies, dancing around the original notes while exploring their potential. José’s experimental melodic additions aren’t exactly better than those immortalized on The Police’s original, but nevertheless, it’s always eye-opening to dive into a parallel universe such as this, hearing how certain songs could have been written, but were not.
As the camera pans over to the tuxedoed audience, it’s hard to suss out the thoughts running through Sting’s mind as he watches José’s performance. Hardly smiling, lost in some odd reverie or boredom at a song he can’t escape, wincing at José’s slight mess-up in the first chorus; we’ll leave it down to you to figure out Sting’s true feelings.
Jelena completely steals the show when she enters during the bridge; bold voice edged with soulful, gospel tones like a chart-topping disco diva. But, again, from Sting’s expression, it seems he sees straight through the glitz and glam to the blinding clichés and club-singer atmosphere this duo gives off. Or perhaps, like countless British celebs, it’s the high-glam and seethingly fake award show spectacle in itself that’s evidently making his skin crawl. Yet, José certainly piques Sting’s interest when he bleeds out an intricate acoustic guitar solo, and switches some English lyrics to sing in his native Spanish tongue.
Viewers have been left in hysterics after watching this video, with top commenters writing, “The longest four minutes of Sting’s life,” “This was an incredible performance. From Sting.”, “Sting truly was the King of Pain at that moment,” and “Sting just goes through four phases of grief during that thing. Near the end you can see him accept the cringe and he learns to love again.”
Others have been picking out their favorite moments from this accidentally hilarious clip, commenting, “His wife’s side glance at him at 3:12 to make sure he’s still breathing is priceless,” and “It’s awesome how as soon as the song starts, the audience is cheering and clapping and bouncing along but then José starts singing and by the end, everyone is just frozen in shock, except that one lady who seems to be loving the whole thing.”
