Sting says writing his new concept album felt like "projectile vomiting".
The 61-year-old singer's latest musical venture, 'The Last Ship', is set in the shipbuilding town of his childhood, Wallsend, in the Northeast of England, and tells the stories of fictional characters' lives and hardships.
The 'Fields of Gold' hitmaker claims he has never found it so easy to pen new tracks - because they weren't about him.
Sting said: "I'd gone through this song drought, but as soon as I decided I wasn't writing for myself, songs for 'The Last Ship' came incredibly quickly. I described it as projectile vomiting. I'm so glad the lyrics came quickly because they normally take a long time.
"These were almost automatic for me which was quite bizarre. I told these stories about these characters, some of whom I know, some of whom I made up and some of whom were composites of both those things."
The star decided to make a concept album when he became bored of "navel-gazing" and putting his own feelings into words, although he accidentally ended up putting plenty of himself into his songs.
Sting revealed: "I'd just got tired of laying myself out on the table and saying, 'Here, folks, here's my latest. I'd got tired of the navel-gazing ... Then, on reflection, I realised there's a lot of me in there."
The musician has already set to work on an ambitious stage show adaptation of the album, which he is taking to Broadway next year, with the help of director Joe Mantello and 'Skyfall' screenwriter John Logan.
He added to The Sun newspaper: "I have people who are passionate about what they're doing. This is not just a cynical exercise in milking a pop star's cannon. This is something real and it's got a heart."
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