Sting has said he regrets reforming The Police in 2007, labelling it “an exercise in nostalgia”.

The ‘Every Breath You Take’ hitmaker reunited with bandmates Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland in 2007, 19 years after they split, and then embarked on a global tour the year after.

Speaking in a new interview, Sting discussed reuniting with his bandmates and how the tour didn’t leave him feeling the way he hoped it would.

“At the time I labelled the tour an exercise in nostalgia. That was simply how I felt and is still how I feel today,” he told Reader’s Digest. “I think it’s OK to be honest about your feelings and that was the way it went for me.”

He continued: “That’s not a slight on the people I was with or the way things panned out, it’s just how I saw it by the end, and let’s be honest, that’s not how I wanted to remember it.

“If I thought that would be the emotion I’d be leaving with, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

Sting then explained that he loves being a solo artist because of the “total freedom” it offers. “I think there is a freedom in being a solo artist,” he said. “It’s not a power thing, at all, it’s just about producing exactly the brand and style of music that feels right for you.

“Music, in every form, is a collaborative process, but never more so than in a band, where you have to consider other people almost more than you do yourself. To have total career freedom is, for me, the ultimate thrill of being a solo artist.”

Meanwhile, Sting, Billie Joe Armstrong and Sleater-Kinney are among the special guests who will feature on the upcoming new series of Audible’s Words + Music.