KINGSTON, Jamaica — Dancehall icon Shaggy says working on the new musical The Last Ship with Sting has taught him the importance of stepping out of his comfort zone.

“It’s growth. Every time you become uncomfortable, that’s growth. A hamster in a wheel is comfortable being in a wheel, but the wheel goes nowhere. So you should aim for the uncomfortable,” the It Wasn’t Me singer said during an interview with American actress Sherri Shepherd on her daytime show.

Describing Sting as his brother, Shaggy shared that he encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone and participate in the musical.

“He is the brother I never knew I needed. He has more faith in me than I have faith in myself sometimes. There is a part of him that he enjoys putting me in uncomfortable situations…but he was also betting on me because he convinced the company that I was the guy for it, and when we went there and started killing it, he was like ‘I told you so,” he said.

According to Shaggy, more than 60,000 tickets were sold for the show in Paris, France. He said it was also sold out in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the Boombastic singer said the name of his upcoming album Lottery was born from him betting on himself.

“It’s really me betting on myself, going against the grain and making music outside. I was criticised by reggae purists because I wasn’t doing dancehall and reggae in its authentic form. I did hybrids. Funny enough, dancehall now is pretty hybrid. Just like Bob Marley music in the days, they used to put session musicians to play rock music over Bob Marley’s songs and those very recordings are now the blueprint of what reggae music is,” Shaggy said.