Fantastic Negrito Enlists Sting For Soul-Infused Single ‘Undefeated Eyes’

Fantastic Negrito (Xavier Dphrepaulezz) tapped Sting for a new single, “Undefeated Eyes.” The track marks Fantastic Negrito’s first release since his 2023 album, Grandfather Courage.

Grandfather Courage is an acoustic reimagining of Negrito’s acclaimed 2022 LP, White Jesus Black Problems. That record followed a pair of Grammy-winning albums in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category: 2018’s Please Don’t Be Dead and 2016’s The Last Days of Oakland.

Fantastic Negrito now teams with fellow multiple Grammy-winner Sting for “Undefeated Eyes.” Negrito and Sting captured the soul-infused track just before COVID lockdowns in early 2020 at Dphrepaulezz’s West Oakland studio.

“Undefeated Eyes” sees the artists’ “distinctive voices perfectly complementing each other as they tell an elegantly gritty yet full-of-life tale of misplaced trust and the sometimes low points of relationships,” as per a press release.

Listen to “Undefeated Eyes” below: