Kali Uchis

I think I like Kali as a pop star but I'm not sure I'm totally convinced by her music. Debut album out today and it sounds a bit patchy to me tbh. Seen some really enthusiastic reviews of it though. What does ILM think of Kali Uchis?

I really liked "Tyrant" last fall but didn't like the follow-up that much. Just starting the album now: I like her voice a lot, but I'm a little surprised at how, idk, ~produced~ this is. This veers much closer to Midnite Vultures territory than I expected.

the songs i enjoyed the most first time round were 'your teeth in my neck', 'nuestra planeta' and 'tomorrow' iirc, but 'in my dreams' is really cute too. i think i prefer it when it doesn't sound like something made in y2k, but i gotta say that kali's performance is pretty great the whole way through

giving this a second spin right now and I like it much, much more than the other day. I think that's down mostly to being in a better mood, but knowing to expect the layered, retro-ish arrangements, I can appreciate them better. It also helps that I saw Om'Mas Keith is on this as bits really remind me of City Pulse, which was kind of distracting.

"Nuestro Planeta" is so good. we need a full Kali & Miguel album en español

this video is fun (15.7M views!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f5zD7ZSNpQ

think this is still my favourite kali from a couple of years back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUANL9WoB90

This is very much my album of the year by some distance. I'm surprised it's not getting that much attention on here.

nothing really stood out on first listen to me from this album except the intro track which was fantastic, and the one produced by Damon Albarn which sounded vaguely like The Cure

i think one of my issues with this is that neo-soul leaning production makes it hard not to think about erykah or amy winehouse and kali's voice sounds really thin in comparison - she gets shown up by jorja smith on 'tyrant' for instance. was listening to it again and my wife said it reminded her of lily allen - needlessly cruel imo but now i can't shift that thought. 'nuestro planeta' is still great though!

the songs i enjoyed the most first time round were 'your teeth in my neck', 'nuestra planeta' and 'tomorrow'

these are my exact three favorite songs from the album lol

uh im very late to this party but holy shit this chica

I really like this album. At first I thought it was nice enough, but after several times through I find myself looking forward to almost every song.

otm. glides very nicely from style to style. my favorites haven't changed but "your teeth in my neck" is pulling away as the standout moment on the record

Good stuff even if her voice isn't the greatest

uh im very late to this party but...
I've finally gotten around to the LP too. Super stuff, exactly what I want from a pop record and the occasional sci-fi touches are the icing on the cake.

^this

Isolation just keeps getting better and better for me. It's making a great summer soundtrack. Flight 22 is my current favourite, that last minute is really something.

finally getting around to this and it sounds perfect for a sunny day and the way she sings "neck" with two syllables is enchanting

I'm late on the discovery but that's a very well situated album in terms of genres and balance. I'm still amazed at how highly consistent pop albums have become in the recent years.

"Killer" sounded so familiar and I eventually found the song I was thinking of: You told a lie by Camera Obscura. I think it's accidental but it's both the orchestration and vocal line.

it took me a while but this album is really solid after all. "in my dreams" still sounds so much like "close to me" though

She was really cool in the nardwuar interview

Surprised how lukewarm folks were about this (Kitchen Person excepted) as this has snuck up to be one of my favourite albums of the year.

Same!

Yep, still loving it here too. Definitely in my top five of the year at this point.

The way the bass slips into Your Teeth In My Neck.

Also this song is crying out for a leftfield remix. So many nice little touches.

I have to admit to not being all that familiar with her previous stuff, but this r&b/reggaeton hybrid is exquisite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdj-6Bd5wk
Kali Uchis • Solita

I see it’s been out for a month, but for me this is the new year’s first revelation.

I like this a lot!

New single, I'm also on board with this. Looking forward to an album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdj-6Bd5wk&list=PL6zyXmG5g9xGfEZVI-wVQL-8Wzuy2PH8G&index=41&t=0s

Oops, wrong link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQqJeIyyQBs

that’s nice, doesn’t feel as special as “Solita” tho.

she released a 4-track EP earlier this year, which I wasn’t feeling that much (only played it once, mind)

This, however, is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T7aoZq81Vs
Kali Uchis ft. Jhay Cortez • La Luz

another reggaeton track, another banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2YQDndmwbM

ah yes, that’s very good. don’t know what string instrument is in there, but it sounds fantastic

there's a whole album now: Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞

("Solita" is not on it unfortunately, but I have high hopes regardless)

This is... ok. Nowhere near as good as the debut.

^What I thought at first but after coming back to it I find it's up there with the debut, everything here is very good and very consistent if relatively low on hits. Plenty of details, varied in atmosphere, if you like her lens and reggaeton (which I do). People speak of the strong middle, but I wouldn't exclude Fue Mejor or the last three tracks. La Luz (Fín) is my Yo x Mi, Tu x Mi of the year.

love this album. her hybrid of r&b and reggaeton is superb, and the generous sprinkling of more classical latin sounds and instrumentation is the icing on the cake.

I liked it a lot on first listen. Enjoy little touches like 1950s ish guitar licks on one track, and that she covers Cuban doo wop group Los Zafiros.

Her song “Telepatia” is rising on the charts which got her trending on Twitter

good for her. that whole album is great.

It sure is a great album. Glad that track is getting more streaming attention and keeping the whole album in the spotlight a bit.

she sounds amazing here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbz4w-lpLQ

(i can't speak spanish like at all but jimmy fallon's pronunciation in the intro is embarrassing)

“Telepatia “ is a great song, with nice delivery of it there. Yep re Fallon.

Another interview with her here plus lots of photos

https://latina.com/becoming-kali-uchis/

"Telepatia" has been no. 1 for 7 weeks on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart. Interestingly enough I guess she's going on tour with Tyler the Creator I read

The song hasn't gotten tired for me, nor the rest of the album (which I need to revisit as I haven't listened in a bit)

yeah i've played it a ton and still love it. listened to the album a little bit and it's definitely good, but that song has had me unusually hooked for the greater part of the year so far

in case anyone outside the us is curious: it's belatedly become an almost-major presence on top 40 here, months after it was lighting up the streaming services and social media (here and apparently everywhere else). on the latest billboard charts it's just outside the top 10 in all-format and pop airplay, but unfortunately i have only heard it once on air in my city. i assume stations here, and a number of cities, have unfortunately figured there aren't enough spanish speakers in their market for the song to really 'work' there

love this dreampoppy slowed mix of Kali's track ' dead to me'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdvOdJ-4tGk

I was snoozing and missed Kali Uchis tour pre-sale and today was busy at dayjob and missed public sale for DC show and it sold out quick

I listened to it a couple of times and really liked it. She's still yet to top Isolation, but she's very consistent so far.

A terrific listen so far.

I’m warming up to it now, first half is still not convincing me but second half is good.

only a few songs in but i love how mellow this is. i know that's generally her "vibe" but it's working something extra for me right now.

"happy now" favorite track of the new year. album is very good and a pleasant surprise. some really sick beats. early thought would be about 3.5 mics with room to grow.

More and more albums of the streaming generation choose to be backloaded, the sequencing can be disconcerting.
I'm not yet sure what I think of it. There's a lot of this studied art of drifting sensually in the distance and being slowly inserted in a puffed marshmallow. After I wish you roses, the first track that really stopped me on first listen was Fantasy. I didn't know Don Toliver and her were romantically involved. Hasta Cuando is cute. I guess Endlessly is the new Telepatia, but surely we've had too much light disco by now. Blue-Deserve Me-Moonlight was my favorite stretch.

“moonlight” is the clear standout imo, the rest is still really nice but has tended to wash over me so far. had a moment with “love between” which made me seek out the glorious song it interpolates (“love…can be so wonderful” by the temprees)

https://pitchfork.com/features/profile/kali-uchis-red-moon-in-venus-interview/

Found some of this Isabelia Herrera interview/ feature of interest

I’m aware I’m going to channel imago with this comment, but the problem I have with it is that most of the album sounds like sketches or rather sound bites for tik toks, instead of fully fledged songs.

That's a good way to put it... I'm finding that with a lot of stuff in this space, unfortunately (including some recent & current ILM faves, so clearly it doesn't put everyone off).

not trying to be a dick, just trying to put this as succinctly as i can: having discrepancies with today's pop music for catering to tiktoks is like getting mad at the grateful dead for catering to acid heads.

(i think of it like this: sometimes non-music scenes influence music and the folks who are not as connected to that "culture" subsequently feel less connection to the music. for a more blatant example, idk, like contemporary christian music? i think a lot of us here would agree that there's a fundamental barrier between us and genuinely enjoying listening to that music because of what it's "made for." just a personal theory. no malice. i promise. i like the kali uchis album a lot so consider my defense of it i guess.)

*consider THIS

I mean I get it and I don’t necessarily hate tiktok’s influence on musical culture and consumption.

Still, you can use the platform to promote your songs and even compose your songs thinking of hooks as soundbites and still have plenty of them in service of fully fledged songs. E.g. Bad Habit by Lacy or let’s not go too far: Telepatía

Not saying the full album sounds like sketches for tiktok btw. There’s several songs which sound more fleshed out.

no, not at all! i think i can probably guess which songs you're thinking of lol.

i just think i'm not all the way convinced that the new record had that specifically in mind. i may be off on this, but didn't "telepatia" only take off after making the rounds on tiktok (after initially floundering as a single)? maybe she just makes that kind of music anyway because, well... again: that's the world we live in.

(and really, who can blame her for trying to work another hit out of tiktok use? how easy is it once the song takes off, right?)

i definitely concede that the new album is very saccharine and repetitive at times. the mood of a lot of the material is kind of faux `noir` —the stark black and red contrast for the "moonlight" single art quite appropriate in that respect— so i kind of took it as her not entirely leaning into that "darker" sound and opting for a bigger hook in place of that full song. she's very self-aware of course and super smart about all of it and that's why i like the album so much. very satisfying stuff and it's getting better every time i play it.

thanks for the chat moka.

I don’t want to be harsh. tbh I need to listen to it more this is based on first impression and it’s been a couple of months that I haven’t been able to truly listen to new music calmly at home. I might end up loving it completely in a few weeks.

She told her label she wanted to put one album out ( this one) and a second one later in just Spanish , and so maybe the song creation is just impacted by trying to get this one done and then moving on to the next one. Also she has been making music since 2012 on her laptop, freestyling,sampling,using GarageBand , and this is sorta consistent with that approach.

Red Moon in Venus includes a couple of Spanish-language tracks, but Uchis says those are “conceptually and sonically” different from the songs on her next Spanish-language album, set to drop later this year. “When I think of Red Moon in Venus, I think of being on a bike ride, or laying in the sun listening on my headphones,” she says. By comparison, the next album is more upbeat—apparently, it explores her “bitchier side.” She incorporates styles of Latin American music she hasn’t ventured into before, and stretches her voice even further than on Red Moon. “Being multidimensional, there’s all these different sides of me that I need to show

I'll be here for the bitchier side

There isn't a banger like "Your Teeth in My Neck," which I hear in the wild more now than in 2017 and it sounds as fresh as it ever did.

I’m aware I’m going to channel imago with this comment, but the problem I have with it is that most of the album sounds like sketches or rather sound bites for tik toks, instead of fully fledged songs.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, March 6, 2023 6:55 PM (yesterday)

Not citing Kali Uchis for this specifically, but it seems like a higher proportion of Tik-Tok-friendly music consists of a single chord progression that repeats throughout the song, with heavy repetition of a few lyrical lines as a chorus. Songs with distinct intros, verses, pre-choruses, choruses, and bridges that feature more harmonic and melodic variety don't appear to work as well with the app - I hope that this potential disincentive for such songcraft doesn't result in artists eliminating such tunes from their catalogues.

♥ that display name

despite what ever flaws in her material, I wish I was seeing her sold out gig tonight in DC. Resale market is too pricey for me.

I like the album a bunch, thanks to constant car play.

Kali Uchis w/ El Alfa & JT "Munekita" is getting tiktok and radio and streaming play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRQJVNDdawg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBJc4koVHLs

New Kali Uchis and Karol G song with no guys in video

GLOBAL SUPERSTARS
KALI UCHIS AND KAROL G DEBUT NEW TRACK “LABIOS MORDIDOS” + VIDEO
KALI’S SPANISH-LANGUAGE ALBUM ORQUÍDEAS
OUT JANUARY 12, 2024
FEATURES COLLABORATIONS WITH
PESO PLUMA, RAUW ALEJANDRO AND MORE

Kali and Karol—two of the most-streamed women in music today—have become friends in recent years, bonding over their shared Colombian roots and first collaborating on “ME TENGO QUE IR” from Karol’s Mañana Sera Bonita (Bichota Season) earlier this year.
“I’m so excited for the Kuchis to finally have one of my favorite songs on Orquídeas with one of my favorite artists, Karol,” Uchis says. “I hope this brings everyone lots of holiday cheer and you make plenty of memories going into the new year with this song!”
“Labios Mordidos” is taken from Kali’s fourth LP and second Spanish-language album, Orquídeas, set for release January 12, 2024

"with no guys in video"

good.

(song is decent!)

"happy now" favorite track of the new year

this f'kn jam stayed in rotation ALL YEAR LONG. not my top pick overall but with eoy stuff happening, i'm going to start campaigning fairly aggressively. it's my favorite thing she's done so far. the faux early 80s light funk rhythm, that weird twinkly synth that seems to be having a conversation with her background vox, beatless coda with the layered vocals- my goodness! just under 4 minutes and i got time, let's hear it again!

Karol G adds nothing but I like the chorus on Labios Morbidos

Mordidos lol

I like this new album.

Ooh , I need to listen to Orquideas, the new album

This is smooth and flowing even by her standards. With a full-bodied sound, afro-latin influences, and her ability to make 2-minute songs remarkable. The only miss is probably No Hay Ley.

welp, this fucking jams. +ofc the peso pluma feature is simultaneously uncharacteristic+perfect. this is even better than her last one.

yeah, i mean the bigger focus on non-radio sounds, the sequence, her vocal performance... she's got some momentum with her this time around.

my picks are the peso pluma feature+'heladito' which is a fucking fake david axelrod beat omg i ♡ this woman

Loving this. Might be my new fave of hers... thinking I'm in the minority of Sin Miedo lovers here

Also reminds me to check out more El Alfa. "Los Apparatos" was one of my favourite discoveries out of the 2022 poll.

I did not expect Peso Pluma to do this type of song and I definitely did not expect him to nail it.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Red Moon but I’m liking this one a lot on first listen.

this is fantastic, holy heck

Some early highlights for me are in the center of the album: the run from Perdiste to Muñekita and the closer Dame Beso / Muévete. Also like Heladito.

I really liked Red Moon but I think this might be my favourite album of hers - continually intoxicating

This is great.

Even more explicitly queer than the last album.

tho not a fan of the promo clip, i have to stick with my initial feeling on this one: this song is, and i cannot state this any more clearly, perfect-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY-nAOFpenI
'igual que un ángel' feat peso pluma

yes! just the way that bass purrs along does funny things to me, let alone the rest of it, good grief

Está muy embarazada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ71mS5jOuY
Heladito

Si

v nice album and yeah "igual que un ángel" is great

New song "Never Be Yours" is just lovely. Kali cannot be stopped.

It’s actually a remake of a song she released 10 years ago when she was starting her career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9aqYvzqrnI

Plenty of good singles and ideas back then.

Sample is Delegation - Oh Honey which is an amazing song. Also used as a sample in Cali Life Style - Lost which is also a cool chicano hip hop track.

i didn't say anything a month ago because it's such an obvious instant classic, but "never be yours" is maybe my favorite thing she's ever done? the beat is still doing a lot of that heavy lifting however "hello kitty why the long face" should be on t-shirts and bumper stickers and schitt.

lowkey, between this+the peso pluma feature she's kinda dominating this year.