F
ew artists can set a scene like Kali Uchis. Every of her albums has confirmed that she’s a grasp of temper boards and a queen of aesthetics: Her 2018 debut album, Isolation, was a lush world of retro R&B finest loved on a heart-shaped sofa; 2023’s Crimson Moon in Venus included cosmic, shape-shifting pop songs to be drunk up throughout a lunar eclipse. Throughout every undertaking, she’s stitched disparate sonic textures collectively like cloth swatches and positioned her voice entrance and middle — permitting it to softly information her listeners to no matter new world she was constructing.
In true Kali vogue, her new album, Orquídeas, began with a selected imaginative and prescient: “This album is impressed by the timeless, eerie, mystic, hanging, sleek, and sensual attract of the orchid,” she mentioned in a press launch that reads extra like poetry. The orchid, it seems, is the nationwide flower of Colombia, the place Uchis spent plenty of time as a child. “I all the time felt distinctly intrigued and magnetized by the flower.” The objective throughout the file, Uchis continued, is to harness that imagery to “re-define the best way we take a look at Latinas in music.”
Shortly on Orquídeas, it turns into clear Uchis has a couple of issues in thoughts: Initially, she desires the world to know there’s no field or class to restrict Latinas sonically. She bounces from icy R&B to brilliant merengue to liquefied dream pop. Second, the album balances a cautious mixture of energy and vulnerability, one which provides complexity and nuance to notions of Latinas in music that usually contain stereotypes as lusty sirens or spicy firebrands.
Take, for instance, “Igual Que un Ángel,” a synth-pop ode to feminine autonomy. “She simply desires peace.… She by no means forgets what’s actual,” she sings in Spanish. When it’s much less anticipated, Mexican star Peso Pluma pops onto the monitor, emphasizing Uchis’ message of tenacity. “Perdiste” is a glowing ballad that tenderly reminds an ex-lover of the lady he’s misplaced, whereas “Te Mata” is a reclamation of independence after a poisonous relationship, fantastically crafted right into a modern-day bolero. It’s one of the gorgeous vocal performances by Uchis, who confirmed her knack for re-creating old-school classics when she interpreted La Lupe’s burning “Què Te Pedí” on her first Spanish-language album, 2020’s Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios).
However Orquídeas can also be loaded with sexual company and bad-bitch vitality. “Labios Mordidos,” the album’s centerpiece, is an empowerment anthem that enlists her fellow Colombian Karol G for a glossed-out perreo occasion. On the discoed-out “No Hay Ley Parte 2,” she exchanges come-hither lyrics with Rauw Alejandro, then cranks up the vitality on “Muñekita” for a splash of dembow, that includes Dominican luminary El Alfa and Metropolis Women rapper JT.
Throughout the album, Uchis is bolder and extra forthright than on previous releases. So typically, she’s performed the languid cool woman, however she breaks out of her shell many times this day trip. She dives deeper into new sounds, and she or he prospers your entire means.
