Kali Uchis recently released her 6th album: ORQUÍDIAS. The singer released another album last year, Red Moon In Venus, which also got a review in The Humm. However, these two albums are quite different from one another. While the previous album is about consequences, karma, and spirituality, her newest album is fully focused in one thing: love.
However, focusing in one theme didn’t limit Uchis in her writing. She expanded this emotion into many branches. Whether it was self-love, healing, or affection to her loved one, the singer made sure to demonstrate what emotion she intended to express.
Some songs were explicitly on how she feels about her loved one. Some of these songs are “Young Rich & In Love” and “Tu Corazón Es Mío,” having lyrics such as “you know I’ll always be by your side, there’s no one like you” and “you’re mine, everyone knows. Ain’t ever leaving me for anyone else, for no one and nothing.” Many lyrics and songs express this intense love that doesn’t leave her head, as she mentions in “Pensamientos Intrusivos.”
Some of the lyrics mentioned in the previous paragraph were in Spanish, translated to English for the sake of the readers’ understanding. That brings up another factor in this album that stands up: there’s a lot more Spanish lyricism in this album than in most of the other albums. And that’s not the only characteristic in the album that represent Hispanic culture. Many songs, such as “Te Mata” and “Dame Beso // Muevete” have rhythm and instrumental very cultural of the Hispanic community. These are very upbeat songs, intended to make you want to move your feet.
As mentioned before, some of the album is about self-love. Having lyrics such as “I’m the total goddess […] giving offerings to your goddess, it’s what I deserve” and “to know me is to love me and never stop” expresses a moment in kali’s life where she’s in peace with herself and knows her self-value. Throughout the whole album, Uchis talks on how they can’t help falling for her and they need to show what they want, emphasizing she’s no longer pursuing anyone neither does she have to.
Then, some of the album is somewhat an explanation to why Kali Uchis reached that moment of peace in herself: the healing. These songs may not mean she’s fully over her ex-partner, but it does express she’s in a good place throughout her healing process and is in good terms with leaving the past in the past. She sings, for example, “I, the devil of your story, […] the one who’d cried until falling asleep then would wake up to keep living the nightmare. But this is long gone and that’s not me anymore” and “you lost me, baby, how sad. It must hurt, uy, this has to hurt. But you did it, you lost me.”
Afterall, this album is pleasing to a variety of audience. Whether you want to dance or to cry, whether you prefer Spanish or English music, whether you want to down or up, there’s going to be a part of this album to satisfy you. Kali Uchis showed strong self-development, but never forgetting to please her audience with strong lyrics and multiple features.
Grade: B
