Music Corner
Within the first two weeks of 2024, Kali Uchis warmed up January’s chill beginning with her fifth studio album, and sophomore-spanish album, Orquídeas (Orchids). The R&B-pop album encapsulates a journey of self-love, divine femininity and luxury, with the classic allure that makes Uchis’s sound her own.
The title track “¿Cómo Así?” (How So?) sets the scene for this melodic and enticing album, with Uchis’s coy conveyance of taking her lover as her own. The fluidity of the bassline and ethereal snippets of Uchis’s laugh laced the track in the reinforced message of strength in femininity and self indulgence. Her calm and laidback tone alongside such suggestions entices the listener forwards, setting them up to listen to the album in its entirety.
Arguably the most loved song of the album, the third track, “Igual Que Un Ángel” (Just Like An Angel), has climbed its way up to the top of Uchis’s most popular tracks on Spotify. The song features the break-out Mexican artist known as Peso Pluma, with raspy vocals that contrast the liquidity of Uchis. The track highlights the resilience that comes after a breakup, and the rarity of a truly loving soul, echoing the divinity that coats the album.
To bring us back down to Earth, the sixth track “Te Mata” (It Kills You), tells the story of a toxic relationship, and Uchis’s strength as she breaks out of it. With intense vocals and lyrics conveying that if her leaving makes her the villain, then so be it. Additionally, the instrumentals are blanketed in a mysterious and alluring bassline, sprinkled with a dreamy piano backing.
Overall, Uchis’ newest album can be seen as a testament to her musicality, with the recurrence of enticing vocals and instrumentals that convey an even larger plotline of resilience, allure and divine nature to the listener.
