Words to describe Kali Uchis might be embracing love, womanhood, or the power of self and privacy. This new mentality and new Kali was introduced when she released her third studio album in March of 2023, with a flowery hit single, ‘I Wish You Roses.’ Now, changing from her previous album’s flower theme of roses, she’s using orchids. On January 12, 2024, after her surprise pregnancy announcement with partner Don Toliver, she released her fourth album and second Spanish language album, ‘Orquídeas,’ named after the national flower of her home country, Colombia, and a flower that to her “symbolized timelessness, femininity, luxury…it’s also the flower of fertility, so it actually all came together perfectly.”
This album celebrates her bicultural and bilingual identity and upbringing, featuring a variety of popular Latin artists across genres, such as Peso Pluma, El Alfa, Karol G, and Rauw Alejandro. This album was a huge project of exploring her versatility as an artist and using different styles that influenced her growing up, her childhood being spent both in Colombia and Virginia. Uchis calls this album “my dance album,” saying that now that she is no longer a new artist, she has begun to look at her discography as a whole to see the things she can expand on or try for the first time.
Uchis’ newfound versatility is evident as the album begins with ‘¿Cómo Así?’, a dreamy pop song with a catchy beat and repeating lyrics “¿Cómo así? Es así.” Uchis continues with dreamy and flirty songs, such as the fourth track, ‘Pensamientos Intrusivos,’ which opens with the lines “You make my heart beat fast as cars racing,” reminiscent of a crush. Or, with the ninth track, ‘Tu Corazón Es Mío…’, a heartfelt song about a relationship of loyalty and genuine love. She continues with songs for every mood with the variety of genres she employs: a reggaeton remix of her 2022 single ‘NO HAY LEY,’ her bolero song ‘Te Mata’, or the merengue of the closing song ‘Dame Beso // Muévete.’
In an interview with Apple Music, Uchis says the music is “very girly, very much a celebration of womanhood…princess, the girl that…gets what she wants,” saying, “pretty much the whole album” is about understanding your worth. Her ideas were very much executed in the popular song ‘Igual Que Un Ángel (with Peso Pluma)’, a synth-disco song about a woman who, despite getting her heart broken, doesn’t turn to superficial love for fame and money. Instead, she protects her soul, behaving as an angel might, with Uchis singing, “Heaven must have sent you to earth / Un corazón como el tuyo está en extinción.” These lyrical affirmations of princess treatment and angelic women are portrayed again in her song ‘Heladito,’ which might recall her long-time listeners to the early days of Por Vida, with her nostalgic harmonizing and beat. She sings in Spanish “Your little princess, buy me things,” and “I’m an angel.” Her new project shows her leap of artistic growth, a unique mix of many Latin and American music genres and rich lyrics that you find yourself daydreaming about as you listen.
