The music industry’s resident femme muse, a.k.a. Kali Uchis, has announced the release of her fourth album Orquídeas on January 12, 2024. In her second Spanish-only LP, the Grammy-winning artist will plait together the Latin genres she grew up with, including reggaeton, dembow, bolero, and salsa.
Image Credits: Daniel Sannwald
“The orchid is the national flower of Colombia, and we have more species of orchid than anywhere on earth,” Uchis says. “I always felt distinctly intrigued and magnetized by the flower. This album is inspired by the timeless, eerie, mystic, striking, graceful and sensual allure of the orchid. With this vast scope of fresh energy, I wish to re-define the way we look at Latinas in music.”
Her fans, the self-proclaimed ‘Kuchis’ ( no, the phonetic pronunciation is no accident), got a snippet of this reimagining in August with Muñekita. In the single, her signature soft vocals are braided with the fast pulsing rhythm of Dominican dembow singer El Alfa and City Girls’ JT’s sharp rap.
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Living between Virginia and Colombia, Uchis first garnered attention with her mixtape Drunken Bubble in 2012, which she wrote and recorded on her laptop the night before uploading it to DatPiff. Despite her inmigrant’s family condemning her career choice, she’s since become a Billboard Latin Music Award winner, toured all over the world, and collaborated with major artists like SZA, Gorillaz, Jorja Smith, Diplo, Major Lazer, and Snoop Dogg. Her festival sets always gather devoted throngs, everywhere from Tropicalia and Governors Ball to Austin City Limits, and Lollapalooza. Uchis’ Coachella headlining show this April was even one of the event’s top-billed performances.
Image Credits: Daniel Sannwald
Uchis loves to explore the diaspora and female archetypes she was raised with through her art. In a blend of Spanish and English, the singer constantly reconceptualising what it means to be a Latinx woman through spirituality and stereotypes. Whether it’s via deities like Isis and Aphrodite or characters like the red-lipped femme fatale and the innocent woodland fairy, her transcending sound inspires us to embrace our divine femininity. The singer’s last exploration of love and womanhood, Red Moon In Venus, became her first Top 10 charting album and was featured in Best of 2023 lists from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Complex, and more. This combined with her signature silky vocals and soft melodies made her 2021 single ‘Telepatía’ become Billboard Hot 100’s longest-running Spanish song by a solo act this decade with a 23-week streak.
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At 29 years old, Kali Uchis has solidified herself as the sensual Latinx mother of R&B and soul. Orquídeas promises a new side of her– a fantasy we for one can’t wait to hear.
You can pre-save the album here:
https://kaliuchis.lnk.to/OrquideasPR
Words By Alexia De Las Haras
Header Image By Daniel Sannwald
