By Theo Velasquez-Arreaga
On Kali Uchis’ lush, up-tempo fourth studio album, Orquídeas (Orchids), the artist can’t be confined to one genre. “No soy popstar, pero sí soy internacional” (“I’m not a popstar but I am international”), she sings on “Heladito” (“Ice Cream”). Its dreamy pop and R&B production reflects her earlier sounds from her debut EP Por Vida, only at a much more elevated production, including her voice. It goes to show how music transcends borders and languages and that it doesn’t have to be fully understood, as it speaks for itself.
Uchis has proven this through her genre-defying 2018 debut album Isolation, which helped clear the misconceptions that she was tied to only one genre. Since her debut, she has traversed through genres such as Bossa nova, doo-wop, reggaeton, trip-hop, boleros and funk, further placing her as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.
Uchis, born Karly Marina Loaiza in Alexandria, Virginia, to Colombian immigrant parents, was raised in the US and her native Colombia. She is the latest Latin artist to break out worldwide, a sign that Latin music has become more mainstream. Orquídeas debuted at No. 1 on the Top Latin Album Chart.
On Orquídeas (Geffen Records), Uchis blooms into the multifaceted artist she’s worked to become. It serves as a love letter to her bicultural roots and community and serves as a representative of the Latin American diaspora in the U.S. through its linguistic versatility, specifically the use of Spanglish. Yet the album’s meaning has been overlooked by reviewers who don’t have any connection to the range of genres that Uchis’ work spans. Some reviewers have also mislabeled her work.
Orquídeas marks Uchis’ second Spanish LP after 2020’s Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios),∞ where the smash hit “Telepatía” further launched her recognition in the Latin music sphere.
Latin music has had a surge in popularity within just the past few years alone, in part due to Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny, who has become Spotify’s most streamed artist from 2020 to 2022 – along with Colombian hitmaker Karol G. Both artists have broken records and made history in the process, each landing No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart with an all-Spanish-language album, with Bad Bunny’s “El Ultimo Tour del Mundo” in 2020, and Karol G’s “MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO” in 2023, respectively.
Uchis landed her first Top 10 on the Billboard 200 with her third studio album Red Moon in Venus and has been making strides within the anglophone music sphere. With Orquídeas, Uchis is now becoming a part of the broader trend of Latin music’s acceptance.
Her latest body of work is full of a variety of Latin American genres, following the same pattern as Sin Miedo, which encapsulated genres from Uchis’ upbringings. Ranging from Latin disco, house, bolero, dembow, perreo and even merengue, this time she has her community in mind.
“Amo a mis brasileñas y mis colombianas / dominicanas, boricuas, amo a mis mexicanas” (“I love my Brazilians and my Colombians / Dominicans, [Puerto Ricans], I love my Mexican girls”) she spits on the sapphic-perreo anthem of feminine empowerment “Labios Mordidos” (“Bitten Lips”), with fellow Colombian superstar Karol G – further bringing LGBTQ+ themes into the mainly macho and homophobic genre of reggaeton. “Y esta noche soy lesbiana, tú me das las ganas” (“And tonight I’m a lesbian you turn me on”).
Even as Uchis taps into unventured genres such as merengue in her sweaty dancefloor anthem “Dame Beso // Muévete” (“Give Me A Kiss//Move It”), it still is being mislabeled. It is described as a “bolero” song by a review in The Guardian; the reviewer said the album is centered around cumbia and other genres (no cumbia is present). Another review improperly described it as having a “mariachi burst of energy.”
Even as Latin music’s surge in popularity and acceptance has grown, so has the need for more multicultural writers who have a closer connection and identification with a body of work.
Uchis’ frequent use of Spanglish throughout the album perfectly captures the versatility of both languages Latinas in the U.S. are accustomed to switching between. In “Me Pongo Loca” (“I Get Crazy”), she seamlessly switches between languages as she does throughout majority of the album, “Tratas de ocultar emociones” (“you try to hide emotions”), “but that’s never been my thing,” she sings.
Uchis covers themes of intense loyalty with the pop-bolero “Tu Corazón Es Mio” (“Your Heart Is Mine”); knowing her worth through the old-school bolero “Te Mata” (“It Kills You”); presenting as an empowering coquette doll through a fusion of dembow and reggaeton on “Muñekita” (“Little Doll”); carnal pleasures through the heavy bilingual R&B “Young Rich & In Love”; and being pampered like a goddess in “Diosa” (“Goddess”). Uchis is ultimately redefining the ways Latinas are perceived. She is countering the “spicy Latina” stereotype that we are fed through the media, proving that Latinas are so much more than that.
Orchids, naturally alluring, are the national flower of Colombia. That perfectly encapsulates the sound Uchis has crafted – she has shown herself to be a versatile artist who can confidently and swiftly traverse through genres and languages. They represent the growth she’s made as an artist and the rise of Latin music worldwide.