March 13, 2025 |
At the end of 2023, Kali Uchis sat down and put her goals on paper for the following year. This was nothing new. It’s a new year ritual she’s practised since working on Isolation, the debut album that put her on every Best Of and Ones to Watch list of 2018. A moment for reflection and setting intentions, every December, in the same notebook, she fills the pages with dreams, most of which she’s already made good on. Up top on Uchis’s 2024 agenda? Start a family with her partner, Don Toliver, snag a Grammy nomination for her fourth album, Orquídeas, and become a pescatarian. She achieved all but one.
“My friend was laughing because it’s the things that are easiest to do that I’m not able to accomplish,” says Uchis, 30, stifling a chuckle. Giving up meat, it turns out, was difficult to stick to. But writing a critically acclaimed album? Second nature.
Because after Isolation, of course, came her first Spanish-language album, 2020’s Sin Miedo (del Amory Otros Demonios), which translates to Fearless (of Love and Other Demons), along with runaway hit Telepatía, the sensual, wistful and – let’s not mince words – downright horny track that earned the singer her first Billboard Hot 100 entry. The next few years saw Uchis, a woman in the business of quickly one-upping herself, drop two more albums, Red Moon in Venus and Orquídeas, landing at No. 4 and 2 in the US, respectively. And that’s without touching on the stratospheric impact of her collabs: See You Again, the Tyler, the Creator track with more than 1.5 billion streams, or 10%, the Kaytranada assist that won Uchis a Grammy in 2021. No wonder she writes everything down in a notebook.
from left: DAVID KOMA and coat by ANASTASIA BULL, shorts and belt by TELFAR
“Looking back, I’ve been able to accomplish much more than I ever dreamed of,” she says. But now is not the time for retrospection. It’s 10.30 a.m. in Los Angeles, where she’s Zooming in from, and after a hectic start to the day, this meticulous forward planner is preparing for the next project. Everything’s top secret. Official song titles and the name of her fifth album are off limits. Uchis’s camera is off because, I suspect, she’s in the middle of “filming stuff”. The secrecy’s not so tight around the next project’s general themes, though. Since the release of Orquídeas last year, the singer has been leaving her Kuchis (best fandom name?) breadcrumbs in interviews, teasing her most “sad girl” and “existential” album yet – a 180-degree flip on the richly diverse and experimental take on Latin music that coloured her last record. Is that still true? Is Kali Uchis still knee-deep in her feelings?
“Actually, in a very mystical and beautiful way, I’ve had the honour of my albums becoming more meaningful than I even planned them to be because of the course that my life has taken,” she says. Uchis found out she was pregnant while preparing for Orquídeas, for instance, giving the album’s title, ‘orchids’, a symbol of fertility, a newly profound meaning. She didn’t even know she was with child when she posed for the album’s cover artwork, naked and surrounded by flowers in full bloom. This time around, a “life-altering event” has deepened the meaning of her fifth record. Uchis isn’t ready to talk about what happened yet, but the entire album is dedicated to it – even the yet-to-be-announced release date holds significance. “The album is about the complexities of life and finding ways to find joy in life despite the world. Finding ways to appreciate every moment and not take life for granted. Treat every day special,” says Uchis, thoughtfully. “It’s my most existential and honest work. It’s definitely the most beautiful body of work to me, and it’s going to be, for me, the most meaningful and impactful.”
from left: YUEQI QI and dress by ROBERTO CAVALLI, sunglasses by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
It’s a sonic departure, too – at least from the full-throttle whirlwind of reggaeton, bolero and merengue on her last record. A psychedelic sitar intros one candid love song, where the swing of a ’60s pop lullaby collides with lyrics born from contemporary malaise: “Like, whatever happened to the human race? / Did everyone’s brains get melted and deranged?” Even though the track is ostensibly about finding The One, Uchis’s tone is wistful – a little mournful, even – blending with hazy production to conjure a gentle ache of nostalgia. Elsewhere, on a woozy ballad, harmonies oscillate in and out on the choruses, crescendoing with such passion it sounds as though Uchis’s heartstrings are being tugged as she sings.
“Listening back to the album after my life-altering event, I was able to hear so many things in the lyricism that fully encapsulate the way that I feel now,” says Uchis. “In a strange way, it’s like my soul and spirit were able to predict what was coming next. I’ve been able to heal myself through this album in a lot of ways. But I never knew that I was creating it for that purpose.”
Born Karly Marina Loaiza, the singer’s life has always been split across cultures. Her childhood was spent bouncing back and forth between her place of birth, Alexandria, Virginia, and her father’s hometown of Pereira, Colombia. She learnt to read and write in Spanish before English. And even though most of her debut album was in English, she always knew she wanted to make music in both languages. So far, her albums have followed a clear linguistic pattern: Isolation, Sin Miedo, Red Moon in Venus, Orquídeas – English, Spanish, English, Spanish. This next project stays true to the pattern, but this time, there’s an added depth to the dialect.
robe, corset and knickers by SCARLETT GASQUE, shoes by GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI, bag by VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
“After the turn of events that happened in my life, it’s actually become a lot more meaningful that [the next album] is in English,” she says, once again referring to that “life-altering event”. For Uchis, singing in different languages is more than an act of translation – she’d never want to make Spanish and English versions of the same album, for example. It’s about world-building, self-expression and trailblazing a path in an industry that defaults to putting artists in boxes. “Sometimes it feels weird to be considered just a Latin artist, when my work is so much beyond just my work in Spanish,” she says, remembering how she was initially discouraged from releasing music in different languages by her record label. “Honestly, I was never concerned about profitability or being marketable. My first album probably sold, like, 3,000 copies its first week, but it was critically acclaimed. To me, that was what mattered. I don’t consider myself a pop star. I never wanted mainstream success.”
And yet, against all expectations, not least her own, Uchis has soared beyond those early labels of “niche artist” across genres, cultures and dialects towards her ultimate goal of achieving timelessness. “I know I’m on the right path. Everything has come full circle,” she says. This confidence has only been fortified by the arrival of her first child, a boy, last year. Being a mum is, famously, not easy, especially when you’re actually famous and have another album on the way. Motherhood didn’t just shift Uchis’s world – it rewrote it.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
“It changes you completely,” she says. “Figuring out the balance between being a working woman and a present mom is one of the most challenging aspects – rediscovering yourself and your identity. But he has brought a deeper meaning to my life and is truly the greatest thing to ever happen to me.”
Balance is key. She’s strict with screen time when around her son, as she learns to limit distractions and be present. Each week, she carves out time to pamper herself and go on dates with her partner of five years, the rapper Don Toliver. And most importantly, she has learnt to relinquish any guilt for the times when she does have to put herself first or go to work. Because after all, she’s building her future for her family now, too.
“I want my baby and my future kids to see all that I’ve done and be proud of me when they grow up. I have to keep my identity and sense of purpose outside of being a mom,” she says. “As women, the world conditions us to think that our value is based on how much we’re able to put everyone else first. I think it is really important for women to also take time for themselves. Because the happier that you are, the best mom that you can be. Sacrificing yourself is not the answer.” A lot can happen in a year – a cursory flick through Uchis’s notebook of dreams can tell you that much. But it’s often the things we don’t plan for, and strike when we least expect it, that shape us most. Life-altering events imprint on our worldview and force introspection, and ultimately, healing and growth. Kali Uchis is still setting goals and mapping out her legacy. But she’s just as prepared to, well, not be prepared.
ROBERTO CAVALLI
“You have to take it one day at a time and be receptive to all of the changes, all of the learning,” she says, choosing her words carefully. “What holds people back the most is people thinking that they have everything figured out. But what’s made me who I am today is my ability to roll with the punches. I make the most that I can out of everything.”
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 74 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands March 18. Pre-order your copy here.
KALI LIFE
Photographer CHARLIE DENIS
Fashion Editor K.J. MOODY
Talent KALI UCHIS
Text OLIVE POMETSEY
Hair JOERI ROUFFA at The Wall Group using BUMBLE AND BUMBLE
Make-up ETIENNE ORTEGA at The Only Agency using ORTEGA BEAUTY and STILA Cosmetics
Manicurist MICHELLE TRAN at Saint Luke
Set designer BRITTANY PORTER
Photographer’s assistant GUSTAVO SORIANO
Fashion assistants JACLYN KREIDSTEIN, VANCE GAMBLE and GEORGIA EDWARDS
Production ANDRES WHITE, CARLOTA RUIZ DE VELASCO, FABIEN COLAS and SONYA MAZURYK
Production assistant BORIS NAVARRO
Special thanks to KATE HAFFENDEN, CHRIS CUFF, SHAKIRA KALITE, SAMANTHA VARGAS and AYLIN GARCIA
On the cover Kali Uchis wears DAVID KOMA
dress by DOLCE & GABBANA
