Kali Uchis enjoys her fourth studio album, “Orquídeas”. She makes the pleasures: carnal, material, romantic, sonorous, competitive and, if necessary, vengeful, all with a girlish indifference. The album begins with loops of laughter and ethereal oohs and ahs; ends with Uchis thanking the listeners with a “mwah” kiss. It's an album of joyful confidence and sly wit, moving easily between futuristic electronica, '90s nostalgia, and Latin roots.
“Orquídeas” are orchids: the national flower of Colombia, where Uchis' parents were born. Uchis, Karly-Marina Loaiza, was born and raised in Virginia, but spent summers during high school with her father's family in Colombia. Orchids are colorful, seductive, fleshy, delicate, demanding and coveted, just as Uchis has presented himself throughout his recording career. In her new songs, she is an irresistible and knowing object of desire. “I make them beg for it,” she announces in the album's opening song, “How Like That?” (“How's that?”), singing, “If you come this way, you'll never want to leave.”
Uchis, 29, has deliberately alternated between albums with lyrics primarily in English or Spanish, and “Orquídeas” is nominally his last Spanish-language album. But now that he has gained a global audience, his new songs are fluently bilingual; they casually switch between English and Spanish, sometimes mid-sentence. “I get a little crazy but it's not my fault,” she sings in “Me Ponga Loca,” and adds “I'm just passionate.” (“It's not my fault, it's just that I'm passionate.”)
Uchis and his many songwriting and production collaborators draw on expertly seductive pop and R&B from generations past, often using 21st-century technology to extrapolate the luxurious, whispering fantasies of '90s R&B hitmakers like Janet Jackson and Aaliyah. Lavishly layered vocals sit amidst shimmering electronic sounds and programmed beats, and on “Orchids,” her voice sounds completely free of gravity.
