Kali Uchis Had a Vision

FOR MORE THAN a decade, Kali Uchis has leaped across the Latin soul-music world in search of that elusive element of generational pop called “timeliness.” She grew up bopping between her hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, and her ancestral barrio in Pereira, Colombia, absorbing diasporic sounds: the bolero pining of trovadores like La Lupe, the supple harmonies of Cuban doo-woppers like Los Zafiros, and brash rap lightning bugs like Missy Elliott and N.E.R.D. At 17, Uchis was producing beats out of a hooptie instead of attending class. That, along with her Por Vida EP three years later, put her on the radar of Snoop Dogg and Tyler, the Creator (the latter collaborated with her on her first hit, “After the Storm,” from her debut album, 2018’s Isolation). The 29-year-old’s first Spanish-language album, 2020’s Sin Miedo, delivered her biggest hit yet, “telepatía,” a horny letter to a lover. It has reached over a billion Spotify streams, making Uchis the first female Latin artist to achieve that benchmark. Its success was clarifying. She grew more confident steering her career the way she envisions it as a bilingual artist, making a second album in Spanish, Orquídeas, out this month. It’s a path that has always come with some risk. “I learned early on,” she said, “that not fitting into one box is always going to make you more difficult for other people to sell.”
Did you know you were going to make another Spanish-language album?
Denne historien er fra January 01 - 14, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January 01 - 14, 2024-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

'We're Running Out of Mansions'
How The Gilded Age makes absurdly low-stakes period drama into must-watch television.

THIS SUMMER WE'RE EATING IN GROCERY STORES
They're more affordable, more flexible, and a lot more fun than restaurants right now. HERE ARE THE 65 BEST SPOTS TO GET STARTED.

What a Cosmetic Chemist Buys at the Drugstore
WE ASKED Dr. Julian Sass, the creator of a viral sunscreen database and an expert fact-checker of product claims, about the most effective items he routinely picks up.

Alfargo's Marketplace
On a recent Friday night, shoppers (and sellers) parsed through vintage pieces at the pop-up menswear bazaar held at NeueHouse.

Attention Seeking
Amid a growing awareness of our dwindling ability to focus, people are trying to reverse the damage, with mixed results.

The Emancipation of Addison Rae
The TikTok star's debut album breaks with the past.

Play on Words
A Eurydice production that’s lush with language.

Appealing Pieces for Petite Balconies
Designers and tasteful apartment dwellers share the furniture that has made their tiny outdoor spaces worthy of spending time in.

E. JEAN CARROLL'S UNEASY PEACE
IN THE YEAR AND A HALF SINCE DEFEATING TRUMP IN COURT FOR THE SECOND TIME, SHE'S WRITTEN A NEW BOOK—KEPT SECRET, UNTIL NOW—AND PLOTTED HER LEGACY.

Everyday People Brian Wilson and Sly Stone were musical innovators.That's where their stories diverged.
THE VAST MAJoRITY of humans alive now aren't old enough to feel the shell shock from the musical paradigm shifts of the 1960s.