“ORQUÍDEAS” – Kali Uchis

Album: ORQUÍDEAS

Artist: Kali Uchis

Year: 2024

Genre: Alt-Pop, R&B

Grade: B+

Orquídeas (English translation: Orchids), the fourth album from Kali Uchis, is perhaps her most danceable collection yet, one that fully transforms her trademark brand of hazy lazy R&B into joyful reggaeton and colorful Latin pop. It’s another solid effort from one of North America’s biggest stars, and while it isn’t as musically adventurous as her stellar debut (Isolation, 2018) or as soulful as her most recent LP (Red Moon in Venus, 2023), Orquídeas is the album on which Uchis sounds the most confident: every song is a celebration.

Predominantly sung in Spanish, Orquídeas is extremely catchy and easy on the ear, with groovy basslines providing a universal language we can all understand. Uchis’ calm, smooth falsetto blends perfectly with the reverb-drenched, arpeggiated, synth melodies, which is all balanced by a strong and powerful rhythm section. This is bedroom pop with a crunchy backbeat, and Uchis proves once again that she’s one of the most consistent and composed alternative popstars of this era.

NOTES & CHORDS

• The main melody and overall vibe of album opener “¿Cómo Así?” reminds me of Tame Impala’s “Nangs” and Sufjan Stevens’ “Impossible Soul” (specifically Stevens’ “for life in the cage/where courage’s mate/runs deep in the waves” vocal melody).

• The songs on Orquídeas follow a diaspora-like pattern, in which the more traditional R&B numbers on the front half of the album bloom into full-fledged Latin pop numbers by the end. Starting with “Muñekita,” the club-inspired rhythms hit overdrive.

• I admire the album’s structure and applaud Uchis for adhering to her ethnic and musical roots, but I’m partial to the cool electro-R&B stylings of the first nine songs.

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