Kali Uchis’s last outing, 2023’s dreamy, romantic Red Moon in Venus, earned the supple-voiced Colombian-American bouquets of praise. Orquídeas – her Spanish-language follow-up – was recorded alongside Red Moon and feels very much like the yang to Red Moon’s immersive yin.
Upbeat, party-flavoured and featuring a hot, pan-Latin-American slew of collaborators, from fellow Colombian singer Karol G (Vevo’s most-watched artist of 2023) to Mexican artist Peso Pluma (YouTube’s most viewed artist of 2023), Uchis’s second Latinx-forward album showcases the singer’s musical versatility and assured bicultural chops.
Tradition looms large on the dramatic sweep of Te Mata (It Kills You), where Uchis imbues a bolero about leaving a toxic relationship with Amy Winehouse swagger. It’s one of her most impressive vocal performances in either language. Elsewhere, sweaty two-handers abound, such as No Hay Ley (Parte 2) – There Is No Law (Part 2) – where Uchis plays tongue tennis with reggaetonista Rauw Alejandro, and Labios Mordidos (Bitten Lips), in which Uchis and Karol G really need to get a room.
Named for the national flower of Colombia, Orquídeas’s variegation means it’s not quite the no-skip concept album that was Red Moon. But in a rapidly decompartmentalising pop landscape, where Spanglish is increasingly a lingua franca, Uchis’s flair and depth cuts across whatever notional cultural barriers might remain.
