This post was updated May 11 at 10:49 p.m.
Kali Uchis has released a wonderful album for slow, sweet summer days.
The Colombian American singer’s latest album, “Sincerely,” marks her third LP in the past three years. Following “Red Moon In Venus” in 2023 and “ORQUÍDEAS” in 2024, Uchis elevated her soothing sound into a new realm of awareness and comfort. While her transition from Geffen Records to Capitol Records ahead of this album release did not correlate with a dramatic shift in her music, listeners may pick up on significant thematic differences in her latest release. Containing 14 songs spanning 50 minutes, the album suffers at times from severe sonic repetitiveness, and only a few notable tracks are able to restore energy. That said, the classic reflections of joy and beauty on “Sincerely,” introduce nuanced notions of what it means to love.
The charm of “Sincerely,” – Uchis’ fifth studio album – is its holistic mood and ability to tackle several topics while maintaining the smooth neo-soul sound that pairs so wonderfully with her voice. The album offers a look through rose-tinted lenses, as the listener is taken on a spellbinding journey of meditation and thanksgiving. It is difficult to feel melancholy when listening to tracks such as “For: You” and “All I Can Say,” which bolster the glowing tone of the project despite their simplicity. One cannot help but sway along as Uchis croons the unapologetic lyrics, “No, I’m not sorry for the way that I am / I’m not sorry for the way that I love or the heart that I have,” from the track “All I Can Say.”
The Grammy-winning R&B artist captured similarly radiant energy in her album “Red Moon In Venus,” which amassed significant recognition, including being named the best album of 2023 by Time magazine. However, there is a noticeable departure from that album and 2024’s “ORQUÍDEAS” because “Sincerely,” lacks A-list collaborations and is performed solely by Uchis. Although the album is an impressive example of the 30-year-old’s singing abilities – including moments of humming, high-octave runs and whispered manifestations – the lack of features causes songs to blend together. This sense of monotony is not helped by the fact that most of the tracks drift together seamlessly.
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Tracks such as “Lose My Cool,” and “Angels All Around Me…” exemplify Uchis’ cleverness in the way each song is structured in two parts. “Lose My Cool,” begins as a lovey-dovey account of having a crush – “See, I was trying to keep my cool / ‘Cause no one wants to act a fool” – until the rhythm switches midway, embodying a feeling of romantic hopelessness. This change of pace effectively captures a musical time jump between differing parts of a relationship. On the other hand, “Angels All Around Me…” is less successful, bouncing from a standard love song to a jazzy preaching-like melody, and the result feels disjointed.
The seventh track on the LP, “Territorial,” is one of Uchis’ best songs to date, featuring an unprecedented swagger and bold lyrics about her protective nature and willingness to stand up for who she loves. With daring sass, she sings, “See, I’m a lover, but I’ll go to war about mine, toe to toe / I’ll use your face to mop the floor,” while embracing Elvis Presley’s infamous tune “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise” to introduce a fresh villainous touch to her discography. This song also marks the first and only time on the LP that Uchis sings in Spanish, which is curious considering much of her past music – such as 2020’s “Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞” and 2024’s “ORQUÍDEAS” – excellently blend her bilinguality.
At face value, the titles of certain tracks offer uniquely intriguing opportunities for musical risk-taking, but the indie rock songs ultimately fail to live up to their christened potential. “Sugar! Honey! Love!,” “Silk Lingerie,” and “Breeze!” add to the album’s overall sonic value but do not stand alone as strong tracks. The former is the epitome of a swooning love song that incorporates Uchis’ heavenly falsetto, but it does not seem to move the album forward at all thematically.
Furthermore, “Silk Lingerie,” fails to hold the listener’s focus and blends in with superior entries on the LP. Admittedly, the song includes insightful lyrics such as, “These pretty tears got my heart super soaked / I start to drown from the inside out.” With echoes of Lana Del Rey’s melody in “Million Dollar Man,” the track is a justified rumination on coping with self-doubt, but its musicality does not shine compared to other tracks. Similarly, the chorus of “Breeze!” bolsters the song’s quality but not enough to match the excellence of other pieces in her discography, such as “Simple” and “Hasta Cuando.”
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By comparison, “Daggers!” and “Fall Apart,” are the album’s diamonds in the rough. Focusing on the importance of supporting loved ones, “Daggers!” contains lyrics such as, “They shoot daggers from their eyes (daggers from their eyes) / At my angel baby (Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh) / ‘Cause she’s warmer than the summertime,” to represent the innate urge to protect friends, family or romantic partners. The sentiment of “Fall Apart,” is equally soft and special, as Uchis sings of self-appreciation and the importance of finding beauty within. Interestingly, while Uchis has often used voice-overs in the past, she only includes one during “Fall Apart,” when she echoes, “This is Earth, you don’t have to be perfect here.” Arguably, having the weight of being the sole voice-over makes the line all the more impactful.
Undoubtedly, “Sunshine & Rain…” and “ILYSMIH” were solid songs to prerelease as singles. These final two tracks carry the album in both their catchiness and genuine emotional passion. The former – which feels like the sister song to the opening track, “Heaven is a Home…” – shines with wholesome lyrics such as, “I’ve always been a hopeless romantic / No matter how many times it went and did me damage,” to suggest romantic promise and upbeat warmth. On the other hand, “ILYSMIH” is rich with a cathartic search for purpose, resonating with tones of gratitude and nostalgia. As an ode to her and rapper Don Toliver’s son, Uchis envelops the entirety of her album in a vivid embrace, singing, “Yeah, it took some time but this moment / Was worth all the pain / He’s living proof that dreams do come true.”
These two tracks, while instantaneously likable, reinforce the noticeable disparity of musical quality and lyrical creativity from the rest of the album, which is a considerable flaw in the overall project. With respect to “Sincerely,” as a whole, keeping to the R&B genre creates comforting consistency but can cause the music to fall into tedium as well.
Despite intermittently slipping into musical monotony, Uchis’ “Sincerely,” prevails as a composition of sensuality, optimism and emotional depth wrapped delicately in a silky pink bow.
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