Born in Virginia to a Colombian father, Karly-Marina Loaiza became Kali Uchis in Los Estados Unidos. Since childhood, she’s been imbued with her cultural roots by regularly visiting Colombia, and her second nationality is put forward here. A resident of Los Angeles since her professional debut, she had become an R&B singer, surrounded by top beatmakers, starting with the gifted Tyler the Creator. Isolation, her 2018 debut album, propelled her onto every R&B and hip-hop stage on the international circuit. Until the recent release of Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), Spanish was ornamentation on Anglo-American expression. This time, English plays a supporting role and the mother tongue the main one, a metaphor for a globalization in which identities retain their attractive power. From this perspective, this pop album by Kali Uchis is an ideal hybrid and contributes to changing our perceptions of Latin pop. The production standards are very high, there’s no need to catch up with the best of Anglo-American beatmaking; Uchis has availed herself of a legion of guest composers, directors, musicians, and singers – the Puerto Rican artists Jowel & Randy and Jhay Cortez, the Canadian PartyNextDoor, the American Rico Nasty. Bolero (romantic ballads), reggaeton, orchestral pop, hip-hop, soul, and R&B are here wrapped in superb, refined arrangements and top-notch synthesized sounds in a pop context. Sensual and hyper-sexualized singer, but above all imperial songstress, the talented Uchis imposes her difference in globalized pop.
