Orquideas: THE ALBUM THAT SYMBOLIzES FEMININITY
By Daniela Mireles (she/her)“Orquideas” was released in January 2024, being Kali Uchis’ second spanish dominated album and fifth studio album throughout her discography . In contrast to previous albums she has released, the singer transitioned from her groovy and calm sounds from “Telepatía'' to a more Latin American style, featuring reggaeton beats, dembow and merengue rhythms.
The album includes a Peso Pluma feature, “Igual Que Un Angel'' , which he does not star in, as most people would guess when they see his name in the tracklist. However, he makes sure to perfectly fit her voice and accompany it in a dreamy duet. Peso Pluma, one of the biggest hit makers right now, fits her groove and sound as both of them sing about a woman that will never let fame get her down. As a bisexual woman, Kali Uchis delivers perfect anthems for the LGBTQ+ community throughout this album.
This album gives out confidence, 90s nostalgia and latin pride. It is full of “bad bitch vibes” and songs that boost up your confidence. “Labios Mordidos” featuring Karol G is the album’s true centre, it is an empowerment anthem which features old school reggaeton as it’s main beat. This song is a sample from the 1992 song “Murder She Wrote”, in which Kali flips the original song’s message to an anthem about losing yourself in your dreams and doing everything in your power to achieve them, to say “fuck you” to all the existing stereotypes about women such as being pressured to being a wife or a mother.
In the song “Dame Un Beso//Muévete” Kali sings in a merengue. With this song you can picture yourself on the beach, dancing, surrounded by the people you love, with a couple drinks in your hand, and having a good time with its funky latin trumpets that are definitely the highlight of this song. This song perfectly encapsulates a 90s merengue, as it gets into a faster rhythm when “Dame Un Beso” transitions into “Muevete”. Uchis perfectly mixed these songs together to make one, demonstrating two types of merengue in it, but perfectly demonstrating the power of it. The song ends with her saying “Gracias, por venir, hasta la proxima” translating into “Thank you for coming, see you soon!”, making this song a perfect album closer for a good latin album.
“The flower, for me, has always symbolised timelessness, femininity, luxury,” Kali Uchis says in an interview with Billboard. An orquidea being the national flower of Colombia and the flower of fertility has the Colombian singer a sense of home, she explains how this album’s rollout was tied all up and came together because she had found out she was pregnant during it. Because of this she believes it is her most personal album to date, and an album where she truly changed herself completely.
It is clear that with this album, the singer wanted to redefine the way society looks at Latinas in the music industry, she centred femininity in different genres of music alongside beautiful lyrics to accompany it. It makes sense for Uchis to have dropped this album with these types of sounds, as she is always an artist who is constantly trying to break industry stereotypes one album at a time. Personally, I believe this album is perfectly crafted and it is Kali Uchis’ best yet. If you are looking for more of these sounds that Kali Uchis perfectly crafts, I suggest you listen to Carla Morrison, Nicole Horts and Fer Altuzar.