Rising Success of Kali Uchis
Hearing the same songs play on the radio could be great at first but can eventually get tiring. These songs come from mainstream artists that are praised and have promoted their music through streaming services and radio stations. Just like them, there are underrated artists in the music industry like singer Kali Uchis.
Since February, she’s been in the public eye after her song “telepatía” (which is predominantly sung in Spanish) went viral on Tiktok. Over 1.7 million videos have been made using this song, but this isn’t the first time Uchis has had one of her songs go viral. Back in September, her song “Dead to Me” from her first album Isolation (2018), went viral on Tiktok and over 1 million videos have been made using more of the slowed and reverb version than the original. Ironically, “Dead to Me” was the first song I listened to by Uchis in January 2020 and became a fan of hers ever since.
Before achieving major success with these two songs, her third single,“After the Storm” featuring rapper Tyler, the Creator and singer Bootsy Collins from the album Isolation, was popular in 2017 and currently has 76 million views on Youtube, which is her highest viewed music video so far.
“telepatía” comes from her second album, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), which was released on November 18, 2020 and is Uchis’ first Spanish album. Uchis, who is Colombian-American, has been vocal of how she’s proud of where she comes from and has incorporated Latin culture into her previous works.
Though she was confident in releasing the album, she did get negative feedback from people around her saying, “You’re going backward in your career doing this. This isn’t going to get supported.” From the success of “telepatía” she has gained over 500,000 subscribers on Youtube, gotten 300 million streams on Spotify for Sin Miedo, has received 237.6 million streams on Spotify in the month of March, and has had her album number 1 for 6 weeks on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums.
Even with this recent success, I still feel like she’s underrated. She has her own unique sound when bringing R&B and soul into her two EPs Por Vida (2015) and To Feel Alive (styled in all caps) (2020), and her album Isolation (2018). Uchis isn’t highlighted or praised for the amazing music she’s released throughout the years unlike popular musicians like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift.
Despite being underrated, she won her first Grammy for collaborating with record producer/DJ Kaytranada on his song, “10%” and on April 6,“telepatía” was sent to contemporary hit radio stations.
With the fans that she’s gained since February and her fans that have been with her since the beginning, Uchis will be able to reach a wider audience in her career.
