Isolation KALI UCHIS

KALI Uchis is coming off arguably her biggest opening gig of her career so far, touring with Lana Del Rey on her LA To The Moon tour in North America. On top of that, she was nominated for both a Latin Award and a Best R&B Record award at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards for a song many picked as their best song of 2017, Get You with Daniel Caesar.

It is a breakthrough year for her, which almost distracts us from the fact that she’s even been called on by the legendary Snoop Dogg to work on a track together. Such is the admiration for her talent that even the biggest names in the industry are not afraid to have their names listed as contributors on her debut album.

Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn and even the mercurial Tyler the Creator have all contributed to the album in enormous ways, and with such big names being thrown around, you’d expect their influence to colour the album in a very significant way. Perhaps they have but ultimately, it is the Uchis style that shines through from start to end on Isolation.

If the album could be described by one word and one word only, it would be sultry. Uchis’ voice flows like a bolt of silk, soft and smooth, and never once excessive and jarring, which makes it a perfect match for her genre of choice — a modern fusion of R&B and reggaeton or bossanova, her Latin heritage given plenty of room to shine.

Nuestro Planeta featuring the Colombian singer Reykon is a standout track, sung completely in Spanish and is possible a one track embodiment of Uchis stylistically. Perhaps the only isolation she is referring to is that of an artiste of supreme talent in a generation oversaturated with lesser performers.