‘Red Moon in Venus’: 43 minutes of perfection
While many of the tracks blended into one another, making them difficult to distinguish, I soon realized Uchis does this deliberately.
Kali Uchis’ highly anticipated third studio album Red Moon in Venus arrived in early March. To the delight of many fans after the critically acclaimed singles “I Wish You Roses” and “Moonlight,” the album left very little to be desired.
With features from Omar Apollo, Summer Walker and Uchis’ current boyfriend, Don Toliver, the 43-minute record is an auditory experience nothing short of perfection. With Rolling Stone awarding her album an 80 out of 100 and Metacritic — an average of critics’ reviews — at 85, Kali Uchis is reaching far beyond her latin R&B roots with her extensive view on love.
Uchis’ previous albums, 2015’s Por Vida and 2018’s Isolation, were also adored by critics, but Uchis started her career well before that. Receiving good grades in school but knowing music was what worked for her, Uchis, 28, dropped out and pursued music full time after getting kicked out of her home. However, through the release of her mixtape,
Drunken Babble, in 2012, she caught the attention from the likes of Tyler, The Creator and Snoop Dogg, both of whom she would go on to work with.
Red Moon in Venus album kicks off with “in My Garden …” which prepares listeners for what’s to come and sets the romantic and laid-back aesthetic a majority of the album sticks to. The only tracks deviating from this standard being “Moral Conscience,” which Uchis, attributes to her strong beliefs in karma and has dedicated to anyone who’s been wronged, and “Hasta Cuando,” a mostly Spanish-language track about people who try and recruit others to hate against oneself, according to the blurb Uchis listed on Spotify. Spanish is a great theme in much of Colombian American Uchis’ work. Uchis attributes her overall vibe to growing up between Pereira (five hours from the Colombian capital, Bogota) and Virginia, citing the culture she experienced in both locales.
My favorite songs are “Fantasy,” featuring Don Toliver, and “Endlessly.” Uchis is attributed as the main writer on all 15 tracks, credited to her legal name of Karly-Marina Loaiza, but working with up to two other writers. “Endlessly” explores “valentines like everyday” when Uchis finds the peace and comfort in her significant other, appealing to other lovers infatuated with her nostalgic, psychedelic, romance-driven album.
The cover of the record depicts Uchis with a butterfly headdress, graphic eyeliner and very sparkly nails. The butterfly is a major motif over the entirety of the album, a symbol of divine femininity. Feminine expression is a theme thoroughly explored in the comfort Uchis feels with herself through the seamlessly blended tracks. While many of the tracks blended into one another, making them difficult to distinguish, I soon realized Uchis does this deliberately. Ultimately, the album is one piece meant to be enjoyed holistically for the full experience of her views on romance.
The trials and tribulations of love are explored through many different filters by Uchis. The album starts with themes around letting go and focusing on oneself on tracks like “Worth the Wait” (featuring other rising latin star Omar Apollo), about bettering yourself before opening up to another. The record then transforms into the beauty of falling in mad love on “All Mine” and “Como Te Quiero Yo,” then exploring the rocky times of a relationship with “Blue” and ending on the sweet note of simply being “Happy Now,” and choosing happiness and wellness over all.
“I wanted it to feel romantic … the downs and the ups and the times where you’re at peace, the times where you’re in pieces, all of it,” Uchis said when asked about the meaning of her album and the message it is portraying in a recent NPR interview.
The record culminates in sounds of nature, just as it opened. For Uchis, nature and the spiritual connection to the world around herself and others is a driving point. This is evident in many of her visuals, like the video for “Telepatía,” which she recorded in Colombia, or the promo for this new album, in which she is depicted surrounded by flowers and water, or the influence of heavenly bodies on her aesthetic. Uchis has addressed the negative connotation of a red moon, remarking that to her, a red moon is a magnet for emotions, and that incorporating Venus — it being the planet of love — into her emotional state brings about passion and love.
Uchis is slated to release another album this year, rumored to be in Spanish for the most part. With this, in addition to her clothing brand, Bodied By Uchis, and a tour set to start in late April, it is evident Uchis is aiming to build an empire that will mirror the likes of great enterprising 21st century artists like Rhianna and Ariana Grande.
Josué Solís is a sophomore at Capital High School. Contact him at josuehomero06@icloud.com.