KALI UCHIS ON TOP
Hot Single “Telepatía" Lifts Her to Stardom
Kali Uchis is the newest superstar you need to know.
Maybe you’ve been a fan since her electric debut EP Por Vida dropped in 2015. You might be charmed by her bilingual magic that somehow makes her smooth R&B style even better. Or you may have fallen in love with “telepatía” after it went viral. Whether you’re a new or longtime fan, we’re all obsessing over Kali Uchis.
Born Karly-Marina Loaiza, Kali Uchis is the daughter of Columbian immigrants and a natural artist. She skipped high school classes and created experimental films in the school’s photography studio. After the creative teen was kicked out at home, she wrote music on a keyboard and lived in her car. Poetry morphed into song lyrics, and her art became cover art. The rest is history.
Uchis’s career has seemingly been moving at hyperspeed since her teenage years. Shortly after graduating from high school, she dropped her first mixtape, a genre-defying masterpiece that immediately caught the attention of record tycoons. A few years later, in 2014, she scored her first significant collaboration with Snoop Dogg. Her first EP dropped in 2015 and featured artists including Diplo, Tyler the Creator, and Kaytranada.
Isolation, Uchi’s 2018 debut album, solidified her status as a genre-bender. It received widespread acclaim for its adventurous and unclassifiable sound. The following year, she was the featured vocalist on the Kaytranada track “10%.” That track earned Uchis her first Grammy Award, but we think more awards are ahead.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a prolific year for Uchis. In April, she released an EP made in quarantine. Just seven months later, she dropped her sophomore record and first Spanish language album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios).
We’re only a few months into 2021, but Uchis has already hit another major career milestone –– she went viral and reached the U.S. singles chart. Earlier this year, “telepatía” blew up on TikTok. Soon after, the song climbed its way onto the Billboard Hot 100 to peak at number 39 –– so far.
