Album Review: Kali Uchis Explores The Cycle of Love in Red Moon in Venus

In her third studio album, Kali Uchis invites us into her femme fantasy world of love, lust, and heartache through her romantic lyricism packed with Colombian influences and angelic vocals. 

Written by Olivia Abercrombie

Image Courtesy of Geffen Records

In a makeshift mobile studio on the outskirts of Washington D.C., the first notes of a simple beat play out over the speakers of an old Subaru Forester. Packed full of clothes, makeup, and reminders of a past home, the car’s isolation was the perfect stage for art to come to life. That car-turned-bedroom and production studio belonged to a 17-year-old Kali Uchis, who produced and wrote her first song while parking lot hopping after being thrown out by her parents during her rebellious streak of skipping school to pursue music. 

The soulful singer’s youth and complex family dynamics inspired her debut album, Isolation. Released in 2018 with some impressive features, including BIA, Steve Lacey, and Tyler The Creator, Uchis establishes her weight in the industry out of the gate. While her debut honored her Colombian roots through seamless Spanish verses interwoven with English, she delivered her first love letter to her ancestry with her second LP, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) — Fearless (of Love and Other Demons). With two wildly successful LPs under her gleaming belt — the first in English and the second in Spanish — now 28-year-old Karly-Marina Loaiza, still sporting the nickname Kali Uchis given to her by her father, releases her 15-song third LP, Red Moon In Venus. 

Five years after Isolation, her second fully English LP shows a more mature and experienced artist, focusing on adult relationships and deep human connection. The album pulls its namesake from astrology, referencing Venus, which expressly represents love, and the blood moon, which has been said to wreak havoc on emotions. Red Moon In Venus is an exploration of the cycles of a relationship: the honeymoon phase, lust and sexual desire, toxicity leading to a break-up, building your self-worth back up, and entering another relationship to begin the cycle all over again. At 43 mesmerizing minutes, this high femme fantasy of love and warmth journeys through the Kali Uchis universe. 

Backed by twinkling keys, summer cicadas, singing birds, and  — in true R&B fashion  —  a confession of love via voicemail, Red Moon in Venus invites us to descend into planet Uchis with the short intro “in My Garden…,” a captivating chorus of melodic vocals paired with environmental serenity. The same fluttering birds bleed into the enchanting opening track, “I Wish you Roses.” A harmonious combination of undulating synth-keys, dreamy riffs, and Uchis’ soft-breathy tone cherish the romantics of a relationship while dealing with the impending doom of its ending. By the chorus, the R&B singer showers their partner with metaphorical roses to symbolize love and passion. The repeated verse, “I wish you roses while you can still smell 'em / With pretty flowers can come the bee sting,” foreshadows the impending end of the relationship, even as Uchis basks in the honeymoon phase.

Riding the wave of the honeymoon phase, the third track, “Worth The Wait,” introduces the first feature on the album — fellow bicultural artist Omar Apollo. The sultry track drips with lust and sexual desire. Even in the first verse Uchis doesn’t shy away from the vivid details, singing, “The mirror's on my ceiling / So I can watch you top me.” The harmonies of the two Latin American singers intertwine beautifully over a funky beat grounded by a prevalent kick drum, emphasizing the carefree puppy love of the simple yet sweet chorus, “I want to be around you every day / This feeling in my body's not the same / Are you still down?” The infatuation persists with “All Mine.” A hypnotic, groovy track filled with wah-wah pedal licks and Uchis’s pure whistle tone slips the listener into a world with Uchis as the sun her lover’s happiness revolves around, crooning, “All mine, that's all me / Every time I see you smile, that's all me.”

The fourth track, “Love Between,” begins with a jazzy tumbling of drums flowing into sultry alto vocals as Uchis gushes, “Love between two human beings / Can be so wonderful.” The 70s Motown-influenced track samples The Temprees 1972 track “Love…Can Be So Wonderful,” but Uchis updates the old school lyrics to be more gender inclusive — just as an icon would. This glass-half-full love song about the significance of human connection evokes the dreamy peacefulness of swaying with your significant other as this record spins in the background. 

“Fantasy,” the album’s first upbeat and last lovey-dovey track, fittingly features Uchis’s partner of two years, Don Toliver. The song opens with Toliver's smooth vibrato in a carefree declaration “I wanna dance, throw my hands in the air / I wanna dance, where no one really cares.” As the title suggests, this track is the fantasy of a relationship without the “foolery.” The electric reggaeton track is a conversation between lovers explaining their perfect relationship, with Uchis humming, “I just want the fantasy / I love it when you worship me,” to which Toliver responds, “I'll do it all again just to see your face / I'm really winnin', livin' happily / This here my fantasy.”

Adding in her trademark Spanish titled tracks back to back, “Como Te Quiero Yo (How I Love You)” and “Hasta Cuando (How Long),”  Uchis seamlessly slips in and out of Spanish,exploring toxicity and jealousy as the romantic magic falls away, ushering in the next phase of the relationship cycle. The former is a soft, glittery track framed with rose-tinted glasses, “Mira, bebé (Look baby), it doesn't matter what they say / They don't love you / Como te quiero yo (How I love you).” Uchis ignores the red flags and caves into lust because “Si no hay drama no hay amor (There’s no love without drama).” The singer switches from internal relationship issues to external jealousy problems in “Hasta Cuando (How Long).” The sassy, gritty beats accentuate the story of an ex-lover jealous of Uchis’s success: “Whatever makes you feel better / Paint me as the villain if that makes you feel better / Make everyone hate me if that makes you feel better,” she patronizes. 

Turning up the volume — literally and metaphorically — “Endlessly,” the only true pop-centric anthem on the LP, revs up to an airy synth that feels like the summer sun warming up your skin. The toxicity turns into Uchis’s obsessive desire for adoration from her partner, chantingout, “Said, I'm the first girl that got you gettin' romantic / 'Cause once you had this, always gotta have it,” bringing back the reggaeton influence from earlier in the album. 

The third phase, heartbreak, begins with the smooth grooves of “Blue.”Uchis details the issues of the relationship in the opening verse: “I'm not broken yet / But sometimes it sure feels like it / When you treat me like a stranger / How do you get cold so fast?” However, the self-pity is short-lived as the bouncy beats of “Deserve Me” pick up with the queen of revenge, femme-powered R&B legend Summer Walker, as a feature. Uchis trades her relationship insecurity for a  self-worth anthem as the chorus rings out, “I like it better when you're gone / I feel a little less alone / You know I never needed you / Didn't deserve me, you don't deserve me.” 

A classic Motown intro, featuring a hard hit on the kick drum and a cascade of keys, leads into the womp of the trumpet-esque beat of “Moonlight” as Uchis looks for something casual and free after the dramatic end of her relationship. Uchis divulges, “[she] just [wants to] get high with [her] lover.” The final chapter ends with the breezy disco beats of “Happy Now.” Ready to move past all the pain and heartache, the chorus repeatedly asks, “Can we be happy now?” over the peaceful sounds of an ocean tide, marking a return to the sounds of nature at the beginning of Uchis’ journey. 

Honestly leaning into the good, the bad, and the ugly of relationships, Uchis’s desire to break through the themes of pure toxicity in the R&B genre graces us with gorgeous, loving lyrics for the good times, soothing vocals to cry to during the bad times, and sassy, dancey tracks to build us up again. Red Moon in Venus creates a galaxy of romance, but Uchis is ready to blast off to the next stop in her universe with her fourth LP — and second album entirely in Spanish — before the year ends. So enjoy your stay on the Red Moon, and bask in the stars of singles calling in the not so distant future.