Misc. Day – For Life

Por Vida is the breakout debut album from Colombia’s own, Kali Uchis. Por Vida while under the Uchis name, has some collaborations from several different artists including Tyler, The Creator, BADBADNOTGOOD, Alex Epton, and even Kaytranada. Quite the impressive amount of musicians to help Kali Uchis make Por Vida one of my personal favorite albums since only the first listen.

Uchis sprang into my music library when I began watching “Illegal Civilization” which is kind of a documentary, kind of a skate video, kind of a do whatever we want to do video, where one of Uchis’s concerts were shown in one of the clips. The song “Ridin’ Round” was featured and I really like the energy she had on stage and the song itself was pretty catchy. After some research I eventually found her to be doing work in the future with Tyler, The Creator on one of his music videos “Perfect.” I finally decided I needed to listen to Kali Uchis on her own and Por Vida was the best place to start.

The beginning track “Sycamore Tree” features no instrumental at all, the actual beat is just a sample of Uchis’s voice played in different keys of notes to simulate a beat behind her singing voice. It was pretty creative and I had never seen this type of sample work used to create an entire beat with no instrumental whatsoever. It benchmarks the album and her beautiful singing voice is also present throughout the album, thankfully the instrumentals are too.

Por Vida features catchy lyrics and some really dreamy instrumentation, and the two together create a killer combination. Por Vida had me listening to it constantly and only looking forward to when I could hear it again. I just loved Kali Uchis’s voice as it fit perfectly behind these almost Sixties sounding beats. “Melting” for example has this guitar strum that creates a really dreamy atmosphere, but is also a wonderful addition to the piece, the song then switches into an overdrive by not speeding up, but having a chorus where all the instruments become louder and Uchis projects her voice to sing “Melting like an ice cream when you smile, Melting, you’re a day dream, stay a while.” I found myself just falling in love with each track and after the twentieth listen I had so much faith for anything Kali Uchis had in the future and would support her all the way.

Por Vida continues with another great, more poppy sounding track called “Lottery” where it almost talks about missing an ex, or trying to put the past behind. Explaining “Love was never my profession,” it sounds like it resonates through an ex or past lover. Then from the pop sounds, Uchis jumps right into “Rush” which might be my personal favorite on Por Vida. The instrumentation from BADBADNOTGOOD is just, so perfect that it just needs to be heard to be believed, and the way Uchis switches from English to Spanish and then back again was a really great addition to the song. “Rush” has almost a Caribbean Coast feel to it with the crisp ride cymbals, and the bass in the background giving this more dance vibe. “Rush” almost sounds like Uchis getting more involved with her roots and the instrumentation is definitely a result of this.

Then “Ridin Round” which was one of the singles comes around to bring a banger style of beat behind Uchis, it has some 808 drums and a catchy chorus and verse from Uchis. I think Uchis really took some leaps with Por Vida and the final two tracks are also pretty outstanding as well.  “Speed” and “Loner” both feature more somber verses from Uchis and “Loner” is a great way to bring Por Vida to an end. The overall instrumentation and the perfect vocalization from Uchis just makes Por Vida a standout project. Uchis is an artist that has a bright future and hopefully she will continue to make music for the rest of her life, or I should say Por Vida.