Sincerely, [Pink LP]

by Kali Uchis

Overview

Kali Uchis starts her English-language fifth album by weaving a protection spell with "Heaven Is a Home...." Written weeks after learning that she was carrying her first child, the drifting ballad, made with the returning Dylan Wiggins, Jeff Hazin, and Nick Ferraro -- one-quarter of the singer's cohesive production cohort here -- sets a scene of domestic bliss and shelter. Though expressed softly and like a postscript, "Stay away from my baby, stay away from my home/That's all I ask of the world, that's all I ask of you" could be the LP's Public Enemy-style tagline. In that context, "baby" could be interpreted as child or partner, and it's the latter who is addressed across most of this misty and lush set fusing neo-soul, doo wop, and dream pop. Sincerely is best experienced from front to back. After the first seven songs lightly splash and bob while Uchis sings of gratitude, devotion, and self-doubt, song eight, "Fall Apart," delivers a knockout blow of heavy psychedelic soul. It's a white-hot expression of gratitude for unconditional love, and the singer's performance, especially on the bridge, is stunning. Once the song neatly segues into the doo-wop theater of "All I Can Say," anything seems possible, and though there's greater variety in the twisting and knocking grooves and the lyrical themes, the flow is still easy and the writing remains captivating. In the affectionate throwback "Daggers!," Uchis is part of a love triangle with a woman "sweet as cherry pie" (word to Sade) and a buster "too dumb to know what he's got." "Sunshine & Rain...," a shuffling and sanguine ballad introduced with a greeting from Uchis' late mother, is a persuasive testimonial for companionship in the face of a faltering human race. Uchis dedicated the album to her mother -- who died of lung cancer after it was completed -- and released it the Friday before Mother's Day 2025. Appropriately enough, Uchis sings the finale to her son, born the previous year, and we hear him laugh and say "mama" as the music fades out. That's quite an evolution from being kicked out of her parents' house as a teenager, as referenced on the first half's "Just Us." Calling this the singer's most personal work thus far would be accurate but an understatement somehow. It's on some other level. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	05/09/2025
Label:	Capitol
UPC:	0602475438847

Tracks

1. Heaven Is a Home
2. Sugar! Honey! Love!
3. Lose My Cool
4. It's Just Us
5. For You
6. Silk Lingerie
7. Territorial
8. Fall Apart
9. All I Can Say
10. Daggers!
11. Angels All Around Me...
12. Breeze!
13. Sunshine & Rain
14. ILYSMIH

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kali Uchis   Primary Artist,Vocals
John Anthony Rodriguez   Organ,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Vibraphone
Samuel Martinez   Drums,Tambourine
Marco Benevento   Piano
Alex Goose   Drums,Celeste,Mellotron,Synthesizer
Homer Steinweiss   Drums
Nick Movshon   Bass
Vince Chiarito   Bass
Lee Falco   Drums
Aaron Frazer   Drums

Technical Credits

Dan Darmawan   Producer
The Outfit   Producer
Pooks   Composer
Josh Crocker   Producer,Instrumentation
Jasmine Chen   Engineer
David Burke   Composer
Nick Ferraro   Producer
Migui Maloles   Engineer
Ruairi O'Flaherty   Mastering
Al Shux   Producer
Laura Sisk   Mixing,Engineer,Vocal Producer
Jimmy Robertson   Engineer
Alex Goose   Engineer,Producer
Leon Michels   Producer,Instrumentation
Vince Chiarito   Engineer,Producer
Matt Maitland   Design
Dylan Wiggins   Producer
Elizaveta Porodina   Photography
Kali Uchis   Producer,Creative Director
Karly Loaiza   Composer
Vegyn   Producer
Jeff Hazin   Producer
Tom Henry   Producer