I made music just for myself.
— Kali Uchis
I was one of those people at one point who was scared to put my foot down and show where the boundaries were. For me, it's really important to stand your ground and know exactly what you are, where you wanna be, and what you're doing, or else people are gonna try you.
When I was little, I went through a lot of phases, like any girl.
It's difficult as an artist sometimes. There's a lot of pressure when it's your first album. You want to make something that's meaningful and timeless, not something that's trendy.
I'm constantly trying to look at things from a different view and to put myself into some new perspectives to evolve myself, grow myself, and reinvent myself.
I grew up being very different and being ready to fight people. I wanted to stand up for myself, and I wanted to not let anyone think they know me based on appearances, so I was always just fighting back with people.
Do you. Wear what you want to wear. Be an individual. Be unique and live your best life.
When I start something, I have to finish it, and I'm a super perfectionist, too.
I don't like to see people using their power over others, trying to hurt people who are weak or poor or people with darker skin or anyone who doesn't have as much privilege. It makes me so angry. I want to fight for people. I want to be able to make some kind of difference in the world.
I'm Colombian-American. My father wanted me to have American citizenship, but he wanted to raise me in Colombia.
If my life is a movie - in the movie, there's always the bad part. There's also the parts where you're down and out, and there are parts where everything's amazing.
I love a good old-school reggaeton song.
I'm just inspired by life and, growing up, I listened to all types of different sounds, genres, and areas of music.
My first relationship was from when I was about 15 to 19. My second relationship was kind of like a rebound, but also a really important part of my journey - he was very emotionally manipulative and just wanted me to be an accessory.
Diplo kept asking me who styled my 'What They Say' video. I was like, 'No, that's just my clothes!'
When I'm making a song, I try not to think about audience or genres. It's free-flowing. Natural.
You're taught that it's not very likely for you to become successful... that odds are you're going to be a struggling artist for the rest of your life.
I never really wanted to be a singer. I always preferred to be behind the camera.
I really try to balance my feminine and masculine energy when I write.
The reason I made my stage name Kali Uchis is because it's still me in the sense that, my dad called me 'Kali Uchis' my whole life. It's still something I've been called since I was a baby. It's still me.
On my off day, I really want to just lay in bed.
I'm a big Gorillaz fan.
I feel like fashion is about being innovative and being able to turn something into something else, making it cool, and making it your own.
I think it's boring when everybody wears the same brands or the same styles, and it's like, 'Oh, this is the new trend.'
Spanish is such an important language globally.
Just because someone is your family member doesn't mean they're a good person.
No matter where you are, what point in your life you're at, it's not the end.
The people, the culture... there's so much magic in Colombia, so I feel like being a kid, being able to have that, being able to also call Colombia my home, it was such an important part of my introduction as an artist, too, because it's such a big part of my life as a human being.
Music is your way to change the frequencies of everything around you and move your own body, move your whole environment.
I'm not a Barbie doll, I'm just a multidimensional human being who likes to make things.
Some of my writing is very subconscious, and that's definitely what happened with 'Body Language' - I looped some basic bossa nova sounds and just started singing.
Being able to incorporate my language into songs is really cool. It's really cool to see that people are susceptible to it. It helps with writing a lot to turn off one language and then go to another.
I never had a backup plan. I felt like if I had a backup plan, it was like saying to the universe that I didn't believe in myself.
Aliens are definitely real.
It's really natural for me to write bilingually.
My sun and my moon signs are mostly Cancer - it's really strong. We're deeply intuitive and sentimental. I really like to take care of people, nurturing them. I'm very passionate about the things I do and like to see people I love grow.
Not everything happens when you expect it; it is what it is. The people who ride with you, ride with you.
Juanes is one of the legendary, iconic Colombian artists. Growing up in Colombia, you can't really not have him on your radar. His songs are everywhere, and there's a statue of him. He's pretty big for Latin America, and for Colombia especially.
I've always been someone who, without wanting to or without trying to, I draw attention to myself sometimes in negative ways. It made me sharp, and it made me quick.
I've done my own videos, I do my own styling, so I feel like I've just always been a visual artist... I was one of those kids who wanted to make my own clothes and take pictures of everything. Everything inspired me, and everything felt like art around me.
It was really important for me to understand that I needed to provide for myself, and I needed to become a provider for my own family, too.
I was kicked out of the house, and I was really difficult as a kid. I'm happy it happened because I was able to grow so much from it, you know? It's always hurtful to feel that you can't be on the same page with people that you love as much as your family. Sometimes they don't know how to deal with all the things that are coming at them.
My father is my hero. No matter what, I'll always forgive him.
Every time I go out to do shows, it just becomes a little bit more real and a little bit more full, so I'm excited just to see it hit its next level.
N.E.R.D. was also from - not too far from where I was from growing up. For a lot of people who make music, that was a huge influence in teen years.
My dad's job was to manage apartment complexes, so when people would move out or when people would die or whatever, people left things in their apartments, he would always bring me home people's collection of music that they left behind. I was excited because I didn't really have money to go to the CD store all the time.
We're all born into whatever citizenship, circumstances, or class we happen to be born into. Immigrants and so many people in the working class work so hard every day for nickels and pennies and scraps to just barely get by and then realize that this precious life has been completely drained out of us.
I can only be inspired if I'm working with people that I really respect.
That's the best kind of music: the stuff that happens based off intuition.
I'm naturally sort of a sad person, and that comes out in my music, but when I realized how many people were listening to it... I wanted to be a little more conscious about what I was putting out and what people were going to be taking from it.
