Kali Uchis: Melting

Lyrics:

You are my church, you are my place of worship
I heard you’re the plug, can I be the circuit?
When I got court, I hope that you’re the verdict
When you’re around, my insides turn inverted
My blood starts to rush when I see your doorman
I know you’re nearby and I know your purpose
Take one look at you, you’re heaven’s incarnate
What is this spell, baby? Please show some mercy

Melting like an ice cream when you smile
Melting, you’re a daydream, stay a while

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We write a lot of deep, philosophical content on this site. A lot of that is difficult to digest and painful to think about. After all, we created this world to escape our knowledge of the lonely god.

Things are not all doom and gloom though. There are many bright sparks of hope and joy in the world, and today we want to introduce you to a particularly special one: Kali Uchis.

Kali currently has 3 songs on our playlist: Telepatía, Melting and In My Dreams. Of these, Melting is our favorite and we always play it in the middle of the other two. Reading the lyrics and reading a bit about Kali you wouldn’t expect that it would fit into a psychedelic playlist would you? Now listen to the song, hear the practiced way she delivers these words alongside the almost angelic music.

These lyrics have an obviously sexual undertone to them, and in a sober state it is pretty clear what this song is about (sex, shh don’t tell anyone). But the delivery is what makes this so special. It is unfortunate that there are no good live recordings of her performance, this version from an older Chicago club best shows how the song was originally performed before she became a stadium superstar:

Then contrast that with any live performance by Lady Ella.

The parallels are clear and Kali herself often mentions Ella as a primary influence for her own performances.

This song is not like others we’ve reviewed, there really isn’t much philosophical content in the lyrics, but that doesn’t matter. This song is about how it makes you feel.

Lay on the floor in the peak of a psychedelic experience and blast this song from speakers in the ceiling. As her voice washes over you and that slow jazz music starts to play you are going to feel something build in you that we can really only describe as orgasmic. There really is no other word that correctly captures the feeling, the way it builds, peaks and subtly fades into the next song.

So there, we can write about good and nice things too. This world is a challenging place to have to exist, but there are many amazing things here to discover. It is important to reflect on our condition and work to improve it, but it is also important to have fun sometimes, and we thank Kali for giving us these wonderful songs.