Kali Uchis Has Been Building Toward This Breakthrough For Over a Decade: ‘I’m Ready to Take It to the Next Level’

Kali Uchis is beginning a pivotal chapter of her career with her highly anticipated U.S. arena trek, The Sincerely, Tour, on Thursday (Aug. 14) in Portland, Oregon. Spanning 26 cities — including additional dates at the Madison Square Garden and Kia Forum — the Colombian-American chanteuse will not only showcase her latest album, Sincerely, but also reflect on her decade-long journey.

From her early SoundCloud days with 2015’s EP Por Vida to the bilingual brilliance of Orquídeas (2024), which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, Uchis has cemented herself as a force in music. (See the full setlist and tour dates.)

“This tour feels like a return to myself,” Uchis tells Billboard Español over Zoom. “It’s nice to be able to come back and have this renewed, refreshed feeling.”

Balancing motherhood with life on the road is something she’s carefully planned. “Luckily, my man is really supportive,” she says of her partner, rapper Don Toliver. The couple, who travel together alongside their young child, approach the tour not just as a professional endeavor but as a family adventure. “I don’t plan to be away from my baby for long periods of time,” she adds.

As she gears up for The Sincerely, Tour, Uchis is leaving no stone unturned. Beyond preparing for the show’s intricate details, she’s also using her platform to celebrate Latinidad. With personal songs and heartfelt messaging, the singer hopes the live experience empowers her audience, especially those who’ve ever felt “othered.”

From embracing her identity as a mother to reflecting on lessons learned from past collaborators like Tyler, the Creator, Kali Uchis opens up about this pivotal moment as an artist and performer. The superstar shares how she’s balancing family life on the road, why she chose Thee Sacred Souls as tour openers, and the takeaways she hopes fans carry with them long after the final show.

Portland is your first stop. What is one thing you’re most excited about the first concert?

It’s just exciting. We haven’t done a tour since the Red Moon In Venus tour [in 2023]. I had a tough experience in Part II because I was pregnant, and I was not ready to announce it. It was complicated trying to perform, trying to hide my pregnancy, and not being ready to talk about it. It’ll be nice to be on stage … it’s like a return to myself again. I have my body back and have this renewed, refreshed feeling. I have learned so much from the touring that I’ve done [previously]. This definitely feels still like me, but such an evolved version. 

I understand much more about putting on a show — the storytelling, and what I’m trying to do with it. It’s really fun. I try to be very intentional about the things that I choose to do, especially right now as a mom. Who knows how many more shows I will do after this. I try to approach it as if this were to be the last tour that I do. Would I be proud of what I’ve made? I put a lot of attention to all of the details that I possibly can. 

You’ve always crafted albums that feel personal. I’m excited to see Sincerely, live.

Yeah, me too. This album [Sincerely,] versus Orquídeas, they’re so different from each other. I wasn’t able to tour Orquídeas because I literally gave birth right after my album release party. I was just a new mom spending time with my baby — there was no way I was going to tour that album. 

Even though it’s called The Sincerely, Tour, it’s really a huge celebration of my entire discography. The album Sincerely opens the show, then I go into Orquídeas, which is its own section — followed by deep cuts and greatest hits. I try to make sure that I’m doing something that if it were to be my last, I would be proud of it. 

Just to take it even further with your 2015 EP Por Vida, when you were a SoundCloud artist… that’s 10 years of music!

Yes girl! Por Vida has a section. I’m doing “Sycamore Tree” and songs from Por Vida that people haven’t seen in a long time since I first started. I think fans are going to be really happy. I’m going to post the setlist because a lot of them have been asking for it. I feel like they’re going to be really surprised about it because I’m trying to really get in there and do things that people haven’t seen before. 

You’re a new mother, and that comes with its own challenges. How will you be balancing life on the road and motherhood?

Luckily, my man is really supportive. We do all of our traveling together. I have a good support system right now. Everyone knows that I have to be focused on the show, but I’m also looking at it as a family road trip, so I don’t plan to be away from my baby for long periods of time. 

Are you and your partner going to be performing together too?

He’s probably going to come out in Houston, maybe a couple of other shows. We’re going to play it by ear.

Thee Sacred Souls are opening for this tour. Why did you choose them, and how does their sound fit with the show?

Sincerely, was such a nostalgic sound in general. It was very different for me because it played on some of my influences that I haven’t really shown. I’m influenced by so much different music. Everyone knows that I love oldies, but I also dug into an alternative sound. I pushed my voice in different ways that I haven’t necessarily done in the past. 

They make so much sense with The Sincerely, Tour because I love when I find a group that is true to that sound of oldies. So many have tried and can’t because it has to sound authentic for it to work. So when I find a group that is really doing it in an authentic way and that it works for them, that is really special and rare.

In the past, you’ve toured with artists like Tyler, the Creator. What lessons or experiences are you applying now that you are leading this solo arena tour? 

Joining Tyler was my first arena tour. It was such a great tour to be a part of because his fan base embraced me with open arms. I have seen [female artists] opening for guys, and sometimes their fan bases can be misogynistic or cruel to the opener — so I wasn’t sure what to expect out of the experience. But I was really grateful and felt blessed because they were chanting my name! At times you wouldn’t have known the difference between whose show it was. Of course, I knew it was his show, but it felt also like it was my show, too. Our fans are so integrated now. That was definitely the best experience as an opener that I’ve ever had by far.

Additional dates were added to iconic venues like Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. What does it mean to you to take your music to such renowned stages?

It’s crazy because I have been doing music for so long. Even though my first [full-length] album came out in 2018 [Isolation], I was doing shows before that. I was performing ever since I had a couple of little songs out. I really developed myself as an artist in real-time in the public eye from day one. That type of artistic growth really built me from the bottom up over the course of so many years. I definitely feel like I’m ready to take it to the next level, to celebrate still being here after so many years and having the success — being an artist that has longevity. For me that’s the most special and monumental thing that I could possibly have in my career.

This show includes your first-ever outfit changes — what’s that process been like to prepare for?

That’s probably going to be the most stressful part [because] I have to run off stage for a second, get a whole new outfit and come back out — and I have two minutes to do that. I’ve never done that before. We’ve been practicing it in rehearsal. Hopefully, it goes right for every time, but I’m not expecting every show to be perfect. There are always bumps along the way.

I’m excited to see how many times we can really pull this off, because I’m expecting the first couple of nights to be a bit of a learning curve. I’m trying to keep my expectations low when it comes to everything going the right way, because at the end of the day, you just have to bear in mind that sometimes not everything is going to be perfect. You just got to make the best of it with a the-show-must-go-on type of mentality.

That’s the best mentality to go into — going with the flow. 

There are so many different cues. From the camera shots to the outfits to every little detail of the production, staging, and lighting. For everything to go exactly the way it should, you have to let go a little. [One can’t be] like, ‘What if there’s a malfunction? What if something doesn’t go off when it’s supposed to?’ But yeah, go with the flow and remember to have fun on stage.

Will you have any rituals right before hitting the stage? And how will you practice self-care while traveling? 

In the past I never had any, but I’m trying to develop some. I learned how to keep myself calm so that I don’t get overstimulated easily. I like the room to be a certain way. I like to be able to really center myself. I guess I’ll be coming up with some new things on this tour because I really want to hone in in a different way.

The most important thing as a woman is decompressing after the show — washing off all my makeup and doing my skincare [routine]. It’ll be so late, or maybe I’ll get caught up and not do the best with that. Just making sure that I wash all of that out every night, and hope for the best because it’s a lot of glam.

Your music has naturally inspired so many fans over the years. For this tour, what’s the biggest message or takeaway you hope they carry with them?

When I started making music, people told me, “Oh, your music is so woman empowering.” I didn’t have that intention. It happened naturally. Now I’m actually honing in on that intention. I want to empower other women, other girls. I want to empower anyone who might not be in the best place in their life, who might feel alone, outcasted, or that they don’t belong. That’s my people. 

Then with Orquídeas, I really want to celebrate being Latina. Now more than ever is the time to be loud about how proud we are with so much hate going on in this country, and so many discriminative narratives about Latinos being spread right now. That’s definitely an important part of my show.