Kali Uchis is a four-time Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, singer, record producer and music video director. In early May 2025, Uchis released her album “Sincerely,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Sincerely has a hidden meaning, according to Uchis. She explains it as a collection of letters to herself, friends and loved ones, but she says it has taken on a deeper meaning since she gave birth to her first child and processed her mother’s recent death. A day before “Sincerely” was released, Associated Press entertainment writer Leslie Ambriz interviewed Kali Uchis about the album.
“I really did make the music that I needed for my grieving process, for just the place that I’m at in my life right now,” Uchis said. “I wanted to immortalize her in the project.”
Sincerely is a 14-track album with layers of meaning in each single. For example, in “Daggers!,” Uchis encourages close friends to practice self-love. One of the first singles she released before the album, “Sunshine & Rain…,” includes a clip of Uchis’ mother saying, “Good morning, sunshine.”
“I thought it was just a beautiful way to open the album,” Uchis said. During the interview, she also shared that when writing the single “ILYSMIH,” she was recovering from labor while her son was sleeping next to her.
“I was still in my hospital bed when I got this idea for this song and started it, started recording it on my phone, started writing some lyrics down …” Uchis said.
Another one of her songs, “All I Can Say,” was written during a car ride to the studio. “I try to just make beauty out of all of my experiences,” Uchis said. “Thematically, nature is kind of a recurring theme in my music because I am so inspired by nature, and I feel nature is where God exists, and nature is where a lot of my creativity just thrives.”
After Uchis’ mother’s passing, one of the first things she did was go through all of the audio messages her mother had ever sent her. She listened to them over and over, wanting only to hear her voice. Once she heard the perfect message, Uchis thought of how well it would fit with the song “Sunshine & Rain…,” and added her mother’s words: “Good morning, sunshine.”
“I thought it was just a beautiful way to open the album, considering that it’s dedicated to her,” Uchis said.
“Sincerely” is now one of my top favorite albums by Uchis. This album feels like the bandage across her torn-apart heart. The passing of her mother and the birth of her baby boy were such life-changing events. In this album, my personal favorites are “Sunshine & Rain…,” “Daggers!,” “Angels All Around Me,” and “Sugar! Honey! Love!” This album brings such a nature-like vibe—a sincere album, by Kali Uchis. A+
“Sincerely” is out now.
