BY: JAEQWON SUAREZ / STAFF WRITER
After Kali Uchis released her single, I Wish you Roses, she let fans know that an album was coming pretty soon, with her also releasing a snippet of Not Too Late(interlude).
Red Moon in Venus is Uchis’s third album that was released on Mar. 3, that stuck to her groovy and jazzy R&B feel while also elevating it to provide something new for her fans.
This whole album takes the audience through the journey of heartbreak, healing, and building self-confidence after leaving a hard relationship. It perfectly portrays thoughts that a heartbroken ex, which is Uchis and her listeners, go through to come to terms with the fact that sometimes the end of a relationship is not always our fault.
As Uchis described it in an interview with Genius, “Love is the message. Red Moon in Venus is a timeless, burning expression of desire, heartbreak, faith, and honesty, reflecting the divine femininity of the moon and Venus. The moon and Venus work together to make key aspects of love and domestic life work well.”
To start off the album, Uchis provides us the scenery in In My Garden, with sounds of birds whistling and wind lightly blowing. In this track she lets herself know that in case they ever forgot, she loves her, which can be difficult to remember sometimes.
This then leads her into singing about how she never thought she would be without her significant other in I Wish you Roses. Throughout the whole song we get metaphors of how her rose should be appreciated and cared for.
She tells her lover that she tends to love a lot, so don’t be afraid to get “pricked” as she calls it. Starting off the album with I Wish You Roses was an excellent choice because it sends out the message that it’s ok to love hard and deep when it comes to that specific person, but it’s also important to know your worth in the relationship so that no one gets hurt.
As she sung in the song:
“With pretty flowers can come the bee sting”
The next song, Worth the Wait, supports what the previous song has said and adds that surface level comments won’t get them anywhere.
In her song she sings:
“Quit tellin' me you wanna put a baby in me
If your affection for me's truly only skin-deep
I don't wanna end up just another broken family”
In many cases this scenario has played out about a million times, just proving the fact that some people don’t know how to truly love besides just looking at the physical. Any person that someone gets with should also be about how they are as a person, morally and personality wise.
This can lead to people feeling envious of what it means to be truly loved or even how to truly love, because nothing will never be enough, and they’ll soon learn that some love-interests are worth the wait.
Worth the Wait has beautiful transitions into the next song all about love, Love Between. Love Between by far has been such an amazing song that I enjoy listening to everytime it comes on.
The best lines are in the chorus:
“Love between two human beings
Can be so wonderful”
Her inspiration for this line actually came from one of her favorite songs, but she changed it to human beings because love is universal and has no set rules. No one can tell anyone how to love, which is what this song is all about.
If you invite me in, will you hurt me? Would you ever need to leave? If this isn’t meant to be, why are we even here?
These are the types of questions that Uchis makes the listeners think about as we listen to her amazing harmonies.
The next two tracks, All Mine and Fantasy, go together, while also featuring her current boyfriend, Don Toliver, describing what is hers and how the relationship is going.
All mine dives into Uchis letting other girls know that Toliver is all hers. Everytime he smiles or laughs, that's all her doing. She even says in these lyrics:
“You couldn't keep him even if I gave him to you
It's just pathetic at this point
If you think my baby'll leave me for you”
Fantasy switches up from the groove and jazz to disco, which fits perfectly because love can be at times a fantasy.
I really love the whole concept of the song because even though it is titled Fantasy, they still talk about arguments and them getting mad at each other just like any other relationship.
The lesson here is to learn from your mistakes, just like the song says. Como Te Quiero Yo only reaffirms that with the lyrics:
“Cause we got issues, everyone does
Si no hay drama no hay amor”
Como Te Quiero Yo translates to “As much as I love you” or “How I love you.” Some days you could want that person infinitely and unconditionally and it doesn’t matter what others have to say, because they aren’t experiencing the love that you are giving.
She continues with her mix of spanish and english, which is something that I really enjoyed, especially with Hasta Cuando.
Dealing with a jealous ex, Uchis describes in both languages that what her ex is doing is so sad and obsessive, asking in Spanish how long are they going to keep talking about her?
“¿Hasta cuándo tú vas a hablar de mí?
Déjame ser feliz, you're so sorry”
In those situations, there is no convincing that person to stop, because they’ll always try to pit people against you once they see you doing better without them.
My two personal favorites from this album, Endlessly and Moral Conscience, dive more into what kind of love she wants from her significant other.
Endlessly follows up with being the second disco song on the album, describing how she wants to be spoiled in every way like it’s Valentine’s day. She holds herself to this high standard and also tells us as listeners we should always expect the best and never settle for anything.
We are the type of people who someone would want to be with forever, so why settle? That’s what Uchis wants us to take away, because in the end she doesn’t need that person, but she’ll have them running to her forever.
Moral Conscience piggybacks off of Endlessly in a unique way because we see what happens when her lover decides to leave her.
Switching back to slow jazz, her vocals on this track shows off her incredible range with hitting those higher notes. This could definitely be someone’s instant favorite their first time listening to the album because she admits that she lost herself a little bit once that person left.
This leads into the next tracks Not Too Late(interlude) and Blue. In both of these songs she talks about missing them and saying there is no point in seeing what the world has to offer if they’re by her side.
But she also contradicts herself, as anyone who is lovesick, knowing that missing them is bad for her. She sings in Not Too Late(interlude):
“Cuando te vi, sentí por fin que encontré algo real”
She’s basically telling listeners that when that person, she felt like she finally found something real. This is later supported by her next track, Deserve Me featuring fellow R&B artist Summer Walker.
Uchis and Walker fit so well and compliment each other nicely on this R&B track. She finally finds herself again and realizes she is happier without them in her love, even stating in the song:
“yo fui la que siempre te di de todo”
The melody and the guitar at the end will definitely be one you’ll want to have replay, along with Moonlight, which was her second single from her album released a week before her album was dropped.
The album ends on a happy note, with the song Happy Now. This was an amazing closer, as Uchis finally learns to forgive and doesn’t want any bad blood between them.
This also relates to the title of the album, because she sings about how she’d wish her ex could realign the stars for them and just give them a chance to start over.
This entire album just reinforces the importance of self-worth, while also dealing with exes from your past. Each track was put next to each other so perfectly and the story feels so real as she describes her worth, what life is like without her, and missing exes that just didn’t work out.
Like Uchis said in the Genius interview, “It’s believed by many astrologers that the blood moon can send your emotions into a spin, and that’s what I felt represented this body of work best.”
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