Kali Uchis Breaks Down Red Moon in Venus’ Inspirations

I would say Red Moon

and Venus is melancholy,

erotic, sensual, romantic, glittery.

Hi, I'm Kali Uchis and this is a Mood Board

for my album, Red Moon and Venus.

[gentle techno music]

I think the moon makes me feel less alone.

I remember being a little kid and being in the car

and always feeling like the moon was following me

'cause I always stay right there no matter

where I was moving.

Well, I'm a cancer, so I've always felt very influenced

by the moon in general.

I can just, like the moon, have so many different phases,

and I just go in and out of, you know, I changed so much

from last week to next week.

It's very sporadic and I feel

that the album really is that way in a sense too

because it shows all these different dimensions of love.

The Red Moon is definitely that time when, according

to astrologers, our emotions are put into that spin,

and so I feel like it's a very emotional album,

probably my most emotional album.

[gentle techno music]

One of God's greatest gifts to the world is sunsets

and I think that I've always just been inspired

by them in the sense of the feeling

that they give me of that dreamy moment.

It only lasts so long in the day,

but it's the best part of the day for me.

I wish they were longer.

Growing up in Colombia, I've seen so many amazing sunsets

and that's part of where I live now.

I live somewhere where I have a 360 view

and I get an amazing sunset every day now.

Being able to catch that view,

I feel like it makes life a lot more fulfilling.

I love the way that the light hits buildings

when the sun is setting,

the way that the ocean glitters when the sun hits it.

I think that that's definitely something

that inspired the album.

[river waters streaming]

I don't know exactly what it is about water,

but somehow, I found that I was often inspired.

Like, if I was in the shower or if I was in the bathtub,

[shower water spraying]

all of a sudden, an idea would come to me.

I would just grab my phone and I would voice record it

and that was how a lot of the songs on the album came to be.

I just think that there's something so therapeutic

about just being alone with your thoughts

and just washing everything off of you.

It kind of feels like a reset in a way.

I always love a good fresh start.

You know, like, if you have a long, hard day

and then you're just like,

I'm just gonna take a shower

and go to sleep and wake up and be okay.

I think love absolutely has everything to do

with your ability to love yourself.

It definitely translates

into how you're able to love others.

Learning to forgive yourself, learning to love all the parts

of yourself that feel unlovable,

especially, for a lot of times, I say, like,

my music is for the people that feel unloved.

Like, I didn't grow up feeling loved or supported,

so I think music really helped me find that space

for myself and find myself.

So, I think that's such a big part

of who I am today as an adult.

Just being able to express myself creatively,

that helped me develop my essence in a sense

'cause it's like I really learned so much

about myself through it.

With that album, I really just wanna bring more love,

more beauty into the world, and help people feel less alone,

and ideally, if anybody takes something away

from it that has to do with that, you know,

that they feel a little bit more love in their life,

that's really just what I was trying to put out with it.