In her third English-speaking album, Sincerely, Kali Uchis has perfected her sound and vocal stylings, inviting listeners to bask in all of its nostalgia-tinged luxurious dreams.

Following her pattern of English-Spanish-English-Spanish trajectory that began with Isolation back in 2018, Uchis is back only a year after the release of her second Spanish-speaking studio album, Orquídeas.

Dipping her toes (or rather, submerging herself) in dream pop and psychedelic sounds, Kali Uchis has made a mark with her trademark sultry vocals that reach the far ends of your mind and bring you to her world. In this project, her ability to showcase that ability is no different from before—if anything, as I’ve said before, she’s mastered it to complete perfection—and is sure to bring anyone listening to a trance unlike any other.

With certainty, Sincerely, is Uchis’s most personal and mature project yet. With lyrics that deal with the loss of her mother and even her experience of being a new mother herself after the birth of her firstborn, Uchis strives to find the silver lining in all of the obstacles that she’s come to face in this new facet of her life. As she put it, this album is about “finding ways to find joy in life despite the world. Finding ways to appreciate every moment and not take life for granted.”

As a whole, the album has a lot of noteworthy moments. On songs like “Sunshine & Rain…” and “ILYSMIH,” Uchis’ ability to make a beautiful song that can give a boost of confidence shines very brightly, with chilly pop hooks that are sure to be chart toppers—reminiscent of her previous hits like “Moonlight” and “I Wish you Roses.”

Despite the glories one would come to find in this project, many of the moments may come off as a bit one-note or even not entirely remarkable. While standouts like “Angels All Around Me…” and “Silk Lingerie,” shows a different side to Uchis as she steps into a powerful divine feminine role with striking vocals, the other songs doesn’t do justice to make Sincerely, a project you can listen to more than once and find new things you didn’t before. And, while the songs flowing into one another makes for an unbroken immersive experience for the album as a whole, the format renders each song a jarring listen individually.

While this may be symptomatic of a trend most notoriously made famous by SZA, many of the songs on this record are barely legible with the way Uchis enunciates her words. Take for example “Sugar! Honey! Love!”, where she entrances her listeners with beautifully enchanting and haunting vocals while words barely form through them. 

Perhaps that’s not a bad thing for the kind of stylings that Uchis has been well-known and loved for. Even on songs like “It’s Just Us” and “For: You”, where you get so much of the nostalgic synths and even the Sade-like guitars playing in the back, it would’ve made for a much more concise record had the listeners been more able to understand (or simply hear better) what she’s saying.

Though it may not have reached the heights of her past work, Sincerely, still offers enough glimmers of what makes her compelling to warrant a listen—if not admiration, then at least appreciation for what is a gloriously strong discography.