Pushkin. Hey, this is Justin Richmond from the Broken Record podcast. Join me this June for a live taping of Broken Record at the Tribeca Festival. We're all bee in conversation with Infinity Song, a New York based soft rock band comprised of four siblings who will also be doing a couple of songs for us. You'll hear the artist and a career spanning conversation about their inspirations and dynamic styles. We'll be at the SVA Theater on June twelve at
eight thirty pm. Defind tickets. Visit tribecafilm dot com slash Broken Record all lowercase. That's tribecafilm dot com slash Broken Record. Hope to see there. Caliuccies has been busy over the last few years. She settled down with her partner Don Tolliver, had a baby, and released three great albums, Red Moon
and Venus, Orchidias and now Sincerely. And while they all contry a lot to the amazing lineage of R and B in Latin music, it's her latest, Sincerely, that feels like a great leap forward for cali Ucci's as an artist. There's something coherent in the messaging and the feel of the album that make it stand out as not just a great collection of songs, but also a great album.
So it wasn't surprising during the course of our conversation to find that Cali, unlike her other records, wrote most of this one on her own before bringing it into the studio. It also, unfortunately made a lot of sense that Callie had recently been through a traumatic life alterined experience with her mother. Over the course of our conversation, we talk about those experiences, along with parenthood, growing up in Virginia, her family's immigration story, and her daunting first
experience on tour. This is broken record, real musicians, real conversations. This episode is brought to you by Defender, a vehicle engineered to meet challenges head on, so you can explore with confidence. Adventure seekers and risk takers can explore the full Defender lineup at land ROVERUSA dot com. Here's a conversation with Caliucis Caliucci's Hello, It's great to meet you.
Good to meet you too.
You're you're You're way more up on what's going on with the world than I would have imagined considering considering the album. I just heard how good it is, I would have thought you were you were, you were shutting the rest of the world out.
No, I feel like a lot of the album is about the state of the world in a abstract way, like obviously I don't touch on political or socioeconomic topics, but a lot of it does kind of always lean back on music being an escape and like escaping from the state of the world. So in that way I touched on it.
It's a lot of tenderness still on the album too, Like it's like when I like, I haven't really enjoyed listening to it the last couple of weeks, just because it feels so distinctly different from the world ring right now, which is really harsh and cruel and terrible, and but that could go on.
But even like, I feel like a lot of people are dropping dance music right now obviously this summer, so I feel like it's definitely really different from other stuff coming out at the moment.
And this is the third album, it's a.
Third English album, it's my fifth overall album.
The third album three years though.
Oh yeah, like.
You've done three in a row. So I was just like the I was just so shocked by the quality than you. What when did this album start for you? Like the writing and pretty.
Much towards the end of me getting together my my last album, or I had started the writing process for this next album.
And coming off of Orkidias, why did this become? Like? What was the I imagine you could have gone a lot of different directions. What's how did you start coalescing around this group of songs and this sound?
Wells was a very dance heavy sound, So even though it was a lot of different John was the main element of everything thematically was movement and there was a lot of different There was a lot of different dance music involved in the project. So I was like, I want to do a project that's just sentimental, emotional, vulnerable, something that I feel that I haven't done in a long time, and in a new way, in a fresh way. So I'm kind of leaning back on my roots in music, but doing it in a fresh way.
For you, what is leaning back on your your roots? Like?
For instance, like my first projects, I want to say my first mixtape, which was called Brovilla Thanks a little bit more leaning in those pockets. Even my first album, Isolation,
it's leaning a little bit more in that pocket. Not to say that it's the same as either of those projects at all, but it's more so what you would expect from that artist if you were to have listened to that artist, how that artist would have evolved versus I think my Latin projects likes and like se Melo, they kind of have took took on their own world.
In hindsight, is like, I'm sure you got some pushback from trying to go from isolation to Signelo BLA. Yeah, definitely, But in hindsight it's really cool because the way you've set your career up now is like for the audiences and know what to expect in the best way. Like you know, like when this got sent to me and I was gonna put it on, I'm like, who knows? Like who I got for cars? And who knows what I'm in for?
You know what I mean? Yeah? And I love that. I love to be an artist is unpredictable and for people to not know what to expect.
Where does that come from? For you? That that that eclectic sensibility.
I think just growing up with so many different inspirations, being bi cultural, being that I grew up in different places and I had that you know that sense of like music from Columbia, music from VA, music in the America versus South America. And then also I listened to music from all over the world, French music, you know,
music from Africa, Italy, wherever it was. I've always just been very much an avid music listener, like of your own music nerd my whole life, so I think having so many different influences and inspirations to the point where I never felt restricted to keep myself into anything. I always just felt that freedom of expression was the most important thing for me, and yeah, not to not to limit myself creatively.
Was that normal for your peer group, like for your friend group, or like, was everyone else around you also listening to all kinds of different sounds or was this sort of did you somehow just no.
I think most of my friends and people at school, they used to make fun of that my had iPods back then, right, you know the vibes. They used to be like, oh that I used to always have the most random music and whatever. That was just something that I that I loved. But I did know a couple of other people that were really into finding new music
and obscure bands and stuff like that. But yeah, I think most people were just listening to whatever was on the radio, so it was just diferent strokes for different folks.
You must have also been listening to what was on the radio, too, right, I was.
Never big on the radio personally, Like I loved to find, like, you know, artists from different eras. I love to listen to old school music, the music that my parents were listening to or that older people were listening to. I would love that when my I was playing music in the house, you know, cleaning the house or whatever. That's the type of stuff that used to make me interested in diving into like all these and stuff like that.
So who were some of the artists at that time that would have gotten you interested in thinking about music or writing or listening.
I mean I wrote music from since I could write. I always was writing songs. I was just that kid that was kind of like would wander off, you know, when my family was out doing stuff. I would always be like on my own coming up with songs, and my parents would always be kind of like embarrassed and start laughing because I used to be just coming up with songs like in the grocery store or wherever, and people used to be like, Oh, she's so cute, she's
so weird. I was just always like the weird little kid that was just coming up with songs or stories or you know, singing for the kids in the neighborhood and doing stuff like that. So I'd never had an artist that made me want to be like it was just kind of like I always did it from as long as I can remember, I always wrote music. But I definitely I mean in regards to trying to like
find different music and stuff. I think because my dad hit his job was he worked in apartment complexes, and so when people used to leave and they would leave all their stuff, sometimes he would just bring me home the CDs or the vinyls or whatever. So I used to get a lot of random different stuff from whatever whoever. And that was kind of how when I was really little, I started digging into like different types of music. And then my friend's dad gave us a bunch of his vinyls,
and that was how I started getting into music. Like it was just different ways that I got exposed here and there through random things outside of my own family that kind of just made me interested and made me have that thirst for knowledge of more musicians and artists and bands, and that there was a whole world out there of music that I wasn't exposed to in my towns.
That's really incredible. What how did that transition from just being someone who would write, you know, silly songs as a kid, or you know, age appropriate songs we could say as a kid, to like uh to you know, to kind of listening to all these type of eclectic music. How did that person and how did you transition from that to like making your first because you dropped a mixtape on that PIF, which is legendary. I gotta say that.
Unfortunately, that's incredible.
So once you finally got into like a studio making music, like, what, what did you want to present to the world.
I think I really just my my main goal was I just wanted to try to actually do my best and really learn. I was It was kind of like a growing and public type of thing. It was like I was learning and then I was just putting you know, I was literally would literally make a song that night and then just put it out onto the internet. Like I didn't really have any intention for where the music was going to go or who was going to listen to it. I was just like, Oh, that made this
cool thing whatever. And once I realized, oh, people are actually listening to it, it made me realize to be more intentional, like, Okay, let me actually try, like, let me really try to sing, because I didn't know how to be a singer. I knew how to write songs, but I was never like, you know, I've never been vocally trained or I was never inquired. I never had any of those type of things, so I didn't I didn't know how to sing at all. At that point.
You say you weren't inquired, but is it you were? And I was in band jazz band.
Yeah, yeah, I played taxophone. Yeah, I played taxophone. I play piano. I also did a lot of poetry competitions. I took them really seriously. Like when you said age appropriate songs, it made me laugh in my head because the songs that I used to write, people used to always be like, what the heck is this little girl going through? Because we're always really deep. I've always been
a poetic girl, let's say that. And yeah, so I've always just been artistic and that's always been my like, that's always been my thing.
Do you remember feeling too, like there were like the things you were expressing were maybe a little like deeper than what a kid your age might be feeling.
Or no, I think it's just that was a comment that I used to get a laugh from adults, like oh, you're very mature or you're very you know, where are you coming up with this stuff? From what's going on? And yeah, I remember I had a poem at when
a contest. It was called another Person, and it was I was really little, and it was about like it was about looking at yourself younger self, and like it was about the existentialism of like your life's course and seeing your future and your past and your present like stuff like that that I was talking about metaphysical but it was a poem and anyway I won the contests,
but yeah, that's the type of stuff. Or like my cat ran away from home and I wrote a song about my cameraunn in no way, but it was like this this longing and this sadness that people didn't realize it was about my cat and they were like, are you okay, like you know things like that.
I don't know, were your parents concerned? No, No, like maybe you feel too deeply, like she she, I don't.
Think No, I don't think they were concerns I did. I was the kid that had to go to the counselor in school for sure. But that was about you know, as far as that went.
Got it, got it? Why and why jazz? Like? Why why jazz? How did you end up in jazz? Man?
I always love jazz music. I've always been That's a lot of my grounding as a vocalist as well. Like when I first started singing, I had a lot of people would be like, oh, you have such a jazzy infliction on your voice, and I guess it just comes from that. Like I you know, I don't think I can read music anymore, but at the time I can read music. I was first chair. You know, I went to a lot of competitions to get very serious. Yeah, I did it for years. Yeah. Also, yeah, I did
it for years. I took it very seriously, and I think that definitely had some type of impact on when I first started making music. You know, where my musical grounding was in melodically.
Did you ever think about picking the sacks back up?
Like, I mean, I think that I could, but it's not something that everyone always tells me like, oh, you should just pick the sacs up in the middle of a concert one I'm like, I mean, kind of fly.
Actually, could you imagine halfway through?
I don't know, kind of random, but I mean it's cool. I like, you know, it's part of part of you know who I am, and it's part of you know, what got me into into music in a sense.
So that's cool. Well, it's nice. It's nice to hear though, because when I was reading through interview, it's nice to hear you prefer to yourself kind of as a vocalist, because as I kind of going through listening to some old interviews and reading small stuff like, it seemed like maybe there's at least an era of time or a period of time where we wouldn't say you put yourself down, but you definitely refer to yourself as a certain kind of vocalist.
Well, I really consider myself more just an artist than anything. I feel like everyone has their fortes. I feel like art is just mine. But I think I definitely have learned a lot about my voice, and I taught myself a lot about how to use it, and I've grown a lot as a vocalist. You know, if you heard those first those first you know, little songs that I put out there, I definitely have grown a lot, So I'm proud of that.
Yeah, Like the opening line is incredible, That whole first verse is like vocally that was like it's stunning.
Oh thank you so much.
Yeah, like just the way I want to tempt it, but the way I think.
Once I realized my range, I started playing with it a lot more, and I think in this album I definitely lean more into the higher ranges because it just became something that was fun for me to do. But yeah, I think it's just it's all a learning process, and I think with every album, I'm just learning more about my voice and the things that I can do with it.
Yeah, but it wasn't even like on that first cut in particular, it wasn't even like also just that higher register. It's just the way you were sliding between that. It just was really dynamic, and yeah, it sounded like it was lyrically really impressive. And also just like the way you phrased it and saying it, I think the.
Most important thing to me is kind of how we were saying earlier, like I've never been inspired by one artist or one like, I'm not trying to follow anybody's path sonically or with anything that I do as an artist. So I have really found my own way and my own footing in regards to my sound.
Do you have certain do you have certain influences in different eras of your life? Like would you say like nat, like, are there a handful of artists that you're listening to that you feel like are particularly inspiring to you when you hear them?
I think I knew. I think I knew for the album in general, the type of inspirations I was going for. I don't think people might not actually hear those inspirations when they listen to the music, but I was. I love female vocalists in general. I really don't listen to male music, which is it's funny because so many people are the opposite, like a lot of people. I remember the first time that someone ever told me that one
of my cousins we were sharing music. I was showing her some songs that I liked when I was really young, and she's like, I showed her be York and she's like, I don't listen to girl singers, Like I only listen to I like guy both voices, because I guess it's more soothing to people the low tones or I don't know what it might be the internalized misogyny. Who knows. And I was like, that's so strange because I started looking at my own Cadillac and I was like, I
only listen to girls singers. I really don't have that many male artists in my personal like day to day music that I be that. It's just like classics like you know, Marvin Get, you know, like legends, you know, so full. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't listen to too much guy music. I've never been like a fan over any guy or had that type of I don't really understand that that lifestyle. I don't understand people that are like, oh this guy, Like I just never been that person.
I'll be like, oh my gosh, this woman. She's so many you know, like I always you know, like Shad or Selena, like, you know, so many amazing women, like that's just always been my thing.
So Selena, Yeah, okay, yeah for this album, Okay, shot is Selena, Ammy whine House, the Cranberryes, uh cocktoo.
Twins, who else? Who else? Who else? The Sundays a lot of more. I was more listening to a lot more angsty, you know, nineties music, and I think in
general just ohfion A Apple, she's a huge inspiration. Yeah, just music that's a little bit and like I said, you wouldn't listen to this music and think that that's inspired by them, But it's more so in regards to women that are really able to like bear their soul and their emotion and dig a little bit deeper into their vocabulary and the things that they want to say and get poetic with it.
Yeah, that does make sense to me though, because like the album is emotionally, like really poignant. Like like when I was saying earlier, like I wasn't sure what I was one hundred percent going to get from this album, Like I do love that. It's like, you know, if I want to party, there's there's great Caliuci tracks I can you know, and the last album is one of those if I want to, like just like the vibe out at home by myself, Like there's great songs I can put on for that. But uh, like why I
put this on? It was like it made that album did make me very very emotional, Okay, and you know the background knowing you know, you just had a kid. Part of me, it did sound very firmly to me. And you know this, This was my feeling when I was listening as it sounded like an album of of like it sounded like an album just rapped in love, you know what I mean. And it made sense to me that you both that you had a kid, that you that you uh sort of had this long term
partnership and it's it. And it felt to me like it could have been maybe about either one of those things or both of those things.
Yeah, I mean there's even songs that touch on because I try to. I know a lot of music is very mail centered or relationship focused, and so I really tried to make sure that I touch other topics because I don't ever want my music to just be like about so. Yeah, I have songs for my son. I have songs even dedicated to like friendships. Like Daggers is like, you know, about another girl. You know it's about it's about a homegirl.
What was that like? But what's the Daggers makes you think? Is it? Was it not trying to think what the lyrics Todgers was betrayal?
No, no Doggers. Daggers wasn't about betrayal. Sugar Honey Love was about betrayal really, which nobody would expect from the title. But Sugar Honey Love is about betrayal. Daggers is about a girl, a friend of mine. Daggers was they shoot
Diggers from their eyes. So it's about you know, she gets a lot of, you know, people that are envious of her or people that look her some type of way, and she might not really know exactly what her worth is and she doesn't see herself the way that I see her, and she doesn't she doesn't necessarily have the things that I wish that she had, which is real love and you know, valuable and meaningful relationship connections in
her piece, things that really matter. And I think it was really important for me to have songs that are, you know, about different things that matter to me outside of just a relationship, you.
Know, And Sugar, Sugar Honey Love, that's about a betrayal.
Yeah, Well, the beginning of the verse starts whoop, does another one? Who could I ever trust? And then goes, whoop, There's another one? Who tell me? Who could I trust? So it's about it's about trust. And it's about it's about you know, but later on it goes swear. At this point, I've seen it. I've seen it all, so nothing scares me anymore. Sick and tired of betrayal, tell me who can I trust? So it literally says it's
about betrayal. Right. Then I started listening for the lyrics more, I know, and a lot of people say like that, I don't enunciate well enough, so maybe it's my fault.
I don't think it's your fault. I just I'm really not usually listening.
I gotta get you a lyric so you can really like listen and read the lyrics at the same time, and then you can fully grasp it.
And sometimes I gotta do that. Someone even told me that the day, like something about someone was talking about what's not Riah Carrey's.
Song, Oh we got some we got some lambs in the building. They might be able to help you.
Got we got Mariah Carey fan in the building. She's one of my all time favorites. But legend, legend, legend. H but what's that? What's that song that Jermaine Dupre did with Mariah Carey in the nineties, big hit Now it's gonna but some basically one of her big hits, and someone was telling about the lyrics of the day about how they're like they're kind of like a bit darker if you if you listen to them, and I was like, you gotta be lying to me, and I listened to
the song. I was like, Okay, yeah, I've been missing this the entire time.
Happens like me, I have to watch the movies with subtitles, so I get it. That might be what you need.
Thank you for diagnosis. Yeah, we'll be back with more from Kylie Ucci's After the break. I was wondering how many songs recorded for the album versus how many made it, because these songs are so good, but there's also so many various styles you stitched together. That just sounded to me like you must have been having some really fruitful writing sessions lately.
I made a lot of music. Yeah, I made a lot of music. It was very hard to pick a track list. I know a lot of people are doing the you know, fifty songs in one album thing these days, but it's not really.
Mike, but I didn't do it so beautifully.
I was like I needed to be like around fourteen songs, and I think I'm going to save some other ones for the deluxe and that's just what I'm going to do there. But yeah, I definitely made a lot a lot of music.
A couple of days ago, you posted about your mom passed away to I, you know, I wanted to say, you know, my condolences for that. That's that's really tough. What did that have any bearing on what you wrote for the album. I don't know.
Yeah, I mean that was the headspace that I was in. Yeah. Yeah, my mom was diagnosed with stage four when I was pregnant, so that was like something that was ongoing pretty much during the whole writing process, kind of you know, having to you know, see her and out of the hospital and stuff like that. So that was something definitely that impacted the album. And then on the delex I have a song that was written like right after her passing for her, So that's on the Delexe though.
That must have just been like a really hard headspace to navigating pregnant your mom's getting diagnosed.
Yeah, like becoming a mom for the first time and losing my mom at the same time. It was definitely it's still you know, That's why I'm kind of taking my time. Before and I had got right back into the studio just because I felt that I needed to. But now I'm just I'm just giving myself time to take it easy and not trying to do too much on myself right now because I am still grieving and I am still mourning. It is relatively recent, so yeah, just taking it day by day.
Yeah. Did did you guys get to connect about motherhood much before?
Yeah? Yeah, definitely.
Yeah.
She loved my son and she you know, she had a great, a great bomb with him, and she was obsessed with him, and you know, obviously I wish we had more time two, you know, to talk about motherhood and for her to see my son grow up and all of that. But but she got to meet him, and I'm happy about that.
That's that's really great. Is that her voice on the album.
Yeah, Sunshine and rain that's my mom's voice in Sunshine and Rainy. I'm actually dedicating the album to her, and so that I put that that voice note. It was a voice note she sent me for my son, and it just so happened that she that she said sunshine, and so I said, let me put this in Sunshine and Rain.
Wow, that was a really touching moment for the I thought it was you to be honest for you guys kind of did I don't know if I don't know if you guys sounded similar to my because I had a similar tambre. Maybe maybe, but that was a really touching moment.
Man, Thank you, Thank you. And I also have some of my my son's voice on the end of Love You So Much I Hurt, So that was really that was really nice to get some voice recordings to him and be able to include him in the album as well.
It was great, you know, like it reminded me of like, isn't she lovely? You know, like how like Stevie gets his kid on there, like it's just a you know love, That's what I love too. It's like again, and I just appreciated it as a parent myself, Like when I put this album on, it felt like if I don't want to say, like, you know, like a grown up album, but it just felt like, you know what I mean, Sure, yeah,
it's a mature album. It's just something it's like and it's like I can, really from my perspective in life, like appreciate it. And having things like that that I can play around my kids that make them think about our relationship, you know what I mean, Like what it is to you know what I mean. It's just like that's just such a cool touch to add to your your your your catalog, you know.
Yeah.
I love a lot of times people come to my shows with their parents, and I think it's just so sweet that they're able to like, it'll be a girl and she'll be like me and my mom both love you, and so it's nice to be able to touch different generations and then be able to share that experience of you know, having an artist that they both love in common. It's really cool. That's like one of my favorite things to see at my shows.
Yeah, it's amazing. Who who would you consider as being some of your like important collaborators on this album who helped it come into like focus. I guess in a way, that's.
A difficult question because I made the album in my house by myself, never mind even majority of the songs they were written without music, and I would just send them to different people and I would work on, you know, getting all the production together and stuff.
So the studio, say Calie Cali's headquarters.
I was going to ask, Yeah, so yeah, it's it's my least collaborative album that I've ever made. I would say, yeah.
That makes sense. Maybe why it sounds so kind of like sober and just sort of like direct in a sense. You know. That's really what I was picking up from, is just the songs are so direct, so that that does make sense. Is that a way you would work? Again?
Absolutely? I loved it. Yeah, yeah, I loved it.
What's what was it? Tell me? Someone? Why? What? What?
I guess just the that rawness of just being in your own house and just being able to go upstairs and pick up the mic. It's nice, I mean I do. I did a few songs traveling like it's just us. I've recorded that in Houston because I also have a house in Houston, so I did that there. And then all I can say I wrote that one while I was in Miami. So there's a few songs that I wrote while, you know, being out of the house. But everything else I did in my house and I loved it.
Wow. It's kind of cool how you a lot of people and you have being you. I feel like you have the poll you could just go to like any number of like really big producers and just like do a record with them. But it never seems. It seems like you've always been very open to collaborate with a variety of people, and not necessarily even people that are like I mean, quote unquote hot, you know what I mean. Like think about like you work with the girls so much, not.
Too much of my producers.
No, no, no, no, I'm just saying no. But like think about like you collaborating with someone like like Damn an album with Gorillas, Like it wasn't like you know what I mean, It's not like he's not really like in the pop space, you.
Know what I mean.
I think attack.
No. I I like to work with people that I trust, and I think when I first moved to this city, I was doing a lot of sessions with a lot of you know, producers the moment and whatever, and I don't know, I was just getting a lot of like leaks like music like demo leagues and or them playing my songs for other artists that they might get in
with because they're trying to get placements. And if I'm not using it, they're like, well maybe they maybe, And I don't I don't write songs for the artists like my music is too personal to do that, and they would just do it, you know, on their own without asking consent first, Like, oh, I played this song for so and so and they wanted for the album. Who told you that you could play my music for you know? I don't like that type of stuff, So yeah, I
just learned to. I have uh, trusted people that I've worked with, Like Josh Crocker worked on a lot of this. I've worked with him since Isolation.
I know him.
He's really cool, normal dude. He has a family, he has kids, he lives all the way in England, and I just go back and forth with him, Hey, what about this? Add this list to this, da da da da, and we just get it done. Dylan Wigan's another person who worked a lot on this album, who I've also worked with on other projects.
Is like people part Who's I think rath Faeld, benterview rothfel Ones. Is that Raphael's nephew Dylan.
Yeah, I think he is, Yeah, because I think.
He told me he's like, yeah, my nephew Dylan is really good someone.
I think someone did mention it to me the Yeah, I think that that rings a bell. Yeah, but yeah, Dylan, he's another person who worked a lot on the production of this album and the transitions, and but yeah, it's just people that I can trust because at the end of the day, it's really personal music, and like I said, I'm literally sending voice notes of myself with like sometimes maybe a couple of chords, sometimes just completely raw to you know, these people that I trust, and I'm like, hey,
can you build something like this around it? He's do something like this, I'm thinking maybe something. So it's like the process of making the songs is a lot more raw and a lot more personal than just how people just like might just get in a studio together and be like play some beats and I'll jump on you know, it's not it's not like that.
That's not the way you make stuff.
Yeah, personally, so so yeah, I just kind of learned to to go with what works, and you know, maybe for the next project I'll work differently. But that was the process on this one.
When you announced the new album, you put out a statement and part of that statement was essentially you said you were so grateful for everyone who was a part of you, Like this is a quote everyone part of your silent assent, and I was just curious what that meant to you, Your viewed, your your rise in your career is silent.
It's so funny when when y'all quote me in these interviews and tell me stuff that I posted, because I don't ever remember when I posted. I'm always like I said that.
Okay, I would be the same way to quoting things back to me. Like you said my producers were hot. I did not say that.
I just I just write stuff on there and just I'm just like in the moment with my feelings and then yeah, I think, I mean, I think silent a sent. It's really just I've never had like a year that was like a breakout year. I was like best new artists to watch out for, but or whatever. It's like I've just grown every year and I've always done better than the year before, and I've always like I'm still
here and a lot of people can't say that. So I like that type of trajectory for me, and I think it's okay for the artists to also have those type of ambitions rather than I think a lot of people just want overnight success. And I think that my journey's been really beautiful, and I'm really grateful for the people that's still here that have been like watching me grow literally from day one. It's cool.
Is there somewhere along did you, like, did that strike you somewhere along the line that that's maybe a better way to grow your career or did it?
Like I think everyone, you know, everybody's journey is different, everyone's path is different. For me, I never like this, that's just personally what I want to for myself. And I have a very strong understanding of the type of career that I want and how far I want things to get, how big I want things to get, and I know, like you know, my boundaries would work. And
I'm just already very solidified. And you know it's not it's not my first rodeo, it's not my first day out here, so I already know like what I want out of things, and yeah, I just that's for me. But everybody's like I said, everybody wants different things for themselves.
But it's a really refreshing perspective. Like we talked about how you kind of can't hang anything on in terms of stylistically, like it's like you're able to hold a lot of what could be contradictory positions or or you know at once, which is really hard for people to do. Like you were able to be like no, I'm like, I'm an artist who sings in English and Spanish and you can't tell me otherwise, and you can't put me
in that kind of a box. And I'm going to make an album that has like a countryish feel to it and a do woppy feel to it and like a very modern fel to it, and it's all going to sound like me. You can't tell me otherwise. And and similarly, it's like the idea that like you don't you also seem to be like a very private person.
But at the same time, I've managed to like grow a career that is like you know, where you're like insanely popular and like have like a legion of fans, and like you, it's it's a really refreshing kind of position, and it's not something that you know, I don't feel like we see a lot, you know.
Thank you. I want to say I'm insanely popular, but I definitely love my fan base because they know, you know, they know what it is, and they know they know that I'm just going to keep doing what I want to do and not to put any type of expectations on me beyond that. And I love that.
I appreciate that you would say you don't feel like you're insanely popular, but that it's like, you know, like
you really, I mean like you. It is wild, like you say, like when you said silence sent it made me think about it, and it's like you really have climb to like from the start of where you before we started rolling, you were talking about how you came to la like right after high school, and then you just sort of start to think about the directory of your career and how you've kind of really done it
in this really unique organic fashion. But you really have like grown your creator like this incredible consciously or not like this, Like you're like one of the great young singers and one of the great young artists. And that's like that's not I don't know, it's not up for question. I don't think you. I appreciate you. What your first tour was with Leon Bridges about about a decade ago.
Was that my first tour? Yeah, actually it was my first tour.
Yeah, sure, I could be wrong.
I think it was my first time being on the road. Yes, in a Yeah, it was I had done like little festivals, but that was my first actual tour.
Yeah, after one last break, we'll be back with the rest of my conversation with cali Ucciese. Tell me about your evolution in terms of your live performance and how you approach performing now than you did ten years ago, opening up or touring with Leon.
I mean, I just I think that I think that a lot, especially back then, like a lot of my work was just me never being prepared for what I was doing. I'd just be just speaking honestly. So the same way I told you, like, I just put music out like on that piit or whatever, and I didn't actually realize so many people are gonna listen to it,
and then I took it down. It's the same way with the toying, where it was like I was just told, like, this is really important, you have to do it, and I was like, okay, because I felt it was my obligation to do so. But I didn't shouldn't have I've really been doing that at the time. I probably should have been preparing myself as an artist to like learn, you know, I just kind of did things that was just the time in my life where I was just
like I was just doing things. I just threw myself out there, and I just had a lot of experiences and I just I learned from experience. And when I realized later, like, oh, artists actually go through artists development, and they actually developed themselves first before they just go on the road all willy nilly, or before they just put out a project all willy nilly, or you know, like I didn't know those type of things. I was very naive. I was young, and I didn't know any better.
So essentially, I will say I wasted a lot of time, Like I feel like that was a waste of time, but.
It was, you know, I learned waste of time because you just weren't It wasn't I wasn't actually put yourself into it.
I was actually prepared for it. Yeah, and and yeah, I mean it's really hard. You know, being an opener is really really hard. It's really it's really emotionally and physically training, especially as a girl. You're not in the type of city it's not glamorous whatsoever, Like it's not even decent. So it was just it's not so Yeah, I would say I would say that you know, it was a time in my life. I was young, and I was just I've always been very much learn from experience type.
Of person, So how do you approach it now differently now, like a decade later, Like if that was less less than decent, I was.
A hands on learner, So I would just call that a learning experience. But if I could, if I could give a young artist advice and to learn from my mistakes in my career, I would say to really take your time cultivating yourself as an artist first, cultivating your music, learning more about yourself the type of performer you want to be. I don't know. I think I would have maybe taken that route. Who knows, But who knows. What's done is done.
And it's cool you figured it, like you you've kind of figured it out.
I went to where I needed to be in the end regardless, but I definitely there was a lot of bumps in the road.
I mean, you've cultivated a really cool, really great like stage presence and persona, and like I feel like your shows, your live performances are the exact opposite of what you were describing that as, like you not being prepared, Like I feel like everything's pretty intentional now in terms of the way you perform, and.
Yeah, no, things are way different now. Things are way way different now. But I mean I had to learn through the experiences, so I won't say it was all, you know, terrible, but what I have done things differently with and knowledge you have now.
Yes, when did you finally get comfortable on stage?
I never was nervous to go on stage. I never had like nerves to get on stage. So I won't say that it was necessarily about me getting comfortable on stage. I will say it was more so me learning about the type of show that I wanted to put on, and get in touch with myself as a performer, and just all of those regular growing pains of an artist.
What have been some of your favorite moments performing live?
My favorite moments performing live? Well, I actually think it was really cool that I did get to do shows pregnant, because my baby can say that he was on stage, which is fun, and it was fun. He used to be kicking. He used to be kicking, and he loves music, so I feel like, you know, maybe that had some type of influence on him that he loves music, because he was definitely always around music when he was in my belly. That was really fun. And what else has been really fun?
There have been any places where you feel like the audience with the crowd is particularly I.
Always have a really great audience in Texas. Texas always has had a lot of love for me. Austin, Dallas, Houston, They've always had a lot of love, I believe it. Chicago they always show a lot of love. Florida, but obviously La is always like they go the craziest and Yeah, I would say those are the ones that stand out the most to me when I'm on tour. I'm always excited to hit those cities.
Yeah, Texas, I'm late and it's great, so cool. You have a house in Houston too, because I feel like Houston is one of the most underappreciated cities. Anytime I go to Houston, it is the greatest time of my life. The people are incredible.
Yeah, people show a lot of love there. I have a lot of fans there and they always show, you know, genuine and genuine love and it's a nice it's a nice you know, just different pace from from out here.
Yeah. Yeah, what are you going to? Uh? Are you going to tour this album? Or are you gonna yeah, yeah, okay, what it was the one of you going out.
It's gonna be a summer tour. Yeah, cool, Yes, it's gonna be really fun because I didn't get to I didn't get to do anis tour because literally right after my album, I gave birth, So I wasn't I had to sit that one out, and I just, you know, so much other stuff is going on. I'm glad I said. I wouldn't have been able obviously, but now I'm planning to basically just have another part of the show that's dedicated to so that I'm able to do that as well.
You're you're talking about how you performed when you were pregnant and how your kid loves music. What I was just curious, what music do you play around the house for you for your kid?
A lot of I want to say, a lot of eighties, a lot of nineties. He loves uh. He loves Forget Me Not by Petries. It's like one of his favorite. He loves that song. I played Funky Town for him all the time. I seen him that one all the time. He loves that one. So yeah, we listen to a lot of you know that in that world type of music, do you. But he loves all types of music. He's he's an avid music He's just obsessed with music.
Are you introducing him to like to Latin music too?
Oh yeah, Oh yeah. I played him like Vagenatos. It's something that we have from specifically from Colombia, and he loves Vagenatos. He loves it.
How was going down to Columbia by the way, as the artist you are now like versus you know what I mean?
It's beautiful. It's beautiful because there's really nobody who's come out of my hometown. So I get a lot of love when I'm there, and it's a really humbling experience. To just be back home and get shown that type of love is amazing.
And you're still able to be there and sort of live, Uh are you able to? Are you able to enjoy the country still? Like it's not like.
People are really respectful. And my town is a small town, so it's like people will know and they'll just be respectful. You know, we take pictures, we sign stuff whatever, but people are respectful.
Yeah. Noticing the tattoo on your arm, that's your that's your dad signature, right.
That's that'sport yeah, signature coming to America.
From coming to America. Right, how much does you like your your family's immigration story playing to how you you you view yourself. I guess you know how much of that feels like it's a part of your story.
I think just growing up in a household that was full of genuinely hardworking people that always taught me that in life, you know, nothing comes easy and you don't just get handed anything. And also just learning to be resourceful, like you know, when I was going to school in Columbia, like having to heat up our own water and having to get resourceful when it came to washing clothes. You know,
we didn't have dishwasher. We didn't have sorry, not dishwasher, a laundry washer whatever it's called, clo washer washer, we didn't have those type of things. We had to get resourceful with everything that we did. And I think just growing up with the mentality of having to figure things out, it makes you a lot more creative as a kid
as well. You find creative alternatives to everything, and it definitely gives you that backbone that you need in the world of just always having to row with the punches in life because you never know what's gonna happen?
And then you. I found it interesting that you grew up in a very Salvadorian, very Salvadorian part of Virginia that I also realized. I also found out I was looking at stuff. Dave Grohl from The Food Fighters grew up there, recorded like a Food Fighters album out of his house that I don't even know. He's not Latino, but she is. I don't want to take that away from him, maybe as he did. He grew up in Chiliagua. Yeah, and Alexander Alexandria Alexandria in Chiliagua.
I didn't even know that they were from v A.
Yeah, he's They recorded like one of their big albums there,
the third album, I think. But like like having your Columbia roots grown up around Salvadorians, coming to La so young and having that, you know, the Mexican influence that's here, did you It has did that impact like at all, the way you view your your your your the way you relate to like Latin America, because it feels like you've had a really broad upbringing in terms of your you know, people tend to think of Latinos as like one group y but like Columbias are very different than
the South of Dorians.
Yeah, for sure, but I mean we all have underlying like we all have similar cultures in a sense. And I think for me that my uncle, he's Mexican, he also raised me, and he also exposed me to a lot of like oh these and a lot of the Mexican La culture because it's actually from out here, not from specifically LA, but he's from California, so he's like, you know, I think that definitely played a role as well.
So before I even moved out here, a lot of people back home would always ask me, you're not from here. You're from the You're from the West Coast, aren't you You're not East Coast? And I would be like, no, I am from here, and they will always tell me like, no,
you're from You're from LA. You're probably from like random people who if I was at the mall, if I was out somewhere like getting the train or whatever, wherever I would people used to always say that I seemed like I was from LA, like since I was young. So I think I've just always had different influences because of Yeah, all the different people that raised me and different things that I got exposed.
To really in Angelina. I can't believe you.
But now, yeah, well, now, now you know, I've lived here for so long that it really does feel like home, my second home. But but yeah, I don't know. People always thought that I was from here. That's why I was like, I might as well move there, because clearly something's going on over there that is connecting with me. Everybody wants to work with me from out there, and I got so much love and support out there versus you know, where I was living. It was really hard
to break out of like the DMV area. With the type of music that I was doing, I would get love, but it wasn't the same as out here. It wasn't not at all. I mean even now even now, you know, the love isn't the same there. Like if I do show there as it is here and technically like that's a hometown show, but out here feels like a hometown show. It's weird. I don't know why. I just glad we can provide that you guys. Thank you guys.
Before we wrap up, just because I love that song so much. Can you talk about the genesis of I Love you so much it hurts?
Yeah? Well, what was the first lines? Yeah, I love my baby. Nothing else compares. When I look into his brown eyes, it leaves me full of tears, crying so pretty much the whole first month of me giving birth to my baby, every time that we would make eye contact, it would make me cry. I really felt like I could see into his soul and like he was seeing into my soul, and it was just, you know, a
connection that I had never ever felt before. I felt like fully seen for what felt like the first time I ever Like I felt like somebody really really saw me and that I finally had, you know, this family that I always wanted and that was really always my dream. And I just immediately got inspired to write the song because of that. I feel like music is subjective, and a lot of people have had a discourse about whether or not it's appropriate for people to dedicate the song
to a partner or you know, to other people. That's for me, I just want to say, that's perfectly fine with me. You know, I can be interpreted however you want to interpret it. You know, I even had people on my team that didn't really want me to lean into the real you know, talking about my son too much. Because they're like, oh, it's not going to be as relatable to people who aren't parents, and I'm like, but
everybody has a mom. But I don't know. I guess I feel like that's just the truth of how the song came to be and what inspired me was just my son and that beautiful feeling that I had never ever felt before in my life.
Were surprised by that feeling and that connection and that amount of love was it?
Yeah, I think, you know, I even know people who I've heard stories about people giving birth and not having a connection with their child and you know, feeling not understanding why they maybe didn't have. And I was I'm not gonna lie. I was scared. I was like what if. I was like, what if I give birth and I don't have this connection like this motherly intuition or this you know. I was scared. I didn't know what was going to happen or what I was going to feel.
And it was just such an overwhelming I mean, we both, you know, me and Don both as soon as I gave birth to him becaue. He helped me the whole time. He helped me give birth, and he assisted me the entire time and then as soon as he was out, we just held him and we cried together. So I know that he felt it too, like it was a very overwhelmingly emotional moment. But it continued on for me at least for weeks where any time I looked into his eyes, it was just an undescribable feeling of emotion.
And you always knew it's interesting, so you always knew you wanted to be a parent.
I had different faces when I was really little. I was definitely that little girl that used to come up with a bunch of names in my little journal. I was like, this is what I'm gonna name my kids one day, and I thought, you know, I always used to carry my little doll around and I wanted to, you know, when I was really little. And then you know, you get in that teenage era and you're like, I will never bring kids into this fucked up world and whatever.
And I even got a tattooed right here. That was my first tattoo. I was like sixteen when I got this tiger tattoo I have here, and I had friends that were like, but what if you get pregnant, You're gonna stretch the tattoo. I did it, and I was like, I will never get pregnant. I'm not gonna do that to myself. I'm not gonna have a baby. That's crazy. And then I got pregnant, and luckily my tattoo is
just fine. Is fine, It's perfectly fine. It was just funny when I was pregnant because it's like all lopsided. The title was like, we're going to the opposite seration. But I went right back into place somehow, So everything is fine. We're all good. Me and the tiger. My son loves the tattoo. He loves tigers, so every time he makes me show him the tiger and he's like raves. He lives that tattoo.
That's adorable.
It all worked out well.
Do you want to have more kids?
Do you feel like that's like, yeah, maybe like two or three more.
It's encouraging to meet. I feel like I talked to so many people don't want to have kids or don't have and I'm like, man, I feel like sometimes I'm like, you know, it's it's it's it sometimes, you know, and especially when you have a kid and you work in an industry that's less than traditional, you know, it can be like, and it can also be like a really hard balance between you know, like wow, am I Am I doing this right? And am I doing my career right?
And it's something not easy. It's not easy at all, but for me, it's very much worth it. It's very worth it.
How are you navigating that part of it now?
It's just still learning to navigate it, you know, Like I said, the boundaries with work and being able to understand, you know, not to necessarily take every opportunity and to do what means most to me and to always prioritize him and always prioritize you know, my relationship, my family. And as long as I keep doing that, I feel like I'll be fine.
Amazing. Yeah, cal Is you thanks so much for thank you for having me.
It's a great talk. Thank you.
In the episode description, you'll find a link to a playlist to some of our favorite Caliu Chiese songs. Be sure to check out our video episodes at YouTube dot com slash Broken Record Podcast and see all of our video interviews, and be sure to follow us on Instagram at the Broken Record Pod. You can follow us on Twitter at Broken Records. Broken Record is produced and edited by Leah Rose, with marketing help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is Ben Holliday. Broken Record is
a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and ad free listening for four ninety nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions. And if you like this show, please remember to share rake and review us on your podcast app. Our theme music's by Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.