Crying in Front of Kali Uchis

My first time seeing Kali Uchis was in January of my freshman year with my two closest friends. At the time, Por Vida was the only EP the Colombian-American had released. The following year, Kali Uchis released Isolation, her debut album. Isolation is a moving album that reflects Uchis’ independence and growth from past relationships. The album includes hit songs, such as “After the Storm” featuring Tyler, the Creator & Bootsy Collins. 

Kali Uchis has one of the most beautiful, soothing voices I have heard live, so I HAD to go! Some of the songs Uchis performed included “Miami,” “Killer,” “Gotta Get Up,” and she closed the show with “After the Storm.” If you watch any of the videos I recorded from the concert, all you can hear in the back is me yelling. The beginning of “After the Storm” starts with heavy rain and thunder sounds, then jumps into the drumbeat before the lyrics begin. 

Once she sang the chorus, I burst into tears! My friends looked at me shocked. When I heard Uchis sing, “So if you need a hero/ Just look in the mirror/ No one’s gonna save you now/ So you better save yourself,” all these emotions hit me at once. I was so overwhelmed; I just had to cry. 

Afterward, my friends and I were hype from concert adrenaline. We decided to wait outside of Uchis’ dressing room with the hope of meeting her. Although it felt like a genius idea in the moment, a line had already formed. We waited outside for at least an hour and a half huddling in the cold. We went back and forth on whether or not we were going to stay because we were freezing and hungry. 

We stayed, and Uchis eventually came out. Everyone swarmed her, and you could tell she was overwhelmed. I was trying to squeeze through people to get a glimpse at her. Uchis looks over at me and waves her hand for me to come forward. Once I was standing next to her, I felt another rush of emotion and blurted out, “I just have to say that I love you, and when you performed ‘After the Storm’ I literally cried.” She looked at me like “What?!” 

They gathered all the fans for a group picture then she left for her tour bus. I was in shock after the concert. I could not believe that I got that close to Kali Uchis. Then after everything settled in, I was so embarrassed that I word vomited in front of Kali Uchis. At least I got a cool story out of it!