Kali Uchis breaks down the quarantine EP she made on her bedroom floor, and how solitude can be a powerful tool

• We launched the Stay Insider Sessions to connect with artists while the world practices social distancing.
• Next up, Kali Uchis walked us through the making of her quarantine EP "To Feel Alive," which she recorded on the floor in her bedroom.
• The "Solita" singer also opened up about how "peace of mind" became her "only priority," and how solitude can be a powerful tool.
• "We talk so much... it makes communication just very vapid," she said. "When you practice silence and you practice diving inwards, once you do open your mouth, it's something meaningful and valuable."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Insider launched the Stay Insider Sessions to connect with musicians while they, like many of us, are grappling with isolation and unprecedented downtime. Next up: Kali Uchis.

It feels exceedingly natural to turn to Kali Uchis right now for comfort, wisdom, and guidance.

The 25-year-old has been singing about solitude and self-sufficiency since her first official single, "Know What I Want," was released in 2014. Her debut studio album was literally titled "Isolation." Her recent standalone single "Solita," released in December, means "Alone" in Spanish. (Dancing by yourself is better than dancing with the devil, she crooned like a sensible, pre-quarantine prophet.)

"I mean honestly, I've really been in my bag while I've been home because this is how I started, you know?" Uchis told Insider during a recent Zoom call, casually swaddled in a white robe and sitting cross-legged on her bedroom floor.

"I started just making music in my room by myself. I brought this little setup up here. This is where my microphone is," she said, pointing to the black object on her left-hand side, "like, literally right here."

"Today, I did not feel like doing my makeup," she added. "Today I was like, 'Ugh.' I just threw some sunglasses on."

'There was just something so beautiful and freeing about that, about it not being calculated and it not being perfect'

Uchis first attracted attention when she spontaneously posted her debut mixtape, "Drunken Babble," online in 2012. She thought nothing of it. In fact, she told me, she basically made all 17 of its songs "in the matter of one night."

"I didn't know how to sing and I didn't know how to produce, and I didn't know how to do anything that I was doing, but there was no pressure and there was no expectation," she told me. "There was just something so beautiful and freeing about that, about it not being calculated and it not being perfect."

"That was something that I just wanted to feel again. I just wanted to feel like, 'I'm just going to sing this stuff and put it out there.'"

And so, in much the same way, Uchis surprised fans with the announcement of her newest project: a four-song EP titled "To Feel Alive," released on April 24, that she made "in a couple of days"

"recorded all of it alone, in my room, bcoz i won't roll out my real album right now, but wanna give my babies Something," she wrote on Twitter. "nobody needs to listen to it, & i don't want ANYONE to buy it. thank u."

"It was very free-flowing. It just felt like a no-brainer for me," she said of the project. "But honestly, I wanted to be really, really vocal about the fact that I didn't want people to buy it. Because I want people to save their money for the things that matter right now, and I really just wanted people to have something."

"If it was up to me, I would've put it out for free, but I'm on a label and they didn't let me do that," she added, sighing heavily. "So, whatever. I just told everyone, 'Don't buy it, just stream it.' And I was really, really surprised by the way it was received."

"It was like a reassurance to me that I am on the right path and I am doing what I came to do and what I'm meant to do."

Before the coronavirus pandemic altered the fabric of our shared reality, Uchis had planned to release the lead single from her forthcoming sophomore album in June. (With everything going on, she declined to clarify whether that plan is still in motion.)

"I was supposed to be on tour in Latin America right now. My plans were changed pretty much overnight for my career," she said. "This was one of those things where I just wanted to feel the excitement of being able to connect with people in a time where I felt really repressed and really muted."

"I'm just really excited to share the actual album because that is the project that, I feel like at this point in my life, is my life's work. I am more proud of it than anything that I've ever done in my life," she continued.

"[The EP] was like a nice appetizer, you know?"

It took Uchis just 15 minutes to write and record the EP's titular track

The centerpiece of "To Feel Alive" is the fourth and final track, which bears the same name. The winking, minimal production elevates Uchis' nimble self-reflections, almost giving the impression that she's freestyling, or else scribbling an especially poetic diary entry.

"I just played the little string and a harp together, and then I just started singing it. It wasn't very much thought. I was like, 'I'm just going to put this on because this is a bit of me now,'" she said. "'I'm just going to say, 'F--- it,' and just literally make this thing in five minutes."

Uchis is persistently introspective and precise with her phrasing, which often leads her to offer anecdotes and sprawling, thoughtful meditations in response to simple questions.

We're engrossed in conversation for another 30 minutes, touching on a varied feast of topics — writing lyrics in Spanish versus English, her EP's George Condo-inspired cover art, which Fiona Apple albums she's been listening to — before I remember to circle back for an important clarification.

I asked: "Wait, so did you seriously write the song 'To Feel Alive' in five minutes?"

"That song was probably 15 minutes to write it and record it," she replied coolly.

In contrast, the first two tracks on "To Feel Alive" were years in the making. "Honey Baby (Spoiled!)" and "Angel" are revamped versions of old demos; the original versions were both featured in the teaser for Uchis' debut EP, 2015's "Por Vida."

"They never came out because they actually got leaked, and then I was just over it," she explained. "I was going through a lot of different things at the time, and I was just like, 'F--- it. I'm just going to make more stuff.'"

"But with this new project," Uchis added, "I felt that I owed that to my fans, that bit of nostalgia and real actual recordings of me, even though it was just done in my room."

Uchis rewrote "Honey Baby" so that she still felt connected to its message. She tweaked just one line in "Angel," which was originally titled "Pablo": "Told me let you worry 'bout the annual residuals" became "You know I'm not worried 'bout my annual residuals," mirroring her journey towards strength and financial stability.

"I mean, I've always been an independent person, but it's different being fully an independent woman, an adult — because I made those songs when I was newly 18, 17," Uchis said, pausing to reflect.

"It was just really nice to be able to still connect with them and still connect with that part of me and that side of me, and with my journey. When I look back on all the stuff that I've been through and all the people that I've been in one life — I am still connected to all those parts of me."

The EP's third track, 'I Want War (But I Need Peace),' poetically sums up Uchis' thoughts on growth and solitude

Uchis performed "I Want War" during her joint tour with Jorja Smith in 2019. Now, the fan-favorite song has an official recording and even a lyric video — which Uchis filmed in her backyard after ordering a green screen and phone booth prop online.

Uchis was quiet, her voice rich with empathy, as she reflected on the song's title and central refrain.

"I've always been a very complicated and complex person," Uchis explained. "I think for a lot of us who come from — I guess, for lack of a better word — traumatic childhoods and confusing upbringings, I think it can be really difficult to be able to understand what a healthy relationship is."

Uchis, who grew up in Colombia before spending her teen years in Virginia, said she "attracted a lot of chaos" when she was younger and found herself "addicted to other damaged people" — not just in romance, but in work and friendships.

"I let myself be around negative influences for a long time. I let people into my life that were not good for me and that were toxic," Uchis said. "Unhealthy people can infect you just like toxins in your body."

"I just got to a point where I realized that if people are not enriching your life, they're poisoning your life," she continued, her voice growing softer and more contemplative. "I got at that point in my life last year where peace of mind became my priority. Peace of mind is my only priority."

This is a valuable mindset for any occasion, of course, but feels especially prescient during a pandemic, when peace of mind is hard to come by.

Uchis is similarly, tenderly understanding when I ask for advice she can offer to fans who struggle to be alone or prioritize inner peace.

"Even if you have issues with abandonment, which I've also struggled with, I think the best thing to do is face all those things that make you uncomfortable," she told me.

"If you feel like you constantly have to be on a FaceTime call with someone or you constantly have to be talking to someone, it's important to understand why you do that, and challenge yourself to be OK to not talk to anyone."

"Start in sections. It might just be like, 'OK, I'm going to challenge myself to not get on my phone for five hours and not talk to anyone for five hours,'" she continued helpfully.

"We talk so much, and a lot of time, people just have no idea of what the f--- they're even talking about. It makes communication just very vapid. When you practice silence and you practice diving inwards, once you do open your mouth, it's something meaningful and valuable."