''Red Moon in Venus'' is the third studio album by American singer

Kali Uchis Karly Marina Loaiza (born July 17, 1994), known professionally as Kali Uchis ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Her accolades include a Grammy Awards, Grammy Award, an American Music Awards, American Music Award, two Billboard Music Awar ...

. The album was released on March 3, 2023, through

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. The album features guest appearances by

Omar Apollo Omar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. After signing a record deal with Warner Records, his debut album, ''Ivory (Omar Apollo album), Ivory'', was released in ...

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer. He emerged to fame in 2018 with the release of his debut mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', and his feature on the song "Can't Say" by fellow Houston rapper Travis Sco ...

and

Summer Walker Summer Marjani Walker (born April 11, 1996) is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Atlanta, she signed with the local record label Love Renaissance, an imprint of Interscope Records in late 2017. The following year, she relea ...

. It is predominantly an R&B record. ''Red Moon in Venus'' debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 and two on ''Billboard''s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with over 55,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...

s, making it her first top-10 album on that list.

Background

On January 11, 2022, Uchis announced that she was putting the finishing touches on her third studio album. On April 21, 2022, she revealed to ''

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'' that she had two albums ready, one in English and one in Spanish. On September 2, 2022, Uchis released the "retro house" track "No Hay Ley", the first solo release in nearly two years. On December 9, 2022, she announced that she had turned in the new album, describing it as her "latest contribution to this world". She released the single " I Wish You Roses" on January 19, 2023, along with its music video. The song was produced by Dylan Wiggins and Josh Crocker. According to Uchis, the song is about "being able to release people with love". On February 23, 2023, she released the second single for the album, "Moonlight", accompanied by a lyric video. The singer announced the album title three days later. Uchis revealed through her Instagram stories that many of the songs on the album were written and recorded years ago, specifying that the album was recorded during lockdown. The release date and the cover were both revealed on January 23. About the project, Uchis explained: She felt inspired by astrology, wanting to reflect the blood moon as the trigger to "send your emotions into a spin".

Critical reception

''Red Moon in Venus'' received widespread acclaim from critics. At

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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

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score of 84, based on 13 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.7 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. The album received an 8.2 out of 10 on ''

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'' and was acclaimed as "best new music" the week of its release. Michael Cragg of ''

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'' awarded the album with 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "Over a vintage soul confection, Uchis travels through heartache, finishing somewhere near desolation: “What’s the point of all the pretty things in the world, if I don’t have you?” Things end, however, with resolution on the sun-dappled, 60s soul of Happy Now, in which Uchis urges herself to “remember all the good things”. Astrological guff never sounded so lush." The album was placed in numerous year-end lists of 2023.

Track listing

Note * "Como Te Quiero Yo" is titled as "Amanecer" in the vinyl edition of the album. * signifies an additional producer

Personnel

Musicians *

– vocals * Phil Cornish – piano (track 1) * Josh Crocker – bass guitar, drums, keyboards, programming (2, 4, 12); guitar (2, 4) * Vicky Nguyen – keyboards (3) * Rocco Palladino – bass guitar (12) * Yussef Dayes – drums, synthesizer programming (12) * Alexander Bourt – percussion (12) * Elijah Fox – piano (12) * Malik Venner – saxophone (12) * Miles James – synthesizer (12) * Nick Movshon – bass guitar (14) *

Homer Steinweiss Homer Steinweiss (born March 25, 1982) is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee ...

– drums (14) * Paul Castelluzo – guitar (14) *

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer and songwriter. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall ...

– keyboards, programming (14) * Magnus Høiberg – keyboards, programming (14) *

Leon Michels Leon Marcus Michels () (born 1982) is an American Record producer, music producer, Music executive, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of ...

– keyboards (14) Technical * Prash Mistry – mastering (all tracks), mixing (5–10, 13–15) * David Kim – mixing (1–4, 11, 12) * Benny Blanco – mixing (14) *

Cashmere Cat Magnus August Høiberg (born 29 November 1987), known professionally as Cashmere Cat, is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. Often in tandem with Benny Blanco, he has been credited with production work for artists including Kanye West, the Kid L ...

– mixing (14) * Austen Jux-Chandler –

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* Hector Castro – engineering (3, 4, 7, 8, 12) * Miguel Correa – engineering (7, 8) * Jens Jungkurth – engineering (14) * Leon Michels – engineering (14) * Morning Estrada – recording (2–4, 6–8, 10, 13) * David Bishop – recording (13) * Lavar Bullard – mixing assistance (6–10, 13–15) * Luca Brown – engineering assistance (5)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Kali Uchis 2023 albums Kali Uchis albums Geffen Records albums Albums produced by P2J