''To Feel Alive'' is the second

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

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 ...

, released on April 24, 2020, through

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

. It is her first extended play since ''

Por Vida ''Por Vida'' (, ) is the debut EP by Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis. The project was released as a free download on February 4, 2015, via Kali Uchis' website and later released to digital streaming platforms. It features production by Tyler ...

'' (2015) and first release overall since '' Isolation'' (2018). Unable to issue her second studio album, the singer recorded the EP's songs in her home while

self-isolating In health care facilities, isolation represents one of several measures that can be taken to implement in infection control: the prevention of communicable diseases from being transmitted from a patient to other patients, health care workers ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Background and composition

Before the release of ''To Feel Alive'', Uchis uploaded a video to her

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel featuring snippets of

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

for "Honey Baby" and "Angel", with the latter previously titled "Pablo Escobar"; ultimately, none of the songs were used for ''Por Vida''. The two were reworked, with "Angel" changing only one line. Uchis first performed "I Want War (But I Need Peace)" during her 2019 co-headlining tour with

Jorja Smith Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouT ...

. Ellen Johnson, writing for ''

Paste Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

'' classified ''To Feel Alive'' as a "stellar rendering of escapist

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

", while Antwane Folk from ''

Rated R&B ''Rated R&B'' is an independent online magazine based in the United States, which is dedicated and devoted to news, topics and almost all things related to rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, ...

'' described it as "dreamy R&B". Charlie Zhang of ''

Hypebeast Hypebeast may refer to: * Hypebeast culture, a contemporary youth culture focused on clothing styles *Hypebeast (company) Hypebeast is a Hong Kong–listed company that focuses on contemporary culture and lifestyle. It was originally founded in 2 ...

'' wrote that the EP features "dreamy, electric

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

-infused sounds that complement Uchis' uniquely wistful singing". In an interview for ''

Insider Insider(s) or The Insider(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Insiders'', a comic series by Mark Millar and Paul Grist, published in ''Crisis'' * The Insiders, a team of DC Comics characters in the Brainiac stories * ''I ...

'', Uchis revealed that it took "probably 15 minutes" to write and record the EP's title track.

Artwork and promotion

The EP's artwork is a painting Uchis commissioned to Polish artist Oh de Val. It consists of a brunette Uchis performing

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...

on a blonde version of herself, representing the combining of styles found on ''Isolation'' and ''Por Vida'', respectively, to form a new, more pleasurable one. The image's explicit content was censored on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

and

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

. A

lyric video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of m ...

for "I Want War (But I Need Peace)" premiered on April 26, 2020. The video's scenery was filmed in Uchis' backyard through a

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

Critical reception

''To Feel Alive'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''s Thomas Smith gave ''To Feel Alive'' a 4 out of 5 stars rating, praising Uchis' vocal performance and her decision to rerecord the demo tracks. Ramlogun Khushi of ''The Young Folks'' stated that with the EP "Uchis manages to tell a captivating love story in just a few tracks, chock full of groovy beats and colorful imagery".

Track listing

Notes *The first three track titles are stylized in

all lowercase Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing systems ...

. *"To Feel Alive" and any text within brackets are stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

Rogét Chahayed Rogét Lutfi Chahayed (born May 31, 1988) is an American record producer and songwriter. Referred to as "one of hip-hop and pop's most dependable hit machines" by ''Billboard'', Chahayed has received nine Grammy Award nominations; in 2022, he w ...

– production, songwriting * Bunx Dadda – production * Jason Kirt Simeon Fleming – songwriting * Aja Grant – production, songwriting * Austen Jux-Chandler – additional production , mixing , engineering , mastering * Henry Lunetta – engineering * Prash "Engine-Earz" Mistry – mastering , mixing *

Sounwave Mark Anthony Spears (born February 28, 1986), known professionally as Sounwave, is an American record producer and songwriter. He is a frequent collaborator of rapper Kendrick Lamar, having worked on all of his projects since his 2009 self-title ...

– production, songwriting * Joe Thornalley – songwriting *

– lead vocals , songwriting , production , engineering * Vegyn – production

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2020 EPs Kali Uchis albums Virgin EMI Records EPs Interscope Records EPs Albums produced by Rogét Chahayed Albums produced by Sounwave Albums produced by Vegyn