Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, this is Justin Richmond from the Broken Record podcast.
Speaker 1: Join me this June for a live taping of Broken
Speaker 1: Record at the Tribeca Festival. We're all bee in conversation
Speaker 1: with Infinity Song, a New York based soft rock band
Speaker 1: comprised of four siblings who will also be doing a
Speaker 1: couple of songs for us. You'll hear the artist and
Speaker 1: a career spanning conversation about their inspirations and dynamic styles.
Speaker 1: We'll be at the SVA Theater on June twelve at
Speaker 1: eight thirty pm. Defind tickets. Visit tribecafilm dot com slash
Speaker 1: Broken Record all lowercase. That's tribecafilm dot com slash Broken Record.
Speaker 1: Hope to see there. Caliuccies has been busy over the
Speaker 1: last few years. She settled down with her partner Don Tolliver,
Speaker 1: had a baby, and released three great albums, Red Moon
Speaker 1: and Venus, Orchidias and now Sincerely. And while they all
Speaker 1: contry a lot to the amazing lineage of R and
Speaker 1: B in Latin music, it's her latest, Sincerely, that feels
Speaker 1: like a great leap forward for cali Ucci's as an artist.
Speaker 1: There's something coherent in the messaging and the feel of
Speaker 1: the album that make it stand out as not just
Speaker 1: a great collection of songs, but also a great album.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't surprising during the course of our conversation
Speaker 1: to find that Cali, unlike her other records, wrote most
Speaker 1: of this one on her own before bringing it into
Speaker 1: the studio. It also, unfortunately made a lot of sense
Speaker 1: that Callie had recently been through a traumatic life alterined
Speaker 1: experience with her mother. Over the course of our conversation,
Speaker 1: we talk about those experiences, along with parenthood, growing up
Speaker 1: in Virginia, her family's immigration story, and her daunting first
Speaker 1: experience on tour. This is broken record, real musicians, real conversations.
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Defender, a vehicle
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Speaker 1: conversation with Caliucis Caliucci's Hello, It's great to meet you.
Speaker 2: Good to meet you too.
Speaker 1: You're you're You're way more up on what's going on
Speaker 1: with the world than I would have imagined considering considering
Speaker 1: the album. I just heard how good it is, I
Speaker 1: would have thought you were you were, you were shutting
Speaker 1: the rest of the world out.
Speaker 2: No, I feel like a lot of the album is
Speaker 2: about the state of the world in a abstract way,
Speaker 2: like obviously I don't touch on political or socioeconomic topics,
Speaker 2: but a lot of it does kind of always lean
Speaker 2: back on music being an escape and like escaping from
Speaker 2: the state of the world. So in that way I
Speaker 2: touched on it.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of tenderness still on the album too,
Speaker 1: Like it's like when I like, I haven't really enjoyed
Speaker 1: listening to it the last couple of weeks, just because
Speaker 1: it feels so distinctly different from the world ring right now,
Speaker 1: which is really harsh and cruel and terrible, and but
Speaker 1: that could go on.
Speaker 2: But even like, I feel like a lot of people
Speaker 2: are dropping dance music right now obviously this summer, so
Speaker 2: I feel like it's definitely really different from other stuff
Speaker 2: coming out at the moment.
Speaker 1: And this is the third album, it's a.
Speaker 2: Third English album, it's my fifth overall album.
Speaker 1: The third album three years though.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like.
Speaker 1: You've done three in a row. So I was just
Speaker 1: like the I was just so shocked by the quality
Speaker 1: than you. What when did this album start for you?
Speaker 1: Like the writing and pretty.
Speaker 2: Much towards the end of me getting together my my
Speaker 2: last album, or I had started the writing process for
Speaker 2: this next album.
Speaker 1: And coming off of Orkidias, why did this become? Like?
Speaker 1: What was the I imagine you could have gone a
Speaker 1: lot of different directions. What's how did you start coalescing
Speaker 1: around this group of songs and this sound?
Speaker 2: Wells was a very dance heavy sound, So even though
Speaker 2: it was a lot of different John was the main
Speaker 2: element of everything thematically was movement and there was a
Speaker 2: lot of different There was a lot of different dance
Speaker 2: music involved in the project. So I was like, I
Speaker 2: want to do a project that's just sentimental, emotional, vulnerable,
Speaker 2: something that I feel that I haven't done in a
Speaker 2: long time, and in a new way, in a fresh way.
Speaker 2: So I'm kind of leaning back on my roots in music,
Speaker 2: but doing it in a fresh way.
Speaker 1: For you, what is leaning back on your your roots? Like?
Speaker 2: For instance, like my first projects, I want to say
Speaker 2: my first mixtape, which was called Brovilla Thanks a little
Speaker 2: bit more leaning in those pockets. Even my first album, Isolation,
Speaker 2: it's leaning a little bit more in that pocket. Not
Speaker 2: to say that it's the same as either of those
Speaker 2: projects at all, but it's more so what you would
Speaker 2: expect from that artist if you were to have listened
Speaker 2: to that artist, how that artist would have evolved versus
Speaker 2: I think my Latin projects likes and like se Melo,
Speaker 2: they kind of have took took on their own world.
Speaker 1: In hindsight, is like, I'm sure you got some pushback
Speaker 1: from trying to go from isolation to Signelo BLA. Yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: But in hindsight it's really cool because the way you've
Speaker 1: set your career up now is like for the audiences
Speaker 1: and know what to expect in the best way. Like
Speaker 1: you know, like when this got sent to me and
Speaker 1: I was gonna put it on, I'm like, who knows?
Speaker 1: Like who I got for cars? And who knows what
Speaker 1: I'm in for?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Yeah? And I love that.
Speaker 2: I love to be an artist is unpredictable and for
Speaker 2: people to not know what to expect.
Speaker 1: Where does that come from? For you? That that that
Speaker 1: eclectic sensibility.
Speaker 2: I think just growing up with so many different inspirations,
Speaker 2: being bi cultural, being that I grew up in different
Speaker 2: places and I had that you know that sense of
Speaker 2: like music from Columbia, music from VA, music in the
Speaker 2: America versus South America. And then also I listened to
Speaker 2: music from all over the world, French music, you know,
Speaker 2: music from Africa, Italy, wherever it was. I've always just
Speaker 2: been very much an avid music listener, like of your
Speaker 2: own music nerd my whole life, so I think having
Speaker 2: so many different influences and inspirations to the point where
Speaker 2: I never felt restricted to keep myself into anything. I
Speaker 2: always just felt that freedom of expression was the most
Speaker 2: important thing for me, and yeah, not to not to
Speaker 2: limit myself creatively.
Speaker 1: Was that normal for your peer group, like for your
Speaker 1: friend group, or like, was everyone else around you also
Speaker 1: listening to all kinds of different sounds or was this
Speaker 1: sort of did you somehow just no.
Speaker 2: I think most of my friends and people at school,
Speaker 2: they used to make fun of that my had iPods
Speaker 2: back then, right, you know the vibes. They used to
Speaker 2: be like, oh that I used to always have the
Speaker 2: most random music and whatever. That was just something that
Speaker 2: I that I loved. But I did know a couple
Speaker 2: of other people that were really into finding new music
Speaker 2: and obscure bands and stuff like that. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: think most people were just listening to whatever was on
Speaker 2: the radio, so it was just diferent strokes for different folks.
Speaker 1: You must have also been listening to what was on
Speaker 1: the radio, too, right, I was.
Speaker 2: Never big on the radio personally, Like I loved to find, like,
Speaker 2: you know, artists from different eras. I love to listen
Speaker 2: to old school music, the music that my parents were
Speaker 2: listening to or that older people were listening to. I
Speaker 2: would love that when my I was playing music in
Speaker 2: the house, you know, cleaning the house or whatever. That's
Speaker 2: the type of stuff that used to make me interested
Speaker 2: in diving into like all these and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So who were some of the artists at that time
Speaker 1: that would have gotten you interested in thinking about music
Speaker 1: or writing or listening.
Speaker 2: I mean I wrote music from since I could write.
Speaker 2: I always was writing songs. I was just that kid
Speaker 2: that was kind of like would wander off, you know,
Speaker 2: when my family was out doing stuff. I would always
Speaker 2: be like on my own coming up with songs, and
Speaker 2: my parents would always be kind of like embarrassed and
Speaker 2: start laughing because I used to be just coming up
Speaker 2: with songs like in the grocery store or wherever, and
Speaker 2: people used to be like, Oh, she's so cute, she's
Speaker 2: so weird. I was just always like the weird little
Speaker 2: kid that was just coming up with songs or stories
Speaker 2: or you know, singing for the kids in the neighborhood
Speaker 2: and doing stuff like that. So I'd never had an
Speaker 2: artist that made me want to be like it was
Speaker 2: just kind of like I always did it from as
Speaker 2: long as I can remember, I always wrote music. But
Speaker 2: I definitely I mean in regards to trying to like
Speaker 2: find different music and stuff. I think because my dad
Speaker 2: hit his job was he worked in apartment complexes, and
Speaker 2: so when people used to leave and they would leave
Speaker 2: all their stuff, sometimes he would just bring me home
Speaker 2: the CDs or the vinyls or whatever. So I used
Speaker 2: to get a lot of random different stuff from whatever whoever.
Speaker 2: And that was kind of how when I was really little,
Speaker 2: I started digging into like different types of music. And
Speaker 2: then my friend's dad gave us a bunch of his vinyls,
Speaker 2: and that was how I started getting into music. Like
Speaker 2: it was just different ways that I got exposed here
Speaker 2: and there through random things outside of my own family
Speaker 2: that kind of just made me interested and made me
Speaker 2: have that thirst for knowledge of more musicians and artists
Speaker 2: and bands, and that there was a whole world out
Speaker 2: there of music that I wasn't exposed to in my towns.
Speaker 1: That's really incredible. What how did that transition from just
Speaker 1: being someone who would write, you know, silly songs as
Speaker 1: a kid, or you know, age appropriate songs we could
Speaker 1: say as a kid, to like uh to you know,
Speaker 1: to kind of listening to all these type of eclectic music.
Speaker 1: How did that person and how did you transition from
Speaker 1: that to like making your first because you dropped a
Speaker 1: mixtape on that PIF, which is legendary. I gotta say that.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, that's incredible.
Speaker 1: So once you finally got into like a studio making music, like, what,
Speaker 1: what did you want to present to the world.
Speaker 2: I think I really just my my main goal was
Speaker 2: I just wanted to try to actually do my best
Speaker 2: and really learn. I was It was kind of like
Speaker 2: a growing and public type of thing. It was like
Speaker 2: I was learning and then I was just putting you know,
Speaker 2: I was literally would literally make a song that night
Speaker 2: and then just put it out onto the internet. Like
Speaker 2: I didn't really have any intention for where the music
Speaker 2: was going to go or who was going to listen
Speaker 2: to it. I was just like, Oh, that made this
Speaker 2: cool thing whatever. And once I realized, oh, people are
Speaker 2: actually listening to it, it made me realize to be
Speaker 2: more intentional, like, Okay, let me actually try, like, let
Speaker 2: me really try to sing, because I didn't know how
Speaker 2: to be a singer. I knew how to write songs,
Speaker 2: but I was never like, you know, I've never been
Speaker 2: vocally trained or I was never inquired. I never had
Speaker 2: any of those type of things, so I didn't I
Speaker 2: didn't know how to sing at all. At that point.
Speaker 1: You say you weren't inquired, but is it you were?
Speaker 1: And I was in band jazz band.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I played taxophone. Yeah, I played taxophone. I
Speaker 2: play piano. I also did a lot of poetry competitions.
Speaker 2: I took them really seriously. Like when you said age
Speaker 2: appropriate songs, it made me laugh in my head because
Speaker 2: the songs that I used to write, people used to
Speaker 2: always be like, what the heck is this little girl
Speaker 2: going through? Because we're always really deep. I've always been
Speaker 2: a poetic girl, let's say that. And yeah, so I've
Speaker 2: always just been artistic and that's always been my like,
Speaker 2: that's always been my thing.
Speaker 1: Do you remember feeling too, like there were like the
Speaker 1: things you were expressing were maybe a little like deeper
Speaker 1: than what a kid your age might be feeling.
Speaker 2: Or no, I think it's just that was a comment
Speaker 2: that I used to get a laugh from adults, like oh,
Speaker 2: you're very mature or you're very you know, where are
Speaker 2: you coming up with this stuff? From what's going on?
Speaker 2: And yeah, I remember I had a poem at when
Speaker 2: a contest. It was called another Person, and it was
Speaker 2: I was really little, and it was about like it
Speaker 2: was about looking at yourself younger self, and like it
Speaker 2: was about the existentialism of like your life's course and
Speaker 2: seeing your future and your past and your present like
Speaker 2: stuff like that that I was talking about metaphysical but
Speaker 2: it was a poem and anyway I won the contests,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's the type of stuff. Or like my
Speaker 2: cat ran away from home and I wrote a song
Speaker 2: about my cameraunn in no way, but it was like
Speaker 2: this this longing and this sadness that people didn't realize
Speaker 2: it was about my cat and they were like, are
Speaker 2: you okay, like you know things like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know, were your parents concerned? No, No, like
Speaker 1: maybe you feel too deeply, like she she, I don't.
Speaker 2: Think No, I don't think they were concerns I did.
Speaker 2: I was the kid that had to go to the
Speaker 2: counselor in school for sure. But that was about you know,
Speaker 2: as far as that went.
Speaker 1: Got it, got it? Why and why jazz? Like? Why
Speaker 1: why jazz? How did you end up in jazz? Man?
Speaker 2: I always love jazz music. I've always been That's a
Speaker 2: lot of my grounding as a vocalist as well. Like
Speaker 2: when I first started singing, I had a lot of
Speaker 2: people would be like, oh, you have such a jazzy
Speaker 2: infliction on your voice, and I guess it just comes
Speaker 2: from that. Like I you know, I don't think I
Speaker 2: can read music anymore, but at the time I can
Speaker 2: read music. I was first chair. You know, I went
Speaker 2: to a lot of competitions to get very serious. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I did it for years. Yeah. Also, yeah, I did
Speaker 2: it for years. I took it very seriously, and I
Speaker 2: think that definitely had some type of impact on when
Speaker 2: I first started making music. You know, where my musical
Speaker 2: grounding was in melodically.
Speaker 1: Did you ever think about picking the sacks back up?
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, I think that I could, but it's
Speaker 2: not something that everyone always tells me like, oh, you
Speaker 2: should just pick the sacs up in the middle of
Speaker 2: a concert one I'm like, I mean, kind of fly.
Speaker 1: Actually, could you imagine halfway through?
Speaker 2: I don't know, kind of random, but I mean it's cool.
Speaker 2: I like, you know, it's part of part of you
Speaker 2: know who I am, and it's part of you know,
Speaker 2: what got me into into music in a sense.
Speaker 1: So that's cool. Well, it's nice. It's nice to hear though,
Speaker 1: because when I was reading through interview, it's nice to
Speaker 1: hear you prefer to yourself kind of as a vocalist,
Speaker 1: because as I kind of going through listening to some
Speaker 1: old interviews and reading small stuff like, it seemed like
Speaker 1: maybe there's at least an era of time or a
Speaker 1: period of time where we wouldn't say you put yourself down,
Speaker 1: but you definitely refer to yourself as a certain kind
Speaker 1: of vocalist.
Speaker 2: Well, I really consider myself more just an artist than anything.
Speaker 2: I feel like everyone has their fortes. I feel like
Speaker 2: art is just mine. But I think I definitely have
Speaker 2: learned a lot about my voice, and I taught myself
Speaker 2: a lot about how to use it, and I've grown
Speaker 2: a lot as a vocalist. You know, if you heard
Speaker 2: those first those first you know, little songs that I
Speaker 2: put out there, I definitely have grown a lot, So
Speaker 2: I'm proud of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like the opening line is incredible, That whole first
Speaker 1: verse is like vocally that was like it's stunning.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like just the way I want to tempt it,
Speaker 1: but the way I think.
Speaker 2: Once I realized my range, I started playing with it
Speaker 2: a lot more, and I think in this album I
Speaker 2: definitely lean more into the higher ranges because it just
Speaker 2: became something that was fun for me to do. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it's just it's all a learning process, and
Speaker 2: I think with every album, I'm just learning more about
Speaker 2: my voice and the things that I can do with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it wasn't even like on that first cut
Speaker 1: in particular, it wasn't even like also just that higher register.
Speaker 1: It's just the way you were sliding between that. It
Speaker 1: just was really dynamic, and yeah, it sounded like it
Speaker 1: was lyrically really impressive. And also just like the way
Speaker 1: you phrased it and saying it, I think the.
Speaker 2: Most important thing to me is kind of how we
Speaker 2: were saying earlier, like I've never been inspired by one
Speaker 2: artist or one like, I'm not trying to follow anybody's
Speaker 2: path sonically or with anything that I do as an artist.
Speaker 2: So I have really found my own way and my
Speaker 2: own footing in regards to my sound.
Speaker 1: Do you have certain do you have certain influences in
Speaker 1: different eras of your life? Like would you say like nat, like,
Speaker 1: are there a handful of artists that you're listening to
Speaker 1: that you feel like are particularly inspiring to you when
Speaker 1: you hear them?
Speaker 2: I think I knew. I think I knew for the
Speaker 2: album in general, the type of inspirations I was going for.
Speaker 2: I don't think people might not actually hear those inspirations
Speaker 2: when they listen to the music, but I was. I
Speaker 2: love female vocalists in general. I really don't listen to
Speaker 2: male music, which is it's funny because so many people
Speaker 2: are the opposite, like a lot of people. I remember
Speaker 2: the first time that someone ever told me that one
Speaker 2: of my cousins we were sharing music. I was showing
Speaker 2: her some songs that I liked when I was really young,
Speaker 2: and she's like, I showed her be York and she's like,
Speaker 2: I don't listen to girl singers, Like I only listen
Speaker 2: to I like guy both voices, because I guess it's
Speaker 2: more soothing to people the low tones or I don't
Speaker 2: know what it might be the internalized misogyny. Who knows.
Speaker 2: And I was like, that's so strange because I started
Speaker 2: looking at my own Cadillac and I was like, I
Speaker 2: only listen to girls singers. I really don't have that
Speaker 2: many male artists in my personal like day to day
Speaker 2: music that I be that. It's just like classics like
Speaker 2: you know, Marvin Get, you know, like legends, you know,
Speaker 2: so full. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't listen to too
Speaker 2: much guy music. I've never been like a fan over
Speaker 2: any guy or had that type of I don't really
Speaker 2: understand that that lifestyle. I don't understand people that are like,
Speaker 2: oh this guy, Like I just never been that person.
Speaker 2: I'll be like, oh my gosh, this woman. She's so
Speaker 2: many you know, like I always you know, like Shad
Speaker 2: or Selena, like, you know, so many amazing women, like
Speaker 2: that's just always been my thing.
Speaker 3: So Selena, Yeah, okay, yeah for this album, Okay, shot
Speaker 3: is Selena, Ammy whine House, the Cranberryes, uh cocktoo.
Speaker 2: Twins, who else? Who else? Who else? The Sundays a
Speaker 2: lot of more. I was more listening to a lot
Speaker 2: more angsty, you know, nineties music, and I think in
Speaker 2: general just ohfion A Apple, she's a huge inspiration. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just music that's a little bit and like I said,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't listen to this music and think that that's
Speaker 2: inspired by them, But it's more so in regards to
Speaker 2: women that are really able to like bear their soul
Speaker 2: and their emotion and dig a little bit deeper into
Speaker 2: their vocabulary and the things that they want to say
Speaker 2: and get poetic with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that does make sense to me though, because like
Speaker 1: the album is emotionally, like really poignant. Like like when
Speaker 1: I was saying earlier, like I wasn't sure what I
Speaker 1: was one hundred percent going to get from this album,
Speaker 1: Like I do love that. It's like, you know, if
Speaker 1: I want to party, there's there's great Caliuci tracks I
Speaker 1: can you know, and the last album is one of
Speaker 1: those if I want to, like just like the vibe
Speaker 1: out at home by myself, Like there's great songs I
Speaker 1: can put on for that. But uh, like why I
Speaker 1: put this on? It was like it made that album
Speaker 1: did make me very very emotional, Okay, and you know
Speaker 1: the background knowing you know, you just had a kid.
Speaker 1: Part of me, it did sound very firmly to me.
Speaker 1: And you know this, This was my feeling when I
Speaker 1: was listening as it sounded like an album of of
Speaker 1: like it sounded like an album just rapped in love,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And it made sense to
Speaker 1: me that you both that you had a kid, that
Speaker 1: you that you uh sort of had this long term
Speaker 1: partnership and it's it. And it felt to me like
Speaker 1: it could have been maybe about either one of those
Speaker 1: things or both of those things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's even songs that touch on because
Speaker 2: I try to. I know a lot of music is
Speaker 2: very mail centered or relationship focused, and so I really
Speaker 2: tried to make sure that I touch other topics because
Speaker 2: I don't ever want my music to just be like
Speaker 2: about so. Yeah, I have songs for my son. I
Speaker 2: have songs even dedicated to like friendships. Like Daggers is like,
Speaker 2: you know, about another girl. You know it's about it's
Speaker 2: about a homegirl.
Speaker 1: What was that like? But what's the Daggers makes you think?
Speaker 1: Is it? Was it not trying to think what the
Speaker 1: lyrics Todgers was betrayal?
Speaker 2: No, no Doggers. Daggers wasn't about betrayal. Sugar Honey Love
Speaker 2: was about betrayal really, which nobody would expect from the title.
Speaker 2: But Sugar Honey Love is about betrayal. Daggers is about
Speaker 2: a girl, a friend of mine. Daggers was they shoot
Speaker 2: Diggers from their eyes. So it's about you know, she
Speaker 2: gets a lot of, you know, people that are envious
Speaker 2: of her or people that look her some type of way,
Speaker 2: and she might not really know exactly what her worth
Speaker 2: is and she doesn't see herself the way that I
Speaker 2: see her, and she doesn't she doesn't necessarily have the
Speaker 2: things that I wish that she had, which is real
Speaker 2: love and you know, valuable and meaningful relationship connections in
Speaker 2: her piece, things that really matter. And I think it
Speaker 2: was really important for me to have songs that are,
Speaker 2: you know, about different things that matter to me outside
Speaker 2: of just a relationship, you.
Speaker 1: Know, And Sugar, Sugar Honey Love, that's about a betrayal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, the beginning of the verse starts whoop, does
Speaker 2: another one? Who could I ever trust? And then goes, whoop,
Speaker 2: There's another one? Who tell me? Who could I trust?
Speaker 2: So it's about it's about trust. And it's about it's
Speaker 2: about you know, but later on it goes swear. At
Speaker 2: this point, I've seen it. I've seen it all, so
Speaker 2: nothing scares me anymore. Sick and tired of betrayal, tell
Speaker 2: me who can I trust? So it literally says it's
Speaker 2: about betrayal. Right. Then I started listening for the lyrics more,
Speaker 2: I know, and a lot of people say like that,
Speaker 2: I don't enunciate well enough, so maybe it's my fault.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's your fault. I just I'm really
Speaker 1: not usually listening.
Speaker 2: I gotta get you a lyric so you can really
Speaker 2: like listen and read the lyrics at the same time,
Speaker 2: and then you can fully grasp it.
Speaker 1: And sometimes I gotta do that. Someone even told me
Speaker 1: that the day, like something about someone was talking about
Speaker 1: what's not Riah Carrey's.
Speaker 2: Song, Oh we got some we got some lambs in
Speaker 2: the building. They might be able to help you.
Speaker 1: Got we got Mariah Carey fan in the building. She's
Speaker 1: one of my all time favorites. But legend, legend, legend. H
Speaker 1: but what's that? What's that song that Jermaine Dupre did
Speaker 1: with Mariah Carey in the nineties, big hit Now it's
Speaker 1: gonna but some basically one of her big hits, and
Speaker 1: someone was telling about the lyrics of the day about
Speaker 1: how they're like they're kind of like a bit darker
Speaker 1: if you if you listen to them, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you gotta be lying to me, and I listened to
Speaker 1: the song. I was like, Okay, yeah, I've been missing
Speaker 1: this the entire time.
Speaker 2: Happens like me, I have to watch the movies with subtitles,
Speaker 2: so I get it. That might be what you need.
Speaker 1: Thank you for diagnosis. Yeah, we'll be back with more
Speaker 1: from Kylie Ucci's After the break. I was wondering how
Speaker 1: many songs recorded for the album versus how many made it,
Speaker 1: because these songs are so good, but there's also so
Speaker 1: many various styles you stitched together. That just sounded to
Speaker 1: me like you must have been having some really fruitful
Speaker 1: writing sessions lately.
Speaker 2: I made a lot of music. Yeah, I made a
Speaker 2: lot of music. It was very hard to pick a
Speaker 2: track list. I know a lot of people are doing
Speaker 2: the you know, fifty songs in one album thing these days,
Speaker 2: but it's not really.
Speaker 1: Mike, but I didn't do it so beautifully.
Speaker 2: I was like I needed to be like around fourteen songs,
Speaker 2: and I think I'm going to save some other ones
Speaker 2: for the deluxe and that's just what I'm going to
Speaker 2: do there. But yeah, I definitely made a lot a
Speaker 2: lot of music.
Speaker 1: A couple of days ago, you posted about your mom
Speaker 1: passed away to I, you know, I wanted to say,
Speaker 1: you know, my condolences for that. That's that's really tough.
Speaker 1: What did that have any bearing on what you wrote
Speaker 1: for the album. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that was the headspace that I was in. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: my mom was diagnosed with stage four when I was pregnant,
Speaker 2: so that was like something that was ongoing pretty much
Speaker 2: during the whole writing process, kind of you know, having
Speaker 2: to you know, see her and out of the hospital
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So that was something definitely that
Speaker 2: impacted the album. And then on the delex I have
Speaker 2: a song that was written like right after her passing
Speaker 2: for her, So that's on the Delexe though.
Speaker 1: That must have just been like a really hard headspace
Speaker 1: to navigating pregnant your mom's getting diagnosed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like becoming a mom for the first time and
Speaker 2: losing my mom at the same time. It was definitely
Speaker 2: it's still you know, That's why I'm kind of taking
Speaker 2: my time. Before and I had got right back into
Speaker 2: the studio just because I felt that I needed to.
Speaker 2: But now I'm just I'm just giving myself time to
Speaker 2: take it easy and not trying to do too much
Speaker 2: on myself right now because I am still grieving and
Speaker 2: I am still mourning. It is relatively recent, so yeah,
Speaker 2: just taking it day by day.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Did did you guys get to connect about motherhood
Speaker 1: much before?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: She loved my son and she you know, she had
Speaker 2: a great, a great bomb with him, and she was
Speaker 2: obsessed with him, and you know, obviously I wish we
Speaker 2: had more time two, you know, to talk about motherhood
Speaker 2: and for her to see my son grow up and
Speaker 2: all of that. But but she got to meet him,
Speaker 2: and I'm happy about that.
Speaker 1: That's that's really great. Is that her voice on the album.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sunshine and rain that's my mom's voice in Sunshine
Speaker 2: and Rainy. I'm actually dedicating the album to her, and
Speaker 2: so that I put that that voice note. It was
Speaker 2: a voice note she sent me for my son, and
Speaker 2: it just so happened that she that she said sunshine,
Speaker 2: and so I said, let me put this in Sunshine
Speaker 2: and Rain.
Speaker 1: Wow, that was a really touching moment for the I
Speaker 1: thought it was you to be honest for you guys
Speaker 1: kind of did I don't know if I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys sounded similar to my because I had
Speaker 1: a similar tambre. Maybe maybe, but that was a really
Speaker 1: touching moment.
Speaker 2: Man, Thank you, Thank you. And I also have some
Speaker 2: of my my son's voice on the end of Love
Speaker 2: You So Much I Hurt, So that was really that
Speaker 2: was really nice to get some voice recordings to him
Speaker 2: and be able to include him in the album as well.
Speaker 1: It was great, you know, like it reminded me of like,
Speaker 1: isn't she lovely? You know, like how like Stevie gets
Speaker 1: his kid on there, like it's just a you know love,
Speaker 1: That's what I love too. It's like again, and I
Speaker 1: just appreciated it as a parent myself, Like when I
Speaker 1: put this album on, it felt like if I don't
Speaker 1: want to say, like, you know, like a grown up album,
Speaker 1: but it just felt like, you know what I mean, Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a mature album. It's just something it's like and
Speaker 1: it's like I can, really from my perspective in life,
Speaker 1: like appreciate it. And having things like that that I
Speaker 1: can play around my kids that make them think about
Speaker 1: our relationship, you know what I mean, Like what it
Speaker 1: is to you know what I mean. It's just like
Speaker 1: that's just such a cool touch to add to your
Speaker 1: your your your catalog, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love a lot of times people come to my
Speaker 2: shows with their parents, and I think it's just so
Speaker 2: sweet that they're able to like, it'll be a girl
Speaker 2: and she'll be like me and my mom both love you,
Speaker 2: and so it's nice to be able to touch different
Speaker 2: generations and then be able to share that experience of
Speaker 2: you know, having an artist that they both love in common.
Speaker 2: It's really cool. That's like one of my favorite things
Speaker 2: to see at my shows.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing. Who who would you consider as being
Speaker 1: some of your like important collaborators on this album who
Speaker 1: helped it come into like focus. I guess in a way, that's.
Speaker 2: A difficult question because I made the album in my
Speaker 2: house by myself, never mind even majority of the songs
Speaker 2: they were written without music, and I would just send
Speaker 2: them to different people and I would work on, you know,
Speaker 2: getting all the production together and stuff.
Speaker 1: So the studio, say Calie Cali's headquarters.
Speaker 2: I was going to ask, Yeah, so yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: my least collaborative album that I've ever made. I would say, yeah.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. Maybe why it sounds so kind of
Speaker 1: like sober and just sort of like direct in a sense.
Speaker 1: You know. That's really what I was picking up from,
Speaker 1: is just the songs are so direct, so that that
Speaker 1: does make sense. Is that a way you would work? Again?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? I loved it. Yeah, yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 1: What's what was it? Tell me? Someone? Why? What? What?
Speaker 2: I guess just the that rawness of just being in
Speaker 2: your own house and just being able to go upstairs
Speaker 2: and pick up the mic. It's nice, I mean I do.
Speaker 2: I did a few songs traveling like it's just us.
Speaker 2: I've recorded that in Houston because I also have a
Speaker 2: house in Houston, so I did that there. And then
Speaker 2: all I can say I wrote that one while I
Speaker 2: was in Miami. So there's a few songs that I
Speaker 2: wrote while, you know, being out of the house. But
Speaker 2: everything else I did in my house and I loved it.
Speaker 1: Wow. It's kind of cool how you a lot of
Speaker 1: people and you have being you. I feel like you
Speaker 1: have the poll you could just go to like any
Speaker 1: number of like really big producers and just like do
Speaker 1: a record with them. But it never seems. It seems
Speaker 1: like you've always been very open to collaborate with a
Speaker 1: variety of people, and not necessarily even people that are
Speaker 1: like I mean, quote unquote hot, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like think about like you work with the girls so much, not.
Speaker 2: Too much of my producers.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, I'm just saying no. But like
Speaker 1: think about like you collaborating with someone like like Damn
Speaker 1: an album with Gorillas, Like it wasn't like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, It's not like he's not really like
Speaker 1: in the pop space, you.
Speaker 3: Know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I think attack.
Speaker 2: No. I I like to work with people that I trust,
Speaker 2: and I think when I first moved to this city,
Speaker 2: I was doing a lot of sessions with a lot
Speaker 2: of you know, producers the moment and whatever, and I
Speaker 2: don't know, I was just getting a lot of like
Speaker 2: leaks like music like demo leagues and or them playing
Speaker 2: my songs for other artists that they might get in
Speaker 2: with because they're trying to get placements. And if I'm
Speaker 2: not using it, they're like, well maybe they maybe, And
Speaker 2: I don't I don't write songs for the artists like
Speaker 2: my music is too personal to do that, and they
Speaker 2: would just do it, you know, on their own without
Speaker 2: asking consent first, Like, oh, I played this song for
Speaker 2: so and so and they wanted for the album. Who
Speaker 2: told you that you could play my music for you know?
Speaker 2: I don't like that type of stuff, So yeah, I
Speaker 2: just learned to. I have uh, trusted people that I've
Speaker 2: worked with, Like Josh Crocker worked on a lot of this.
Speaker 2: I've worked with him since Isolation.
Speaker 1: I know him.
Speaker 2: He's really cool, normal dude. He has a family, he
Speaker 2: has kids, he lives all the way in England, and
Speaker 2: I just go back and forth with him, Hey, what
Speaker 2: about this? Add this list to this, da da da da,
Speaker 2: and we just get it done. Dylan Wigan's another person
Speaker 2: who worked a lot on this album, who I've also
Speaker 2: worked with on other projects.
Speaker 1: Is like people part Who's I think rath Faeld, benterview
Speaker 1: rothfel Ones. Is that Raphael's nephew Dylan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he is, Yeah, because I think.
Speaker 1: He told me he's like, yeah, my nephew Dylan is
Speaker 1: really good someone.
Speaker 2: I think someone did mention it to me the Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that that rings a bell. Yeah, but yeah, Dylan,
Speaker 2: he's another person who worked a lot on the production
Speaker 2: of this album and the transitions, and but yeah, it's
Speaker 2: just people that I can trust because at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, it's really personal music, and like I said,
Speaker 2: I'm literally sending voice notes of myself with like sometimes
Speaker 2: maybe a couple of chords, sometimes just completely raw to
Speaker 2: you know, these people that I trust, and I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: can you build something like this around it? He's do
Speaker 2: something like this, I'm thinking maybe something. So it's like
Speaker 2: the process of making the songs is a lot more
Speaker 2: raw and a lot more personal than just how people
Speaker 2: just like might just get in a studio together and
Speaker 2: be like play some beats and I'll jump on you know,
Speaker 2: it's not it's not like that.
Speaker 1: That's not the way you make stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, personally, so so yeah, I just kind of learned
Speaker 2: to to go with what works, and you know, maybe
Speaker 2: for the next project I'll work differently. But that was
Speaker 2: the process on this one.
Speaker 1: When you announced the new album, you put out a
Speaker 1: statement and part of that statement was essentially you said
Speaker 1: you were so grateful for everyone who was a part
Speaker 1: of you, Like this is a quote everyone part of
Speaker 1: your silent assent, and I was just curious what that
Speaker 1: meant to you, Your viewed, your your rise in your
Speaker 1: career is silent.
Speaker 2: It's so funny when when y'all quote me in these
Speaker 2: interviews and tell me stuff that I posted, because I
Speaker 2: don't ever remember when I posted. I'm always like I
Speaker 2: said that.
Speaker 1: Okay, I would be the same way to quoting things
Speaker 1: back to me. Like you said my producers were hot.
Speaker 1: I did not say that.
Speaker 2: I just I just write stuff on there and just
Speaker 2: I'm just like in the moment with my feelings and
Speaker 2: then yeah, I think, I mean, I think silent a sent.
Speaker 2: It's really just I've never had like a year that
Speaker 2: was like a breakout year. I was like best new
Speaker 2: artists to watch out for, but or whatever. It's like
Speaker 2: I've just grown every year and I've always done better
Speaker 2: than the year before, and I've always like I'm still
Speaker 2: here and a lot of people can't say that. So
Speaker 2: I like that type of trajectory for me, and I
Speaker 2: think it's okay for the artists to also have those
Speaker 2: type of ambitions rather than I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people just want overnight success. And I think that my
Speaker 2: journey's been really beautiful, and I'm really grateful for the
Speaker 2: people that's still here that have been like watching me
Speaker 2: grow literally from day one. It's cool.
Speaker 1: Is there somewhere along did you, like, did that strike
Speaker 1: you somewhere along the line that that's maybe a better
Speaker 1: way to grow your career or did it?
Speaker 2: Like I think everyone, you know, everybody's journey is different,
Speaker 2: everyone's path is different. For me, I never like this,
Speaker 2: that's just personally what I want to for myself. And
Speaker 2: I have a very strong understanding of the type of
Speaker 2: career that I want and how far I want things
Speaker 2: to get, how big I want things to get, and
Speaker 2: I know, like you know, my boundaries would work. And
Speaker 2: I'm just already very solidified. And you know it's not
Speaker 2: it's not my first rodeo, it's not my first day
Speaker 2: out here, so I already know like what I want
Speaker 2: out of things, and yeah, I just that's for me.
Speaker 2: But everybody's like I said, everybody wants different things for themselves.
Speaker 1: But it's a really refreshing perspective. Like we talked about
Speaker 1: how you kind of can't hang anything on in terms
Speaker 1: of stylistically, like it's like you're able to hold a
Speaker 1: lot of what could be contradictory positions or or you
Speaker 1: know at once, which is really hard for people to do.
Speaker 1: Like you were able to be like no, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm an artist who sings in English and Spanish and
Speaker 1: you can't tell me otherwise, and you can't put me
Speaker 1: in that kind of a box. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: make an album that has like a countryish feel to
Speaker 1: it and a do woppy feel to it and like
Speaker 1: a very modern fel to it, and it's all going
Speaker 1: to sound like me. You can't tell me otherwise. And
Speaker 1: and similarly, it's like the idea that like you don't
Speaker 1: you also seem to be like a very private person.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I've managed to like grow
Speaker 1: a career that is like you know, where you're like
Speaker 1: insanely popular and like have like a legion of fans,
Speaker 1: and like you, it's it's a really refreshing kind of position,
Speaker 1: and it's not something that you know, I don't feel
Speaker 1: like we see a lot, you know.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I want to say I'm insanely popular, but
Speaker 2: I definitely love my fan base because they know, you know,
Speaker 2: they know what it is, and they know they know
Speaker 2: that I'm just going to keep doing what I want
Speaker 2: to do and not to put any type of expectations
Speaker 2: on me beyond that. And I love that.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that you would say you don't feel like
Speaker 1: you're insanely popular, but that it's like, you know, like
Speaker 1: you really, I mean like you. It is wild, like
Speaker 1: you say, like when you said silence sent it made
Speaker 1: me think about it, and it's like you really have
Speaker 1: climb to like from the start of where you before
Speaker 1: we started rolling, you were talking about how you came
Speaker 1: to la like right after high school, and then you
Speaker 1: just sort of start to think about the directory of
Speaker 1: your career and how you've kind of really done it
Speaker 1: in this really unique organic fashion. But you really have
Speaker 1: like grown your creator like this incredible consciously or not
Speaker 1: like this, Like you're like one of the great young
Speaker 1: singers and one of the great young artists. And that's
Speaker 1: like that's not I don't know, it's not up for question.
Speaker 1: I don't think you. I appreciate you. What your first
Speaker 1: tour was with Leon Bridges about about a decade ago.
Speaker 2: Was that my first tour? Yeah, actually it was my
Speaker 2: first tour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, I could be wrong.
Speaker 2: I think it was my first time being on the road. Yes,
Speaker 2: in a Yeah, it was I had done like little festivals,
Speaker 2: but that was my first actual tour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, after one last break, we'll be back with the
Speaker 1: rest of my conversation with cali Ucciese. Tell me about
Speaker 1: your evolution in terms of your live performance and how
Speaker 1: you approach performing now than you did ten years ago,
Speaker 1: opening up or touring with Leon.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just I think that I think that
Speaker 2: a lot, especially back then, like a lot of my
Speaker 2: work was just me never being prepared for what I
Speaker 2: was doing. I'd just be just speaking honestly. So the
Speaker 2: same way I told you, like, I just put music
Speaker 2: out like on that piit or whatever, and I didn't
Speaker 2: actually realize so many people are gonna listen to it,
Speaker 2: and then I took it down. It's the same way
Speaker 2: with the toying, where it was like I was just told, like,
Speaker 2: this is really important, you have to do it, and
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, because I felt it was my
Speaker 2: obligation to do so. But I didn't shouldn't have I've
Speaker 2: really been doing that at the time. I probably should
Speaker 2: have been preparing myself as an artist to like learn,
Speaker 2: you know, I just kind of did things that was
Speaker 2: just the time in my life where I was just
Speaker 2: like I was just doing things. I just threw myself
Speaker 2: out there, and I just had a lot of experiences
Speaker 2: and I just I learned from experience. And when I
Speaker 2: realized later, like, oh, artists actually go through artists development,
Speaker 2: and they actually developed themselves first before they just go
Speaker 2: on the road all willy nilly, or before they just
Speaker 2: put out a project all willy nilly, or you know,
Speaker 2: like I didn't know those type of things. I was
Speaker 2: very naive. I was young, and I didn't know any better.
Speaker 2: So essentially, I will say I wasted a lot of time,
Speaker 2: Like I feel like that was a waste of time, but.
Speaker 1: It was, you know, I learned waste of time because
Speaker 1: you just weren't It wasn't I wasn't actually put yourself
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: I was actually prepared for it. Yeah, and and yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it's really hard. You know, being an opener
Speaker 2: is really really hard. It's really it's really emotionally and
Speaker 2: physically training, especially as a girl. You're not in the
Speaker 2: type of city it's not glamorous whatsoever, Like it's not
Speaker 2: even decent. So it was just it's not so Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would say I would say that you know, it
Speaker 2: was a time in my life. I was young, and
Speaker 2: I was just I've always been very much learn from
Speaker 2: experience type.
Speaker 1: Of person, So how do you approach it now differently now,
Speaker 1: like a decade later, Like if that was less less
Speaker 1: than decent, I was.
Speaker 2: A hands on learner, So I would just call that
Speaker 2: a learning experience. But if I could, if I could
Speaker 2: give a young artist advice and to learn from my
Speaker 2: mistakes in my career, I would say to really take
Speaker 2: your time cultivating yourself as an artist first, cultivating your music,
Speaker 2: learning more about yourself the type of performer you want
Speaker 2: to be. I don't know. I think I would have
Speaker 2: maybe taken that route. Who knows, But who knows. What's
Speaker 2: done is done.
Speaker 1: And it's cool you figured it, like you you've kind
Speaker 1: of figured it out.
Speaker 2: I went to where I needed to be in the
Speaker 2: end regardless, but I definitely there was a lot of
Speaker 2: bumps in the road.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've cultivated a really cool, really great like
Speaker 1: stage presence and persona, and like I feel like your shows,
Speaker 1: your live performances are the exact opposite of what you
Speaker 1: were describing that as, like you not being prepared, Like
Speaker 1: I feel like everything's pretty intentional now in terms of
Speaker 1: the way you perform, and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, things are way different now. Things are way
Speaker 2: way different now. But I mean I had to learn
Speaker 2: through the experiences, so I won't say it was all,
Speaker 2: you know, terrible, but what I have done things differently
Speaker 2: with and knowledge you have now.
Speaker 1: Yes, when did you finally get comfortable on stage?
Speaker 2: I never was nervous to go on stage. I never
Speaker 2: had like nerves to get on stage. So I won't
Speaker 2: say that it was necessarily about me getting comfortable on stage.
Speaker 2: I will say it was more so me learning about
Speaker 2: the type of show that I wanted to put on,
Speaker 2: and get in touch with myself as a performer, and
Speaker 2: just all of those regular growing pains of an artist.
Speaker 1: What have been some of your favorite moments performing live?
Speaker 2: My favorite moments performing live? Well, I actually think it
Speaker 2: was really cool that I did get to do shows pregnant,
Speaker 2: because my baby can say that he was on stage,
Speaker 2: which is fun, and it was fun. He used to
Speaker 2: be kicking. He used to be kicking, and he loves music,
Speaker 2: so I feel like, you know, maybe that had some
Speaker 2: type of influence on him that he loves music, because
Speaker 2: he was definitely always around music when he was in
Speaker 2: my belly. That was really fun. And what else has
Speaker 2: been really fun?
Speaker 1: There have been any places where you feel like the
Speaker 1: audience with the crowd is particularly I.
Speaker 2: Always have a really great audience in Texas. Texas always
Speaker 2: has had a lot of love for me. Austin, Dallas, Houston,
Speaker 2: They've always had a lot of love, I believe it.
Speaker 2: Chicago they always show a lot of love. Florida, but
Speaker 2: obviously La is always like they go the craziest and Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would say those are the ones that stand out
Speaker 2: the most to me when I'm on tour. I'm always
Speaker 2: excited to hit those cities.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Texas, I'm late and it's great, so cool. You
Speaker 1: have a house in Houston too, because I feel like
Speaker 1: Houston is one of the most underappreciated cities. Anytime I
Speaker 1: go to Houston, it is the greatest time of my life.
Speaker 1: The people are incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, people show a lot of love there. I have
Speaker 2: a lot of fans there and they always show, you know,
Speaker 2: genuine and genuine love and it's a nice it's a
Speaker 2: nice you know, just different pace from from out here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, what are you going to? Uh? Are you
Speaker 1: going to tour this album? Or are you gonna yeah, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: what it was the one of you going out.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be a summer tour. Yeah, cool, Yes, it's
Speaker 2: gonna be really fun because I didn't get to I
Speaker 2: didn't get to do anis tour because literally right after
Speaker 2: my album, I gave birth, So I wasn't I had
Speaker 2: to sit that one out, and I just, you know,
Speaker 2: so much other stuff is going on. I'm glad I said.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have been able obviously, but now I'm planning
Speaker 2: to basically just have another part of the show that's
Speaker 2: dedicated to so that I'm able to do that as well.
Speaker 1: You're you're talking about how you performed when you were
Speaker 1: pregnant and how your kid loves music. What I was
Speaker 1: just curious, what music do you play around the house
Speaker 1: for you for your kid?
Speaker 2: A lot of I want to say, a lot of eighties,
Speaker 2: a lot of nineties. He loves uh. He loves Forget
Speaker 2: Me Not by Petries. It's like one of his favorite.
Speaker 2: He loves that song. I played Funky Town for him
Speaker 2: all the time. I seen him that one all the time.
Speaker 2: He loves that one. So yeah, we listen to a
Speaker 2: lot of you know that in that world type of music,
Speaker 2: do you. But he loves all types of music. He's
Speaker 2: he's an avid music He's just obsessed with music.
Speaker 1: Are you introducing him to like to Latin music too?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Oh yeah. I played him like Vagenatos. It's
Speaker 2: something that we have from specifically from Colombia, and he
Speaker 2: loves Vagenatos. He loves it.
Speaker 1: How was going down to Columbia by the way, as
Speaker 1: the artist you are now like versus you know what
Speaker 1: I mean?
Speaker 2: It's beautiful. It's beautiful because there's really nobody who's come
Speaker 2: out of my hometown. So I get a lot of
Speaker 2: love when I'm there, and it's a really humbling experience.
Speaker 2: To just be back home and get shown that type
Speaker 2: of love is amazing.
Speaker 1: And you're still able to be there and sort of live,
Speaker 1: Uh are you able to? Are you able to enjoy
Speaker 1: the country still? Like it's not like.
Speaker 2: People are really respectful. And my town is a small town,
Speaker 2: so it's like people will know and they'll just be respectful.
Speaker 2: You know, we take pictures, we sign stuff whatever, but
Speaker 2: people are respectful.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Noticing the tattoo on your arm, that's your that's
Speaker 1: your dad signature, right.
Speaker 2: That's that'sport yeah, signature coming to America.
Speaker 1: From coming to America. Right, how much does you like
Speaker 1: your your family's immigration story playing to how you you
Speaker 1: you view yourself. I guess you know how much of
Speaker 1: that feels like it's a part of your story.
Speaker 2: I think just growing up in a household that was
Speaker 2: full of genuinely hardworking people that always taught me that
Speaker 2: in life, you know, nothing comes easy and you don't
Speaker 2: just get handed anything. And also just learning to be resourceful,
Speaker 2: like you know, when I was going to school in Columbia,
Speaker 2: like having to heat up our own water and having
Speaker 2: to get resourceful when it came to washing clothes. You know,
Speaker 2: we didn't have dishwasher. We didn't have sorry, not dishwasher,
Speaker 2: a laundry washer whatever it's called, clo washer washer, we
Speaker 2: didn't have those type of things. We had to get
Speaker 2: resourceful with everything that we did. And I think just
Speaker 2: growing up with the mentality of having to figure things out,
Speaker 2: it makes you a lot more creative as a kid
Speaker 2: as well. You find creative alternatives to everything, and it
Speaker 2: definitely gives you that backbone that you need in the
Speaker 2: world of just always having to row with the punches
Speaker 2: in life because you never know what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1: And then you. I found it interesting that you grew
Speaker 1: up in a very Salvadorian, very Salvadorian part of Virginia
Speaker 1: that I also realized. I also found out I was
Speaker 1: looking at stuff. Dave Grohl from The Food Fighters grew
Speaker 1: up there, recorded like a Food Fighters album out of
Speaker 1: his house that I don't even know. He's not Latino,
Speaker 1: but she is. I don't want to take that away
Speaker 1: from him, maybe as he did. He grew up in Chiliagua. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Alexander Alexandria Alexandria in Chiliagua.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know that they were from v A.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's They recorded like one of their big albums there,
Speaker 1: the third album, I think. But like like having your
Speaker 1: Columbia roots grown up around Salvadorians, coming to La so
Speaker 1: young and having that, you know, the Mexican influence that's here,
Speaker 1: did you It has did that impact like at all,
Speaker 1: the way you view your your your your the way
Speaker 1: you relate to like Latin America, because it feels like
Speaker 1: you've had a really broad upbringing in terms of your
Speaker 1: you know, people tend to think of Latinos as like
Speaker 1: one group y but like Columbias are very different than
Speaker 1: the South of Dorians.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, but I mean we all have underlying
Speaker 2: like we all have similar cultures in a sense. And
Speaker 2: I think for me that my uncle, he's Mexican, he
Speaker 2: also raised me, and he also exposed me to a
Speaker 2: lot of like oh these and a lot of the
Speaker 2: Mexican La culture because it's actually from out here, not
Speaker 2: from specifically LA, but he's from California, so he's like,
Speaker 2: you know, I think that definitely played a role as well.
Speaker 2: So before I even moved out here, a lot of
Speaker 2: people back home would always ask me, you're not from here.
Speaker 2: You're from the You're from the West Coast, aren't you
Speaker 2: You're not East Coast? And I would be like, no,
Speaker 2: I am from here, and they will always tell me like, no,
Speaker 2: you're from You're from LA. You're probably from like random
Speaker 2: people who if I was at the mall, if I
Speaker 2: was out somewhere like getting the train or whatever, wherever
Speaker 2: I would people used to always say that I seemed
Speaker 2: like I was from LA, like since I was young.
Speaker 2: So I think I've just always had different influences because
Speaker 2: of Yeah, all the different people that raised me and
Speaker 2: different things that I got exposed.
Speaker 1: To really in Angelina. I can't believe you.
Speaker 2: But now, yeah, well, now, now you know, I've lived
Speaker 2: here for so long that it really does feel like home,
Speaker 2: my second home. But but yeah, I don't know. People
Speaker 2: always thought that I was from here. That's why I
Speaker 2: was like, I might as well move there, because clearly
Speaker 2: something's going on over there that is connecting with me.
Speaker 2: Everybody wants to work with me from out there, and
Speaker 2: I got so much love and support out there versus
Speaker 2: you know, where I was living. It was really hard
Speaker 2: to break out of like the DMV area. With the
Speaker 2: type of music that I was doing, I would get love,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't the same as out here. It wasn't
Speaker 2: not at all. I mean even now even now, you know,
Speaker 2: the love isn't the same there. Like if I do
Speaker 2: show there as it is here and technically like that's
Speaker 2: a hometown show, but out here feels like a hometown show.
Speaker 2: It's weird. I don't know why. I just glad we
Speaker 2: can provide that you guys. Thank you guys.
Speaker 1: Before we wrap up, just because I love that song
Speaker 1: so much. Can you talk about the genesis of I
Speaker 1: Love you so much it hurts?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, what was the first lines? Yeah, I love
Speaker 2: my baby. Nothing else compares. When I look into his
Speaker 2: brown eyes, it leaves me full of tears, crying so
Speaker 2: pretty much the whole first month of me giving birth
Speaker 2: to my baby, every time that we would make eye contact,
Speaker 2: it would make me cry. I really felt like I
Speaker 2: could see into his soul and like he was seeing
Speaker 2: into my soul, and it was just, you know, a
Speaker 2: connection that I had never ever felt before. I felt
Speaker 2: like fully seen for what felt like the first time
Speaker 2: I ever Like I felt like somebody really really saw
Speaker 2: me and that I finally had, you know, this family
Speaker 2: that I always wanted and that was really always my dream.
Speaker 2: And I just immediately got inspired to write the song
Speaker 2: because of that. I feel like music is subjective, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people have had a discourse about whether
Speaker 2: or not it's appropriate for people to dedicate the song
Speaker 2: to a partner or you know, to other people. That's
Speaker 2: for me, I just want to say, that's perfectly fine
Speaker 2: with me. You know, I can be interpreted however you
Speaker 2: want to interpret it. You know, I even had people
Speaker 2: on my team that didn't really want me to lean
Speaker 2: into the real you know, talking about my son too much.
Speaker 2: Because they're like, oh, it's not going to be as
Speaker 2: relatable to people who aren't parents, and I'm like, but
Speaker 2: everybody has a mom. But I don't know. I guess
Speaker 2: I feel like that's just the truth of how the
Speaker 2: song came to be and what inspired me was just
Speaker 2: my son and that beautiful feeling that I had never
Speaker 2: ever felt before in my life.
Speaker 1: Were surprised by that feeling and that connection and that
Speaker 1: amount of love was it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, I even know people who
Speaker 2: I've heard stories about people giving birth and not having
Speaker 2: a connection with their child and you know, feeling not
Speaker 2: understanding why they maybe didn't have. And I was I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna lie. I was scared. I was like what if.
Speaker 2: I was like, what if I give birth and I
Speaker 2: don't have this connection like this motherly intuition or this
Speaker 2: you know. I was scared. I didn't know what was
Speaker 2: going to happen or what I was going to feel.
Speaker 2: And it was just such an overwhelming I mean, we both,
Speaker 2: you know, me and Don both as soon as I
Speaker 2: gave birth to him becaue. He helped me the whole time.
Speaker 2: He helped me give birth, and he assisted me the
Speaker 2: entire time and then as soon as he was out,
Speaker 2: we just held him and we cried together. So I
Speaker 2: know that he felt it too, like it was a
Speaker 2: very overwhelmingly emotional moment. But it continued on for me
Speaker 2: at least for weeks where any time I looked into
Speaker 2: his eyes, it was just an undescribable feeling of emotion.
Speaker 1: And you always knew it's interesting, so you always knew
Speaker 1: you wanted to be a parent.
Speaker 2: I had different faces when I was really little. I
Speaker 2: was definitely that little girl that used to come up
Speaker 2: with a bunch of names in my little journal. I
Speaker 2: was like, this is what I'm gonna name my kids
Speaker 2: one day, and I thought, you know, I always used
Speaker 2: to carry my little doll around and I wanted to,
Speaker 2: you know, when I was really little. And then you know,
Speaker 2: you get in that teenage era and you're like, I
Speaker 2: will never bring kids into this fucked up world and whatever.
Speaker 2: And I even got a tattooed right here. That was
Speaker 2: my first tattoo. I was like sixteen when I got
Speaker 2: this tiger tattoo I have here, and I had friends
Speaker 2: that were like, but what if you get pregnant, You're
Speaker 2: gonna stretch the tattoo. I did it, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I will never get pregnant. I'm not gonna do that
Speaker 2: to myself. I'm not gonna have a baby. That's crazy.
Speaker 2: And then I got pregnant, and luckily my tattoo is
Speaker 2: just fine. Is fine, It's perfectly fine. It was just
Speaker 2: funny when I was pregnant because it's like all lopsided.
Speaker 2: The title was like, we're going to the opposite seration.
Speaker 2: But I went right back into place somehow, So everything
Speaker 2: is fine. We're all good. Me and the tiger. My
Speaker 2: son loves the tattoo. He loves tigers, so every time
Speaker 2: he makes me show him the tiger and he's like raves.
Speaker 2: He lives that tattoo.
Speaker 1: That's adorable.
Speaker 2: It all worked out well.
Speaker 1: Do you want to have more kids?
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that's like, yeah, maybe like two
Speaker 2: or three more.
Speaker 1: It's encouraging to meet. I feel like I talked to
Speaker 1: so many people don't want to have kids or don't
Speaker 1: have and I'm like, man, I feel like sometimes I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's it sometimes, you know, and
Speaker 1: especially when you have a kid and you work in
Speaker 1: an industry that's less than traditional, you know, it can
Speaker 1: be like, and it can also be like a really
Speaker 1: hard balance between you know, like wow, am I Am
Speaker 1: I doing this right? And am I doing my career right?
Speaker 2: And it's something not easy. It's not easy at all,
Speaker 2: but for me, it's very much worth it. It's very
Speaker 2: worth it.
Speaker 1: How are you navigating that part of it now?
Speaker 2: It's just still learning to navigate it, you know, Like
Speaker 2: I said, the boundaries with work and being able to understand,
Speaker 2: you know, not to necessarily take every opportunity and to
Speaker 2: do what means most to me and to always prioritize
Speaker 2: him and always prioritize you know, my relationship, my family.
Speaker 2: And as long as I keep doing that, I feel
Speaker 2: like I'll be fine.
Speaker 1: Amazing. Yeah, cal Is you thanks so much for thank
Speaker 1: you for having me.
Speaker 2: It's a great talk. Thank you.
Speaker 1: In the episode description, you'll find a link to a
Speaker 1: playlist to some of our favorite Caliu Chiese songs. Be
Speaker 1: sure to check out our video episodes at YouTube dot
Speaker 1: com slash Broken Record Podcast and see all of our
Speaker 1: video interviews, and be sure to follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at the Broken Record Pod. You can follow us on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Broken Records. Broken Record is produced and edited
Speaker 1: by Leah Rose, with marketing help from Eric Sandler and
Speaker 1: Jordan McMillan. Our engineer is Ben Holliday. Broken Record is
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Speaker 1: I'm justin Richmond.