By the time Kali Uchis released her debut EP, Por Vida, in 2015, the Colombian-American singer-songwriter had already garnered acclaim for her genre-bending soft-focus songs about love and loss. Por Vida, which Uchis initially self-released for free, may be a first effort, but Uchis presents herself as a fully realised artist, pairing blissed-out arrangements with lyrics that draw on the ups and downs of her own life. The EP opens with the a cappella “Sycamore Tree”, with Uchis’ layered vocals adding heft to the dare she presents to a potential lover in the chorus—“What you want me for? What you waiting for, then?”—and revealing the power she holds in this particular romantic struggle. Beginning Por Vida with nothing but her voice set the stage for where Uchis would go in her recording career; her pillowy, dreamlike music would go on to incorporate reference points ranging from doo-wop to música urbana, but her steady, highly personal perspective as a woman unafraid to call the world as she sees it would stud its gentle textures with freshly sharpened knifepoints. Por Vida benefits from top-tier producers such as Tyler, The Creator (who crafted the beats for the languorous “Call Me” and the synth-soul come-on “Speed”), Diplo (who co-produced the glittering “Melting”) and KAYTRANADA (who worked on the simmering “Rush” with fellow Canadians BADBADNOTGOOD). Those names show how Uchis’ early work had lit up the pop world in the early 2010s, but Por Vida transcends any A-list credits, with Uchis’ bruised sighs and no-nonsense lyrics making each song fully her own. In the years that followed, Uchis would become one of R&B’s premier innovators, her sound expanding alongside the life experience that animated her lyrics. But Por Vida shows how her artistic journey had already progressed quite impressively at its outset.