Kali Uchis, born as Karly-Marina Loaiza and had experienced most of her childhood in Virginia; however, the songstress also spent significant time in ancestral Colombia with her family members. She learned how to play piano and saxophone as a teenage girl while they were residing in Alexandria and also developed a severe passion for creative arts. Kali Uchis would start writing the vast majority of her songs, and begin producing it. When raised in the Alexandria school system, she was introduced to music at a young age, resulting in graduating from high school at T. C. Williams School, and started to play piano and saxophone as an adolescent. She started experimenting with music development and video production, which led to the release of her self-made mixtape premiere, labeled Drunken Babble in August 2012.
Uchis started working with pop icon Snoop Dogg on the track “On Edge” for his 2014 album titled as That’s My Work 3. In that same year, she debuted her first-ever in-studio performance of “Never Be Yours” on the music podcast Kinda Neat. In early 2015, she finished her debut studio project, which is her first professional body of work, titled Por Vida. The EP also got released for free on her website. Kali’s album features creations from Tyler The Creator, Alex Epton, Kaytranada, Diplo, and Bad Bad Not Good. In 2015, Kali Uchis made significant progress by conducting her first tour with Leon Bridges, going on an album tour for a couple of weeks through the USA and sections of Canada. Uchis has gotten showcased on the single “She’s My Collar” from the Gorillaz’s fourth album titled Humaz, and also on the “Ticker Tape” bonus song.