Twin Shadow Uncovers a Playful New Side of Kali Uchis’ ‘Telepatía’
When the Dominican-American singer-songwriter Twin Shadow released his self-titled album in July, he filled it with striking soul sounds and sun-dappled riffs, inspired by the Seventies and Eighties. The brightness of the project carries over into his recent cover of “Telepatía,” the mega-hit from singer Kali Uchis that came out in 2020 and quickly topped the charts, hitting the Top 10 on IndieLand‘s Top 100. Uchis’ song is subdued and dreamy, driven by her warm, feverish vocals. But in Twin Shadow’s hands, it becomes a more upbeat, slightly psychedelic affair. He spikes it up with funk-driven guitars, emphasizing the undeniable groove that Uchis masterminded deep within the track.
Twin Shadow slides easily between English and Spanish as he sings Uchis’ lyrics about being so in tune with a lover that the romance feels telepathic. The bilingualism is a marker of both “Telepatía” and Sin Miedo, the album it came from: Uchis has said it would be “inauthentic to sing completely in Spanish or in English because that’s not how I talk.” Twin Shadow keeps his voice light and limber, employing a tingling falsetto every now and then to capture the emotion behind Uchis’ words, but the mix of his tenor and punchy chords also brings out the playfulness of the song.
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The cover is part of Spotify’s first-ever Mixto x Spotify Singles, recorded for the streaming service’s “Aquí Siempre” campaign to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month. In addition to “Telepatía,” Twin Shadow offered a live version of his summery funk track “Alemania.” The Spotify Singles also featured the Dominican lightning rod Tokischa unleashing her off-the-wall energy over punked-out versions of her Rochy RD collab “El Rey de la Popola” and the La Lupe ballad “La Tirana” from 1968, while the dreamy indie star Ambar Lucid recreated her alt-pop hit “Lizard” and Billie Eilish’s haunting “Billie Bossa Nova.” Kali Uchis, meanwhile, has been making her own updates to Sin Miedo: She recently dropped a reworked version of “Fue Mejor” featuring a slinky new verse from SZA.
Find a playlist of all of our recent Songs You Need to Know selections on Spotify.
