Being in your twenties is basically an extended software update that never finishes installing. You think you have a plan, then life introduces a new problem, a new person, a new bill, or simply the horrifying realization that everyone else also has no idea what they’re doing. Arii Lopez’s “undecided” understands that having absolutely no idea what you’re doing and slowly learning that this is, in fact, allowed.
The Cuban-Jamaican singer-songwriter approaches that uncertainty through a stripped-back alternative R&B/pop sound built on soft guitar, understated production and vocals that feel much more intimate than theatrical. It’s not trying to bludgeon you with a gigantic chorus and seventeen layers of emotional synths. Instead, Lopez leaves plenty of air around the performance, which makes the song feel like an actual conversation with someone who is still working things out.
And this is where the Kali Uchis comparison becomes interesting.
Lopez shares some of Uchis’ ability to sit comfortably between categories that the music industry would probably prefer to keep in separate little filing cabinets. There’s R&B, soul, pop, alternative music and Caribbean influence, with English and Spanish existing naturally within the same emotional landscape. Like Uchis, Lopez doesn’t seem particularly interested in treating bilingualism or Latin-Caribbean influence as a novelty feature that gets wheeled out for one designated song. It is simply part of the musical vocabulary.
The comparison also extends to vocal approach. Lopez has a softness that prioritizes mood and intimacy over vocal gymnastics. There’s a sensuality in that restraint, even when the subject matter is less “seductive late-night lounge” and more “I have made several questionable decisions and would like to discuss them.”
But “undecided” is ultimately less interested in seduction than self-examination. Its subject is the messy middle of your twenties: the mistakes, identity crises, romantic confusion, resilience and uncomfortable realization that becoming yourself is not a process with a convenient completion date.
That makes the song surprisingly refreshing. Contemporary pop loves a transformation narrative. You were broken, then you became powerful. You were betrayed, then you entered your revenge era. You were sad, then the beat dropped and apparently everything was fixed.
“undecided” therefore feels less like a grand arrival and more like opening a door and saying, “Okay, I’m here. I’m not entirely sure what happens next.”
Lopez offers something much less tidy as she’s still figuring it out. Which, considering the song is leading into Lopez’s debut EP Girl Interrupted in 2027, is probably exactly the right introduction.
After all, if adulthood has taught us anything, it’s that being undecided is often the most decisive thing you can be.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for various publications around the world, the former lead writer of review blogspace Atop The Treehouse and content creator for Manila Bulletin.
