Emotional Oranges is an LA-based r&b group that released an album semi-recently in December of 2022. I had been listening to them for over a year, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to experience an album rollout as a fan. 

The album is titled The Juice: Vol. III, following along with a somewhat idiosyncratic theme of orange juice they’ve kept through all four of their full-length albums, complete with orange-themed album art with each project. 

The Emotional Oranges had been on the rise for a year or two before the drop of their latest project. 

In fact, way back in 2019, they released a song called “West Coast Love” that got heavy rotation, but one thing the duo —  made up of Azad Right and Vali — isn’t too fond of is promotion. 

This may explain how a semi-pop group with a decent amount of radio play could still be described as a little underrated. 

While they’ll take the necessary steps to promote a tour, they don’t go in much for those awkward podcast and radio interviews most other artists view as a necessity. 

And when they do, they’re always aloof and sunglasses clad, giving off the cool, steal-your-girl persona that’s embodied by their music, which I realize I’ve barely talked about. 

To me, their music sits in this pocket of r&b and pop, but its heavy base and danceability has got to have some roots in electronic dance music, even if it’s just a minor influence. 

From the perspective of their subject matter, it’d be easy to paint them with a broad brush. 

Most of their music is about going out late with friends, drinking and inhaling certain substances and engaging in the frivolous romantic endeavors that tend to follow. 

I think that this is somewhat reductive though. While they do lean on it as a base for most of their lyrics, sonically they bring so much more to the table.

Listening to them feels like if you combined 90’s r&b and contemporary pop, and then drizzled a thin-layer club music over top. To make this eclectic mix sound coherent, you have to be a talented artist. 

This makes their brand of pop music incredibly unique, which I realize sounds a little oxymoronic, but it perfectly describes how they can be so worldly in their reach, yet so singular in their sound. 

Containing only eight songs, their last album is definitely on the trim side, but each song is stacked with that smooth r&b sound that’s become the fairly new group’s trademark.

The beat drop on the opening track “Bounce” could make your grandma jump out of her rocking chair, and my favorite song on the album, “She Got a Man,” is a groovy, head-bopping tune about being head-over-heels for a girl who’s already in a relationship. 

Moral ambiguity aside, the album — with its modest length and easy listening — is the perfect introduction to the group. 

You can listen to them on Spotify here, or anywhere else you get music. 

Obadiya can be reached at [email protected].