As of late, New York’s Brooklyn Steel has acted as a safe space for budding performers of the R&B flavor to bring live music to the fans. On a brisk fall evening, fans of Emotional Oranges follow stickers that act as breadcrumbs to the venue. It’s a perfect treat for them given the anonymous nature of the presumed duo. Singles like the flirtatious “Motion” and “Personal” not only offer reasons to slide to the dance floor but an ode to their ability to marry disco blends, instrumental productions, and 808s, resulting in a very special cocktail of modern R&B.
When members known as “A” and “V” take the stage in front of the sold-out crowd, they’re imaginative in every way. The venue turns into a mood ring of sorts as their silhouettes are met with lavender hues during “Built That Way,” blue for “Your Best Friend Is A Hater” and a somber red for “Corners of My Mind.” They may be a wonder, but the stories heard on the aforementioned tracks reflect the ins and outs of modern love. Ins being the adrenaline of meeting someone new in a two-star bar and the outs being the situationship that follows it. Fantasies of what love should be and reflections of what it could have been flooding the Emotional Oranges’ debut project The Juice Vol. 1, giving listeners honest storytelling. It’s something producer/engineer “A” and female vocalist “V” pride themselves on.
“I think a lot of our music stems from real experience, not just other people’s stories, but our lives as well,” V says a few moons later in the VIBE office. Their most daring songs like “Hold You Back,” a back and forth about a woman falling for another girl while in relations with a guy came from a simple conversation between the two. “Hold You Back” as well as songs from their newly released follow-up, The Juice Vol. 2 aren’t built for the radio or a speakeasy, but for listeners who enjoy a bit of spritz in their R&B.
“It goes back to the expectations,” A says. “People get in the studio and it’s a writer setup with another writer. The expectation is a song for the club, or a deep song or something for the “quintessential” album, but with us, there’s none of that.”
Due to their anonymity, Emotional Oranges don’t worry about playing up their personality or staying in a sound bubble. Their mysterious allure comes with creative freedom. “I think it actually helps us do things faster,” V continues. “Vol. 2 was written in two weeks. A lot of the production takes 5, 6, 7 months, but in terms of ideation that process was super fast.”
The Juice Vol. 2 continues to toy with their style of intentional R&B; songs like “Don’t Be Lazy” jump right to the punch. “Let me lick and taste it,” the two sing with other tracks like “West Coast Love” pays homage to East Coast legends A Tribe Called Quest’s 1990 jam, “Can I Kick It.” There’s also “Iconic,” that toys with the sounds of Miami’s 90s underground. Produced by Dante Jones of THEY., the track aligns with the Los Angeles-based duo’s mission of keeping their music free-flowing.
Where we go from here is up to us.
V
A and V of Emotional Oranges came to be in 2017 but the group moved as a collective comprised of “normal people” in 2015. Those people included songwriters and producers, leading many to wonder just who made up the group. Speaking to Noisey earlier this year, EO shared how their debut single “Motion” doesn’t feature V, but another vocalist. “If you listen real carefully, on our first single ‘Motion,’ that’s our first singer. She’s an A&R at a big label. The rest of the songs are our new singer,” they said at the time. “We’ve all worked regular jobs. We’re very regular people. And we came together for one unified vision. I tried a lot of things in my life that didn’t work. I tried to put so many things together. It just came down to authenticity.” Some of the things that didn’t work were trying to bend towards a label’s passive-aggressive suggestions.
“When you have labels telling you who you are as an artist, that doesn’t work,” A says. “It might work for a song but not for the longevity of your career.” He also shared how artists should be mindful of the relationships they have with a label, a notion that might not be on the mind of a green artist. “It’s not the idea of a label it’s the idea of someone telling you that you have to compromise your integrity in order to get to the next level, you have to eliminate that and eliminate the expectations of it to make money off of this tomorrow,” he says.“But for us, I think it’s very liberating. We’re releasing music we love and not being given a deadline or told what to wear. To free yourself from all these things has been the most liberating for us.”
With their loyal and true fan base known as the “citrus squad,” Emotional Oranges got to experience just how deep their influence has been. Their fan merch with the simple words “emotional” across the right side of their tees and sweatshirts were later seen in the stores of Forever 21 without any credit. “I take it as a compliment,” V says. “They always copy what’s hot.”
Merch:
Forever 21:
They’re also one of the artists who provide a phone number for their fans. It’s not a way of funneling data for EO, but instead, a way for them to get to know their squad. “Even at the shows, they’ll come backstage and tell us their names. One time, there were four different couples in Toronto who bought meet and greet tickets twice,” V recalls. “They spent $150 each twice in three months. They all said, ‘Do you remember us?’ and it’s like, ‘Of course!’ Moments like that have been great.”
“They’ll also tell their family members to come to shows,” V adds while asking A about a Texas-based fan who shared his love for EO with his twin sister from Durham. That curious person then became a fan, stretching the Emotional Oranges family a little further.
As their music continues to reach lovers of soul and today’s modern R&B, Emotional Oranges are holding on to the elements that actually matter. From storytelling, funky beats and universal perspectives, they have a gift of making it all work. “I think we haven’t pigeon-holed ourselves, or put ourselves in a box,” V ironically says as she toys with an orange from our snack area. “I think we kind of live outside the box. We can really play, which I think is fun since where we go from here is up to us.”