Bobby Oroza

Finnish singer/songwriter Bobby Oroza emerged in the late 2010s with a decidedly vintage-inspired sound that takes cues from ’60s soul and R&B-influenced pop. The reverb-saturated vocals and raw, analog arrangement of his song “This Love” earned him a deal with American label Big Crown, which issued his debut of the same name in 2019. Working with his regular collaborators, the Helsinki-based band Cold Diamond & Mink, Oroza followed it up in 2022 with the poignant Get on the Otherside. A native of Helsinki, Oroza grew up in a musical family of Bolivian and Finnish descent. He became interested in music at a young age while at family functions where he was exposed to Latin music, Motown, and jazz, as well as South American folk and Nuyorican salsa. He started playing guitar and drums, and eventually began performing in high school. While still a teenager, Oroza traveled to Santiago de Cuba where he studied percussion and singing. Returning home, he embarked on a production and recording career, playing with various bands in Finland including Cold Diamond & Mink, who were the house band for the Helsinki-based funk label Timmion Records. One of the songs they recorded together, “This Love,” caught the attention of Brooklyn-based soul imprint Big Crown Records which released the track as a single in 2018. A year later, Oroza’s full-length debut, also called This Love, was released. Just as his music career seemed to be taking off, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in early 2020 and brought the industry to halt. Like so many other artists, Oroza scrambled to make ends meet over the next two years and took on a construction job in order to provide for his family. Before he was able to resume making music with his collaborators, he’d written a powerful set of new songs, heavily influenced by the struggles and resilience of the previous two years. Recorded with Cold Diamond & Mink backing him, Oroza’s sophomore LP, Get on the Otherside, saw release in June 2022. ~ Matt Collar