Half an Orange features two Ohio natives, Andrew Spellman and Michael Maloof. The duo’s odd name comes from a Portuguese expression that Michael learned while living on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a year. The expression, “metade da laranja” (translated to “half an orange”), means that everyone is half an orange looking for that one person, thing, or purpose that completes them (or the other half of their orange). If you’re still only half an orange then you’re still lonely and lost in the world. The duo liked the name because they always felt a little lost or out of place in the world.

Upon returning from his year of backpacking through Brazil, Michael shared his poems with Andrew who began helping him turn them into music. They would start by transforming each poem into an acoustic song. From there, they’d work in studio to turn the organic and acoustic sound into a full electronic production. This gives their songs a natural feel while still having the excitement and experiences that only electronic music can offer.

Michael and Andrew released their first song under Half an Orange, Downtown, a month after returning from Brazil. In less than 30 days it was streamed over 300,000 times across the internet. They then released their next three songs (Far from Young, I Need U to Stay, and Stems) with help from Electro Posé, one of the biggest electronic music labels in the world. That summer their music combined for over 2 million streams across all platforms.