How Orion Song Found His Voice Making “Time Machine”

Singer-songwriter Orion Song wanted to produce an EP that celebrated R&B’s history and sound. In the process, he found his artistic voice.

This story is part of The Reissues Project, a series that reviews overlooked music made by Asian artists.

Perhaps more than any Asian male artist working in R&B right now, Orion Song understands and celebrates the genre’s rich history.

Song is a warm, adventurous musician who plays music weekly around San Diego in tea shops, homegrown music venues, and at private events with his ukulele or acoustic guitar. He’s a rare talent whose music crackles with a mixture of vulnerability and intensity. Song is deeply interested in how to build connections through music, and how to best use his voice to stand apart from a crowded industry. Spend some time talking to him, as I did one Sunday afternoon over tea, and you’ll see that he’s a self-professed music nerd. 

I hear Song’s musical genius best on Time Machine, his album from 2023 made in collaboration with the hugely talented producer-songwriter Patrick Hizon that pays tribute to the forerunners of R&B. Time Machine often subtly rubs up against a golden age of the genre when artists like Brian McNight and Jane Child were blasting across the airwaves, and even includes references to Japanese R&B. 

Yes, “Time Machine” the song might be about an ex-boyfriend discovering old photographs of him and ex and reminiscing about the best of times. But as an album, as a concept, Time Machine brings listeners back to a period when R&B was moving the needle of cultural influence. 

“When I made ‘Time Machine’ [the song] it reminded me that I was referencing a ton of classic R&B music for all of the tracks on the album,” he told me. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve been doing this for a long time because the song is super vintage.’” 

Though Time Machine was released as a full EP in March of last year, the concept willed itself to be over a waterfall release schedule that began almost a year prior. And although Song had already worked at a near frantic pace to release music since his debut in 2020 with the album Patience (another collaboration with Hizon), Time Machine is when Song truly lifted off as a musician.

This EP is the moment that I hear Song own his voice: a breathy, soulful instrument that is singularly compelling. Listen to Patience for the best example of his growth: Song describes his voice at that period as “whiny”, and perhaps it came from Song not understanding his own power as a musician. 

“I think immediately after the release of [my single] ‘Moment’, I started to sing a lot more breathier,” he explained. “I think throughout the years, including up to now, I just try to make sure I have a warm, soft tone that doesn't get too bright or poppy.” 

Almost immediately after the release of Patience, Song’s music began to transform, and the seeds for Time Machine grew. 

The beginning of Time Machine dates back to 2021 when Song recorded “I Would”, a dreamy ballad produced and co-written by Hizon. “That song was in the arsenal for years,” Song remembered. “I was listening to a lot of Janet Jackson at the time and ‘Let’s Wait Awhile’ was in heavy rotation. I just wanted to make more actual ballads, so we got to really satisfy that itch with ‘I Would’.” 

Hizon used Jackson’s track as an inspiration, a move that Song said “nailed” the production.

But “I Would” was an intimidating track for Song to inhabit. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t really know if this is really me the first time I heard it,’” he said. “But I could get behind it, and obviously it turned out great.” 

Song is particularly proud of how “I Would” depicts a healthy version of masculinity with lyrics about providing for a partner. “If I come on over/ I’ll cook you dinner/ We can sit on the rooftop/ I’ll be your sweater,” he sings in the chorus. “If I could give you the moon and the stars/ I would.” 

“Providing is a very maternal action,” Song explained, “but in a romantic relationship, it’s also a form of masculinity to provide for your partner and take care of them.” 

On “Green Light”, Song once again looks to provide for a girlfriend, this time in a long distance relationship: “I could pack my duffle and hit the road/ Miles apart but I wanna go/ I don’t mind if I drive alone/ ‘Cause I would be with you.” 

“Green Light” has become one of Song’s most popular songs on his discography, and it’s easy to hear why. It emphasizes his charms as a singer while showcasing his ability to craft a stunning, straightforward love song. 

Throughout Time Machine, Song casts himself as your ideal type: from the brokenhearted ex ready to call a truce to a suitor out to win over a new girl. On the Katriz Trinidad collab “Come Home”, written and performed in the vein of a classic break-up ballad, he pleads with his ex, “Why don’t you come home?/ It’s hard to sleep alone/ When you’re not here to hold.” While on “Hop in the Whip”, a playful collaboration with Brezan, Song flexes some rizz: “I can take you to a palace you’ve never been before/ Treat you at the Gucci store/ You can have it all”.

Just a few months after the release of Time Machine, Song followed up with Moon Boy, an album that is - hands down - one of my favorite releases by any artist. Moon Boy is the album that solidified Song as a musician more interested in what’s going on beneath the surface of complex matters like self-worth. The album also, crucially, set him apart from nearly male independent musicians with its startling beautiful depictions of masculinity and self-love.

But Time Machine deserves its moment too. You’ll be hard pressed to find a singer belt the wholesome lyrics of “I Would” or sell the nostalgic production of “Green Light” with as much precision as Song. The EP is a sturdy star vehicle for Song; an album that archives the best of R&B and interprets it for a new generation of Asian Americans. Most importantly, it introduces a singer finding his voice with confidence and gravitas. 

“Can we just stay here forever?” Song asks in the lyrics of the title track. But there’s no need. Song’s evolution as a musician is too exciting to stay in one place. He’s a rising star in the making, charting a new path forward for Asian Americans in music.