Social House Duo Mikey Foster & Scootie Anderson Write & Produce Ariana Grande’s Hit Songs “Thank U, Next” & “7 Rings,” And Release Their Own Music
Michael “Mikey” Foster & Charles “Scootie” Anderson are young writer/producers & artists who are already having major success in the music business. They’ve formed a duo called Social House, and they’ve been working with top pop & urban artists since they moved three years ago from their hometown of Pittsburgh, to Los Angeles.
Impressively, Mikey & Scootie co-wrote & produced two of the hottest songs on the charts now: “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings” for Ariana Grande (from her new album, Thank U, Next). Both songs have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and currently, both singles are in the Top 10. Mikey & Scootie have also co-written other cuts for Grande, including “NASA” (from Thank U, Next), plus “Goodnight n Go” and “Pete Davidson” (from Grande’s Sweetener album).
In addition to their work with Grande, Mikey & Scootie have collaborated with several other hit artists. They co-wrote the chart single “Dinero” by Jennifer Lopez feat. DJ Khaled & Cardi B, and they’ve also worked with Chris Brown, Meghan Trainor, H.E.R., T.I. and Lecrae.
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On top of their work as writer/producers, Mikey & Scootie are now emerging as artists. As the duo Social House, they’ve released the single “Magic in the Hamptons” feat. Lil Yachty (with a video that has over 4 million views on YouTube) and the song, “Higher.” Social House has signed a label deal with SB Projects/Interscope Records, a joint venture between top manager Scooter Braun’s SB Projects and Interscope. Also, the duo is managed by Michael Lee of New Moves Management Group.
Social House will be releasing new music soon, and the duo will be embarking on a major concert tour. Notably, they will be the opening act for Grande’s Sweetener World Tour that also includes Normani (of Fifth Harmony). This is a terrific opportunity for Social House, to perform live as part of Grande’s sold-out arena tour.
Social House Interview
We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Mikey & Scootie of Social House. They tell how they got started, how they co-wrote “Thank U, Next’ and “7 Rings” for Grande, and the new music they’re creating as Social House.
DK: I read that you’re both from Pittsburgh. How did you get started in music, and did you know each other in Pittsburgh?
Scootie Anderson: We had briefly met in Pittsburgh, because the music scene there is fairly small. So we knew of each other, but it was in L.A. that we really connected. We started working together and became really good friends in L.A. when we signed to the same production team.
DK: After you moved to L.A., how did you hook up and figure out that you were a good team?
Here’s the video of Social House’s single, “Magic in the
Hamptons” (feat. Lil Yachty).
Mikey Foster: I moved out to L.A. and started working with (hit producer/writer) Tommy Brown. And Tommy heard Scootie’s music and brought him out, and wanted to work with him. Then we started working together through Tommy. So we started doing a lot of sessions together, and the chemistry of the songs started turning out really well. We started gaining a really good work ethic together.
Scootie: It was really natural. While we were working on other people’s projects, we just grew together.
DK: What are your strengths as songwriters? Do you specialize in creating the beats and tracks, or is it writing melodies and lyrics?
Scootie: We both do everything (laughs). We’re both 100 percenters, so we produce, and we write.
Mikey: Even before we started working together, both of us had the same understanding or thought process of what we thought musicians were. When I was in Pittsburgh, I originally thought that all of the [artists] did all of their music and all of the production. I thought everybody did everything. So I thought I had to be sufficient in everything, that you had to learn how to do it by yourself. And so it was just a process through that, and grinding and just working very hard. We learned how to do everything separately, so when we came together, we trusted each other because we both know how much we work, and how each other enjoys music.
DK: I read that you have a house in Sherman Oaks, and that you have several studio rooms in the house. Is that right?
Scootie: [Our house] is now located in Northridge, but it’s the same thing. It’s a bunch of studio rooms…we have five studio rooms and we just go crazy all day (laughs).
DK: In the past year, you’ve worked closely with Ariana Grande. How did you connect with her?
Scootie: We met Ari right after being in L.A., through Tommy Brown, because he and Ari had been friends for a long time. Then Tommy decided it was cool to bring us into their dynamic, and we kind of hit it off. And ever since, we’ve all been really good friends and making music together.
DK: You have two big hits now with Ariana: “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next.” How did you write these songs with Ariana and the other writers?
Here’s the video of Ariana Grande’s hit “Thank U, Next,” which was
co-written by Mikey Foster & Scootie Anderson.
Scootie: It was really organic. We were all sitting together, just talking about what was going on in life, and how everybody felt. And Ari gave us the direction, and told us how she wanted to do things, and what [song ideas] she wanted to do. At the time, me and Mikey went over to the production room and started making ideas. We put together some chords and stuff, and then we played it for Ari, and she was like, “Yes” (laughs). And we all went to work writing it.
Mikey: It was very collaborative, that whole period of time. It was maybe 10 days of being very open and honest, helping a friend go through something…a very tough situation. We were just helping her get through it, and spending time with our friends and trying to make the best out of our situation. So we became very collaborative that way. We just spent a lot of time in the same rooms and just hanging out, and it was very natural.
Scootie: It was pretty much Ariana giving us her concept and her story, and we’re just helping her tell her story.
DK: You co-wrote & produced “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next” with Tommy Brown. Do you also work with Tommy on other projects?
Mikey: We work with Tommy a lot. We’ve also worked with him on Chris Brown, J-Lo, DJ Khaled and Zara Larsson. Tommy’s a tremendous producer, and he’s given us so many opportunities. It’s been fun to work with him.
DK: Besides being writer/producers, you’re also artists with your group, Social House. Can you talk about your single, “Magic in the Hamptons”?
Scootie: “Magic in the Hamptons” came together pretty organically as well. Here’s a fun fact—we recorded it in a bedroom closet, not the actual studio (laughs).
Mikey: Even though it’s in the same house. Even though we could have walked over to the studio (laughs).
Scootie: We recorded “Magic in the Hamptons” with our friends from Sweden—Anton and Isabella—they’re amazing producers & songwriters. It was just one night; we were just chillin’ after a session, and decided to just make some stuff that we liked. And it came together amazingly.
Here’s the video of Ariana Grande’s hit “7 Rings,” which was
co-written by Mikey Foster & Scootie Anderson.
DK: Are you spending more time writing & producing for other artists, or are you mainly focusing on Social House?
Mikey: Oh, we have a tremendous amount of focus on Social House. We’re looking forward to all the new music we have coming out. We’ve just started talking with our team about when we’re going to release our new music, because we’ve worked very hard on this project and we’re excited about it. But Ariana has always been a friend to us, so we make sure that we’re always there for her as well.
DK: Thank you for doing this interview. Is there anything else that you’d like to mention for this article?
Mikey: We’re very excited to play our new music live on tour—we’re opening up for Ariana on her Sweetener Tour, and we’ll be playing a lot of our new songs.
Scootie: We’re super excited about it. We’ve put in a lot of work on these songs, and they came out really crazy. So we’re excited to play the new songs live, and we’ll be releasing them soon, too.
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