Mentor Spotlight: Meet Scott Harris

Scott Harris joined us at Songathon in December, 2018 in New York City as a mentor for a Q&A session and the Songathon Finale

Scott Harris Friedman is an American multi-platinum songwriter, producer, and musician best known for his work with Shawn Mendes and co-writing the hit song, “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Chainsmokers featuring Daya. Harris wrote 13 songs on Shawn’s self titled third album, Shawn Mendes, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and also co-wrote Shawn’s most recent single, “Wonder.” Harris is currently working on upcoming projects for Dermot Kennedy, Camila Cabello & Shawn Mendes, and has written songs for a number of artists, including JP Saxe, Julia Michaels, Niall Horan, P!nk, Jason Mraz, Noah Kahan, Astrid S, Jessie J, Bebe Rexha, Melanie Martinez, X Ambassadors, and Tiesto.

Scott joined us at Songathon in December 2018 in New York City to share his career insight and approach to songwriting. Here are some takeaways from the Q&A session at Songathon:

How did you get your start as a songwriter?

“I was doing an artist project for a little bit. I had a manager at the time and it was going but it wasn’t popping. Everyday cool things were happening but nothing was like the thing. My manager at the time was like, you should start writing for other people and I was pretty resistant to it. Then one day, somebody called me, you should try writing with my artist. I walked in, did it. It wasn’t a signed artist, he was just a friend. After I was like, wow I don’t need to do this singer-songwriter thing I’ve been trying to do for like five years. I was like, yes, this is what I want to do.

Any advice for writer’s block?

“Write the truth. If you write the truth, you’ll never be blocked. There’s usually something going on in your life to write about and don’t be afraid to write the same story twice. I think a lot of good writers will get an idea for a song and write it until it’s right. Even if it’s a song you wrote last year, I’d write that title again before being blocked.”

“Get good before you go out there and share…you get one shot.”

What is the most recent wisdom you got?

“Whether it’s someone who’s never recorded before in their life you can learn something from or someone who’s been doing it for fifty years, everyone’s got like different tricks and ways they do it. The process of writing songs with people is just adding tricks to your arsenal and it will never stop.”

How do you find a manager as a songwriter and do you need on?

“I think everybody is different. Some people love to play manager as their own songwriter and some people just hate. “Need” is a funny questions because in the beginning we all need help. As soon as you can find someone who can help you, figure out a way to work with them and make sure they’re passionate and believe in you. I think if you go an write a bunch of songs with a bunch of people and you end up getting a couple of meetings with some people, you can say “I’m looking for a manager” and you might get a couple of names. I can’t preach enough: network.”

What do you continuously improve your skills?

“I don’t. The only thing I really do is co-write. I get to write songs with different people every day so that’s kind of how I learn. I’ll take time…I have lists of ideas for songs I want to write, I try to that every week or two to refreshen that list just in case we can’t think of anything to write about, so that I know I want to write a song about blank today.