Last Friday, Jan. 24, Campus Activities Board (CAB) Lincoln Center brought together some of Fordham’s very own student talent and the Grammy-nominated pop duo Social House, featured in Ariana Grande’s song “Boyfriend,” for an energy-packed concert. The student-run show showcased Fordham’s very own Chris Parkin, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’20; and Tigerlily Cooley, Gabelli School of Business ’20. Over the past year, the CAB Committee, under the direction of Faith Nix, FCLC ’22; Daniela Silva, FCLC ’20; and Assistant Director of Programming Melissa Gazal, has been hard at work putting the show and acts together.

Winterfest began at 6 p.m. and started off a little slow with small crowd of students scattered throughout Pope Auditorium. But as the night went on, more Fordham students started to trickle in, and the room was filled with anticipation. Parkin opened up the stage with his acoustic performance, flashing the audience a smile and getting the crowd moving with his original songs “When I’m Not Around” and “On My Way.” During his performance, Parkin also covered the songs “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse and “Wonderwall” by Oasis.

A highlight of the night was when Parkin gave a shoutout to his grandmother for traveling all the way down from Massachusetts just to see him perform. He then finished his set with an electrifying original song called “That’s Alright By Me.” 

Following Parkin, Cooley, accompanied by some of her friends from Seattle, performed original songs — “Lisbon,” “London” and “New York” — from her upcoming album, whose title has yet to be announced. During her performance, Cooley explained that all her new songs are inspired by the cities she’s lived and adventured in, inserting a witty shoutout to Fordham’s London study abroad program. Cooley also performed covers of Ariana Grande’s “God is a Woman” and Jorga Smith’s “On My Mind.” Both Parkin and Cooley put a lot of heart into their performances which garnered a cheerful response from the audience. The Fordham seniors both agreed that opening for Social House was a memorable experience and a great kickoff to their last semester at Fordham.

After the opening acts, the CAB Committee came onto the stage to thank everyone involved in making the event possible and introduced Social House. Pope Auditorium was buzzing with excitement, and half the room was filled with Fordham students exuberantly ready to dance their hearts out. Social House’s Michael “Mikey” Foster (who donned a maroon Fordham hat) and Charles “Scootie” Anderson ran onto the stage, and the crowd gave them a big Fordham welcome with loads of cheering. Everyone was excited to see the Pittsburgh-born duo, since news had come out that Social House had been nominated for several Grammys.

On a high from their nomination, Foster and Anderson danced around the stage, high-fiving Fordham students in the audience. The duo sang their debut single “Magic in the Hamptons” featuring Lil Yachty and other singles, including “Higher,” “Tropical Rain,” “Haunt You” and “At Least We Can Say We Tried.” The whole crowd was jumping around, waving their arms and flashing their cell phone lights. Students were singing along to “Boyfriend” and enjoying every moment. 

During their performance, Foster and Anderson talked about their work and how their music career has been “a wild ride.” Last year, they released some of their first singles as a duo and collaborated with artists such as Wiz Khalifa and Lost Kings. Additionally, they went on Grande’s 2019 Sweetener World Tour as an opening act. In the last couple of years, they have written and produced for other artists such as Meghan Trainor and Jennifer Lopez. The duo has garnered more than 70 million streams and over eight million listeners on Spotify.

Witnessing them drop their expressive dance moves, infectious melodies and thought-provoking lines was well worth it. By the end of the night, everyone in the crowd was chanting for an encore of “Magic in the Hamptons.” The energy of the students matched the energy on the stage, and throughout it all Social House were in awe and kept repeating, “I didn’t know it was gonna be this lit!” 

As Social House makes a name for themselves in music and makes their way up the chart-topping records, Fordham students can proudly say they were there to see them at the beginning of it all.

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PATRICIA ANGELES/THE OBSERVER