over the course of the next year, lawrence and mars began working together writing songs for themselves and other artists. their first successful songwriting project with a recognized artist was 2008's “long distance” by brandy. shortly afterwards they co-wrote flo rida's “right round”, which proved to be their breakout project and resulted in many more production opportunities and acclaim in the industry. not long after gaining their foothold in the industry, they met and partnered with ari levine to form the songwriting and production team, the smeezingtons.