Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Did you ever catch Bieber Fever? The first reported cases of this communicable disease began popping up in 2009, throughout Canada, or maybe it was the United States. It was hard to tell considering the fever was spread via performance videos on YouTube by an aspiring teenager named, you guessed it, Justin Bieber. Before he was captaining NHL all-star teams and selling over 150 million records, Ju...

It might be hard to think of Rihanna as anything other than the multi-hyphenate superstar that she is today.  At time of recording, fans have been waiting for more than eight years for a proper new RiRi album, with 2016’s ANTI being the last full release from the original Bad Gal - but this period of waiting hasn’t made Rihanna any less popular. Back in the year 2007, Rihanna was at a bit of a cro...

It’s hard to remember a time when Drake wasn’t the biggest rapper in the world. He is Canada’s most successful AND influential artist of the 21st century. As both a rapper and a singer he has pretty much single-handedly put our country on the map for hip-hop and R&B.  He is a five-time Grammy winner, has 85 million monthly listeners on Streaming Services- more than any other rapper - and holds...

Usher was born to entertain. It might be hard to believe, but this year marks the 30th Anniversary of his debut album! Usher was discovered at the age of 13 on television by famed record exec, L.A. Reid, who wasted no time signing him to his LaFace label. Usher’s ascent truly began three years later with the release of his second album, the game-changing My Way , which catapulted him from baby-fac...

When it comes to the origin cities of hip hop stars over the last 20 plus years - it's safe to say St. Louis, Missouri is not the first to come to mind. But St. Louis, Missouri is the home of at least one rap superstar that had the world of music following his every move for the better part of the 2000s; Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. Better known to you and I as Nelly. Nelly released his first single ‘C...

The United Kingdom and Ireland has a long, rich history of creating boy bands that have taken the British isles, and often the world by storm.  From the early ‘British Invasion’ and the aptly named ‘Beatlemania’ brought on by the Beatles in the 1960s, to the British glam pop influence of the Bay City Rollers in the 70s, Wham!’s iconic sound of the 1980s, to the well established 90s groups like Tak...

Since the turn of the millennium, Nelly Furtado has been cementing her legacy as one of Canada’s most successful pop stars.  The Victoria, BC native went from unknown newcomer to overnight sensation in 2000 with the release of her debut single, “I’m Like A Bird.” That song won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, over heavyweights like Janet Jackson and Sade.  At a time when m...

By early 2004, Britney Spears had FIRMLY established herself at the pinnacle of pop Music.  Britney had already claimed the title of being the best selling teenage artist of all time thanks to the successes of her albums Baby One More Time and …Oops I Did it Again , and she had just become the youngest artist to be inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame at age 21.  Britney had also already gone...

Hey Everyone, this week on Encore: The Stories Behind the Songs You Love we've got a special episode from our sister podcast Behind The Christmas Hits all about Taylor Swift's Holiday Hit 'Christmas Tree Farm'! You can check out all four seasons of Behind The Christmas Hits with Drew Savage here , or wherever you get your podcasts! Myles will return with NEW Episodes of Encore on January 11, 2024!

Katy Perry is one of the biggest names in pop music today.  Her albums have sold in the millions and she’s had numerous number one singles, including five consecutive songs that topped the Billboard Hot 100 from her 2010 album, Teenage Dream , alone. But things didn’t come easy for Katy, and her early career looked much different to that of the megastar we know today. Katheryn Hudson was born and...

As the ‘90s came to an end, rock music was in a very aggressive state. Bands like Deftones, Korn and Limp Bizkit were reaching the Billboard charts with their loud, angry and often rapped vocals, leading the way for a new breed of heavy music that was referred to as nu-metal.  But there was one overwhelming observation with this type of music: it was all just a bit too… bro-y.  With the exception...

Formed back in 1996 in California as rap-rock band XERO , Linkin Park went through massive changes to become the band we know today. Original singer Mark Wakefield left the band in 1999 when record labels began noticing the group - but felt he wasn’t a strong enough vocalist to truly push the band forward.  Mark was soon replaced with Chester Bennington, a singer from Arizona who had just left his...

For such a fun and chaotic band, No Doubt was always a safe space for Gwen Stefani. The flexibility in the band’s style and sound paired with Stefani’s undeniable star power as front woman of the group meant that you could be forgiven for thinking that Gwen Stefani the artist, and No Doubt the band were interchangeable.  In an alternate timeline - No Doubt could have carried on through the 2000s a...

By the time the new millennium arrived, Green Day were thriving as one of the world’s biggest rock bands. The ‘90s had been good to the band. After years of building a following as an independent act, in 1994 the trio of Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt signed to a major label and released their third album, Dookie .  To just about everyone’s surprise, Dookie became a cultural phenome...

By the time 2008 arrived, Coldplay were arguably the biggest rock band in the world. With their uplifting, emotionally charged soft rock, Coldplay quickly established themselves as heirs to U2. From the release of their debut album, Parachutes , in 2000, the band caught lightning in a bottle. The album’s wistful second single, “Yellow,” was an international hit. Their second album, 2002’s A Rush o...

In 2003, It is fair to say that rap duo Outkast were at a bit of a creative crossroads. Their 2000 album Stankonia had people rethinking what hip hop music could be - with songs such as B.O.B., Ms. Jackson, and So Fresh, So Clean winning them Grammy Awards for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Album. “Ms. Jackson”; their Billboard hot 100 hit from Stankonia was a sultry, tongue in cheek affair tha...

Originally signed by major label Columbia Records in 1999 with a planned release of an album called “Power of the Dollar”. A young 50 Cent intended on tapping into underground hype with a lead single called ‘How to Rob’ in August 1999. Within a year of How To Rob’s release, 50 Cent was dropped from the label, and the album was canceled after he was shot nine times in Queens, New York in May 2000....

In 2003, the world couldn’t have been more ready for a Beyoncé Knowles breakout. Beyoncé’s group Destiny’s Child was one of the most successful groups of the late 90s and early 2000s, and she’d made her film debut the year prior, in the Austin Powers Sequel “Goldmember”, as well as contributing to its soundtrack. By late 2002, it was clear that Beyoncé’s solo star was ready to shine with a feature...

By 2005, Nickelback could already lay claim to being one of the most ubiquitous bands in the world.  Having already achieved unbelievable success with Hits like “How You Remind Me” “Too Bad” and “Someday”, Nickelback had long crossed over from being a little band from Hanna, Alberta into bonafide global Rock Stars.  Armed with earnest lyrics, catchy melodies, and of course the aforementioned heart...

Despite what you may think -2003’s Elephunk is *not* The Black Eyed Peas’ debut record. Will i am, taboo and apl de ap recorded and released two full major label albums before making it big; 1998’s “Behind the Front” and 2000’s “Bridging the Gap”. Both records, while critically well-reviewed, and loved by hipster hip-hop heads, had little to no success on the charts, and looked nothing like the Bl...

In 2012, Taylor Swift was one of the biggest country music stars in the world. She was also one of the biggest pop stars in the world too. Like her hero Shania Twain before her, Taylor was able to walk a tightrope between the two genres - something that many artists had failed to do. Taylor always seemed to have her eyes set on becoming a pop star despite being one of country music’s most recogniz...

Do you remember where you were the first time you heard Outkast tell you to 'Shake it like a Polaroid Picture'? How about when Nickelback told you to 'Look at this Photograph'? Or when Taylor Swift provided the soundtrack to your Love story? Join Myles Galloway as he takes you through the biggest songs in the world - with new interviews and newly unearthed archive footage from the artists themselv...