Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

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 a whopping 26x times platinum for her first three mega hit records released in 1999, 2000, and 2001, and she would quickly add another 2 million records to that tally for her 2003 Effort In the Zone, essentially as soon as it was released.

The debut single from In The Zone; a Madonna collab called 'Me Against The Music' peaked at a very un-Britney-like #35 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it wouldn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, 

because like the album title implied - Britney Spears was In The Zone, and as 2003 turned to 2004 - we were all about to go on a ride.

Just in time for it's 20th Anniversary; this is the story of Britney Spears' 'Toxic' with newly unearthed audio from Britney Spears herself.

Note: a previous version of this episode identified Joseph Kahn as Joseph Hahn. We regret the error.

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 raised in Santa Barbara, California. Her parents were both Pentecostal ministers, and restricted her from such things as cartoons and sugary cereal, claiming something as harmless as Lucky Charms were evil because the word “lucky” reminded her mom of Lucifer.

Her parents did allow her to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. She sang in church and her parents would drive her to local farmers markets where she would perform weekly. When she turned 13, they escorted her to Nashville, where she promoted herself as a young gospel singer. Katy later left high school to pursue music, eventually setting herself up in Nashville where she was discovered by some songwriters. They helped her record a demo of contemporary Christian music and at the age of 16 she signed a deal with Red Hill Records. 

Despite its cool, alternative pop sound, the album was a flop, selling only 200 copies, largely due to her label going bankrupt months later. 

By 2004, Katy Perry was all set to launch a new, exciting chapter in her new recording career.  She signed with Glen Ballard’s label, but that quickly fell through. Not long after that opportunity, Ballard helped her get a deal with Columbia Records, and she began writing her next album she called Fingerprints... which was also soon shelved. 

Finally in June 2008, Katy released her debut album proper, One Of The Boys, a collection of provocative, tongue-in-cheek bangers that announced pop’s newest sensation had arrived. With her controversial first single, “I Kissed A Girl,” Katy was all of a sudden everywhere, and One of The Boys earned her plenty of accolades in its own right. 

Things would only get bigger for Perry, with 2010's Teenage Dream aiming to launch Katy Perry in the the stratosphere. While California Gurls and Teenage Dream brought success - it was Firework that lit up Katy's career.

This is the story of Katy Perry's Firework, with unearthed audio from Katy Perry herself!

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 of Canada’s own Kittie, the nu-metal scene was dominated by men in backwards baseball caps, dreadlocks and JNCO jeans. It was time for a change, and in the early 2000s, one band from Little Rock was on the verge of something.

As a teenager, Amy Lee was an aspiring songwriter. Music was in the family. Her dad was in a rock band but gave it up to be a radio disc jockey when Amy was born. Growing up in Chicago, Lee was a happy kid, but then her family moved to Little Rock when she was 13, and things changed. 

Amy described herself as “miserable,” and an outcast who couldn’t fit in because she didn’t want to dress and act like everyone else. She channeled these feelings, using them to write poetry and music - something she would continue to do throughout the years.

That summer in youth camp she met Ben Moody, a fellow teenager who also felt like he didn’t belong. He and Amy hit it off immediately and eventually they were an item. With Amy on piano and Ben on acoustic guitar, the two began writing and recording songs that reflected their feelings of teen angst. Amy would also give him songs and ask Ben to make them sound “cool”. Soon, Evanescence was born.

Evanescence released their first EP, titled Evanescence in 1998, followed by the Sound Asleep EP in 1999. A local radio station began to play some of their music, which helped them earn a modest following and get some gigs in the area. When mastering their demo tape 'Origin' - the band got the attention of label Wind-Up Records, who didn't exactly know what to do with the band.

As months and years went by. Evanescence were blindsided by their label. As the album was coming together, the label threw them a curveball: they wanted a male singer in the band to share vocals with Amy.

This was an immediate no-go for Amy and Ben, and when they refused to cooperate, the label pulled the plug on the album and the record deal. So the two of them headed back to Little Rock. And just like that, the dream was apparently over.

Flash forward a few weeks and Wind-up came back with a new offer: if they hired a rapper to contribute vocals to their chosen first single, “Bring Me To Life,” the label would honour their deal.

The band begrudgingly agreed to this compromise - they wanted their album to see the light of day after all. But the introduction wouldn’t be with the album, it would be through the Marvel Universe.

This is the true story of Evanescence's smash hit - complete with unearthed audio from Amy Lee.

 

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 band Grey Daze.The Chemistry between Xero and Chester was much better; the Hybrid of sounds between rapper and vocalist Mike Shinoda’s Rap influences and Chester’s hard rock background inspired the band to change their name to Hybrid Theory.

Hybrid Theory *the band* self-released Hybrid Theory *the EP*  in 1999, and although initially still struggling to court a major label to sign with- they were signed to Warner Brothers records on the third time of trying.

Warner Brothers was still quite skeptical of Hybrid Theory - they asked the band to change their name so that people wouldn’t confuse them with a Welsh band called ‘Hybrid’ and even suggested they demote or fire Mike Shinoda and refocus their efforts to creating a more traditional rock record with Chester as the sole frontman.

The band took the label’s first piece of advice - They officially re-christened themselves as Linkin Park, but they refused the second directive - the ‘Hybrid’ in Hybrid theory was important to Bennington and Shinoda and they carried on with both vocalists playing a crucial part in the band.

Not only was the album a success, it was the MOST successful album of 2001, and included hit after hit after hit, with singles Crawling, One Step Closer, and In the End topping charts worldwide. 

Pressure was now incredibly high for Linkin Park - they went from being a band that very few people believed into the biggest band in the world. They knew that in order to avoid the 'second album slump', they'd need to make a really great record.

Recorded all throughout 2002, and released in March 2003, Linkin Park’s second effort entitled Meteora gave Linkin Park fans what they wanted and then some.

This is the story of the third and most recognizable single, with words from MIke Shinoda and Joseph Hahn from the time.

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 and beyond with hit after hit - but artists rarely play it safe; it’s part of the reason we love them so much.

After playing the Super Bowl in 2003, and releasing a solid No Doubt Greatest Hits collection, the iron was hot for Gwen to move forward with what MTV initially reported as an intended ‘fun little dance record’ - a hiatus from the band that would let Stefani Flex her creative muscles a little bit… but nothing too serious. Initially she was even hesitant to call it a solo project at all!

Love. Angel. Music. Baby. or L.A.M.B. was released on November 12, 2004 - after a painstaking year of writing and recording with everyone from Linda Perry, to Andre 3000, to Canada’s Chantal Kreviatzuk, and even her No Doubt Cohort Tony Kanal. 

From the get-go Stefani was intentional, but open. She wanted control, but to be free - and it seemed like her artistic vision wasn’t always the easiest to nail down.

Even after recording more than 20 songs for the project, Gwen felt as if she was yet to nail down her 'attitude song'. A chance reconnection with Pharell Williams and an uncalled for diss in the media by a Grunge Music legend was about to change all of that.

This is the True Story of Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl'.

Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts.

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 phenomenon, bringing punk rock back to life in the mainstream, winning the band’s first Grammy Award, allowing them to steal the show at Woodstock ‘94, and go on to sell 20 million copies. 

It is credited as an influence on everyone from Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, to Sum 41 and even Billie Eilish, who has said “growing up, there was no band more important to me.”

But, after fulfilling all of their commitments in 2002, Green Day were at a standstill. The band met up and questioned whether they wanted to even keep going anymore. While their personal lives were in shambles, the band’s existence was on the verge of crumbling.

One idea Green Day decided to pursue was a radical one, based on a dream Armstrong had of writing a punk rock “‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ of the future.” That song would eventually become “Jesus of Suburbia,” which helped shake up the foundations of the band and push them into a brave new world. 

From that point on, Green Day had begun writing a full-on rock opera. Even better: the first ever PUNK ROCK opera. Green Day announced that their seventh album would be called American Idiot.

Released as the album’s first single, “American Idiot” wasted no time declaring Green Day’s mission: to address their sociopolitical concerns and kick-off their new punk rock opera opus with three minutes of politically-charged fire.

Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts.

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 of Blood to the Head, elevated them to the next level, selling more than 17 million copies and netting them 3 Grammy Awards. Coldplay were no longer the little Brit band that could, they were the big Brit band that did! Singer Chris Martin was now a bona fide heartthrob, but he wasn’t on the market for long. He met Gwyneth Paltrow on tour and - boom - one year later they were married! 

After that, life and touring slowed things down a little for Coldplay, but in 2005 they returned with their third album, X&Y. Although it didn’t show much progress creatively, the album once again sold kajillions of copies and gave us the mega-ballad “Fix You,” which Martin wrote for his famous wife after her father died.

X&Y closed the book on what Coldplay’s album trilogy, as guitarist Jonny Buckland would call it. He told Rolling Stone in 2008, “We felt like the first three albums were a trilogy, and we finished that. So we wanted to do something different.” The band found a new studio, converting an old bakery squished between an estate agent and a restaurant that they could use as both a headquarters and a space to rehearse and record. 

Taking a page out of U2’s book, the band hired Brian Eno, the father of ambient music, to co-produce their next album. Known for helping artists like U2 and Talking Heads expand their sound, when Coldplay first asked the producer what they should do differently this time around, he was, well, brutally honest.

In a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, Chris Martin recalled how Brian Eno did not hold back, saying quote 

“Your songs are too long. And you’re too repetitive, and you use the same tricks too much, and big things aren’t necessarily good things, and you use the same sounds too much, and your lyrics are not good enough.”

With Eno now on board, and a hunger to truly reinvent every facet of themselves, Coldplay would embark on their most ambitious project yet: Viva La Vida.

Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts.

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 that gave the duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi a rare trifecta of accolades in pop culture: Hip Hop Cred, Mainstream Pop Appeal and Hipster Acknowledgement all at once.

But Andre 3000 was looking for new avenues to express himself creatively, and moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles to begin his acting career.

When acting didn't work out, Andre 3000 envisioned a new kind of project- a solo project, one influenced by, but also completely different than the Outkast records before it - a pop record, a jazz record, a funk record all in one; A record and a concept that would come to be known as “The Love Below” 

Originally written as Andre 3000 and his guitar, and inspired more by bands like The Ramones, The Hives and The Smiths than by what was going on in hip hop; Hey Ya! Was part of the grander cinematic vision of The Love Below and the complexities and frustration with modern relationship dynamics. Or, as Andre 3000 would day in the song: 

"Don't want to meet your daddy, just want you in my Caddy."

This is the true story of Outkast's Smash Hit 'Hey Ya' with newly unearthed audio from Andre 3000 in 2003.

Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts.

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. After this blacklisting, 50 Cent had to look for alternative locations to record new music, as he was too hot and too controversial of a figure by the time he recovered from the shooting.

According to records obtained by The Smoking Gun - 50 Cent was not able to find work in the United States, so he packed up shop and began working on independent releases in the Great White North - In Canada he recorded two known mixtapes called Guess Who’s Back, and 50 Cent is the Future.

As legend has it, Eminem got his hands on a copy of “Guess Who’s Back” through 50’s attorney, who was working with Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg. They liked what they saw, 50 signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, and Eminem’s Shady Records... and 50's journey to superstardom began.

Join Myles Galloway as he tells you the true story of 50 Cent's 'In Da Club' complete with unearthed footage from 50 Cent at the time.

Sources: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/surveilling-50-cent 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/sep/08/arts.usa

Listen to NEW Episodes of Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love every Thursday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your Podcasts.