Encore: The Stories Behind The Songs You Love

Welcome to Season 3 of Encore!

When the Landmark Las Vegas sphere opened up in September of 2023, with its $2.3 Billion dollar price tag, its 300 tons of steel, 16K resolution screens, 1,600 speakers and 4D machines capable of pumping in wind, scent and more into the venue… There was never any doubt that there was only one band in the world capable of matching the Sphere’s fantastical ambitions… and that band was the Iconic U2.

Officially forming in 1976,U2 had an unbelievably successful run from around 1980 all the way through to about 1997, culminating with their first Best of Collection released in ‘98 with such classics as Pride (In The Name Of Love), New Year’s Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Desire, and many more.

Normally, in any band’s career - this would probably be enough - you’ve had the better part of 20 years on top, with critical and commercial success rivaling *literally* any artist that ever lived - it’s probably time to realize that your best days are behind you. Right?

U2 did *not* get that particular memo to take it easy, because they did none of the above, and as the world prepared to roll over into a brand new millennium... U2 knew there was plenty of a ‘Beautiful Day’ to be had.

This is the story of U2's comeback single, the iconic 'Beautiful Day' with newly unearthed audio from the band.

Also features audio from the official Making Of Beautiful Day Music Video

Encore is now available on the following Radio Stations in Canada!

• Newstalk 1010
• 610 CKTB
• 580 CFRA Ottawa
• AM 1150
• CFAX 1070
• AM800 CKLW
• CJAD 800

Check your local listings for air times

 

There was no artist bigger than Mariah Carey in the 1990s. She was the Artist of the Decade, according to Billboard, the ​​World Music Awards’ Female Artist of the Millennium, and the owner of 15 number one singles in the ‘90s alone. And that doesn’t even include “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” arguably her biggest song ever. That song didn’t become a #1 hit until 25 years after its release. And it has continued to top the Billboard Hot 100 every year since.

On the surface, Mariah was on top of the world, but as the new millennium struck, Mariah was going through some changes, both privately and professionally.

After years of trying she was finally exiting her tumultuous marriage to record executive Tommy Mottola. Despite filing for a separation in 1997, it wasn’t until the end of 2000 that Mariah was granted her divorce. At the same time she was leaving a bad situation with her label Columbia, where her husband was the Chairman and CEO.

As she was gearing up for the release of Glitter, her feature film debut, Mariah reportedly suffered a physical and emotional breakdown. 

Glitter’s theatrical release was delayed three weeks as a result, but it didn’t really matter - nothing could have saved the film from the savage critics, who called it “heroically bad” and “infinitely mockable.” 

Glitter became one of the decade’s biggest box office flops, winning Mariah Worst Actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards, aka the Razzies. The film’s failure didn’t help Glitter’s soundtrack either. Her first release for new label Virgin, Glitter was neither a hit with fans or critics. One writer called it an "utter meltdown -- the pop equivalent of Chernobyl." 

Mariah’s official follow up to Glitter came out in December 2002. Charmbracelet was her opportunity to make a fresh start, a “new lease on life,” she called it. Unfortunately, Charmbracelet didn’t exactly get things back on track for Mariah. While the album was one of her highest debuts on the Billboard Albums chart, sales dropped off quickly.

Then at the beginning of 2004, famed music executive L.A. Reid left his job at Arista to become the new chairman and CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group. This would prove to be a pivotal moment for both Reid, who was forced out of Arista following the merger of Sony and BMG, and Mariah, who was in need of some career rehabilitation. 

Reid had just orchestrated a career makeover for Usher, who was riding atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his hit “Yeah!” - With that song, Usher had become the biggest artist on the planet, and Reid was looking to do the same for Mariah. 

The first step was to set her up with the right producer. Enter Jermaine Dupri, Usher’s longtime mentor who co-wrote and produced Mariah’s 1996 #1 hit “Always Be My Baby.” More collaborations followed and Mariah was hooking up with the Neptunes, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, and more.

In November 2004, Mariah presented an album’s worth of songs to L.A. Reid, but Reid felt she needed a few more bangers. Mariah went back to Atlanta to work with Jermaine Dupri again and guess what? They created some magic. In just two days they came up with two songs that would end up being her album’s first two singles: “It’s Like That” and “We Belong Together.”

This is the True story of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" with newly unearthed audio from Mariah Carey.

Also contains audio from Genius' Interview with Mariah, Released November 16, 2018.

You've likely heard the news by now; Canadian Pop-Punk Icons SUM 41 are embarking on their final world tour, releasing their final album, and hanging up the Vans and Studded belts forever. 

That’s right, Ajax, Ontario’s finest are calling it quits.

It might surprise you to hear that Sum 41 have been a staple of Rock radio in this country for the better part of 25 years, and that even through lineup changes, health scares, label moves, and  musical experimentation, Deryck Whibley and the boys have helped keep the spirit of pop-punk, heavy metal, and good old fashioned Canadian Rock 'n' Roll alive and kicking.

Originally conceived as young teenagers in 1994, but officially shaped up as SUM 41 in 1996, by 1997 SUM 41 making waves in the underground scene, working with the likes of manager Greig Nori's band Treble Charger, Len, and pre-Broken Social Scene Brendan Canning.

In 1998, the guys recorded a demo tape, and homemade video footage to try and catch record labels attention, and by 1999, SUM 41 ultimately signed on the dotted line with the world famous Island Records.

After a stop-start major label foray with their EP Half Hour of Power, it was make or break time for SUM 41 as they geared up for their full length debut 'All Killer, No Filler' luckily, the band was sitting on a secret weapon of a song that Deryck Whibley had been working on for years... albeit one they didn't even know how to play!

This is the true story of SUM 41's classic 'Fat Lip' featuring an ALL NEW interview with Deryck Whibley for Encore.

Also features footage from the Chris Demakes a Podcast Episode 31

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, Justin Drew Bieber was just a young boy being raised by a single mother and his grandparents in Stratford, Ontario.

From the young age of seven, Justin took a shine to music, first singing around the house, then performing in front of others at church. He taught himself how to play piano, guitar and trumpet, and took drum lessons. Soon after he began covering popular songs. Then one day he took his guitar with him and began singing on the streets of Stratford.

Busking led to Justin competing in the Stratford Star talent contest when he was 12 years old. He sang a cover of Ne-Yo’s “So Sick” that earned him a respectable second place. His mom filmed his performance and proceeded to upload the video to YouTube for family and friends to see. But soon it wouldn’t just be friends and family watching his videos.

Singing the songs of Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake and more and posting homemade videos of the performances online, Justin was beginning to build an audience at the age of 12. He was one of the first real YouTube sensations. And he was getting noticed. Some executives from a few record labels reached out to Justin’s mom, but she couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer to look over any offers so they were forced to pass. And then along came a guy named Scooter.

This is the true story of Justin Bieber's first hit 'One Time' with newly unearthed audio from Justin Bieber, including interviews from the Encore team.

Contains audio from 'And The Writer Is... Tricky Stewart!'

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 crossroads - She’d released two albums as a teenager in ‘05 and ‘06, and although her second record A Girl Like Me achieved a decent amount of success in the US, and ended up becoming her first Platinum album in Canada, critics were starting to become… well… critical of her sound. 

Despite the fact that she was still so young, Some critics were growing tired of the Caribbean sound she’d made her name on with ‘Music of the Sun’ and ‘A Girl Like Me’  and some were anticipating that Rihanna would pan out to be nothing more than a Beyoncé knockoff. 

Still only 19, Rihanna just needed a chance to grow, and she had the superstar quality that afforded her the support she needed to bet on herself, and experiment with her sound. 

In the early days of 2007, Rihanna began working on her third album, which would of course go on to be titled ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ - a not so subtle message to the world that she was shedding the innocent-girl image that she was synonymous with. 

This is the true story of the monster first single off of that album 'Umbrella' ft. Jay Z. With newly unearthed audio and additional clips from MTV News and Genius.

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 the record for most number 2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. He also ranks fifth behind the likes of the Beatles and Mariah Carey with the most number 1 singles.

By the mid-2000s when Drake embarked on a rap career, Canadians already knew him from Degrassi The Next Generation. Of course, His name wasn’t Drake back then, it was Aubrey Graham, a teenager from the Toronto neighbourhood of Forest Hill, who caught his break when he was cast as Jimmy Brooks. 

Aubrey left the show during its eighth season to pursue music full time. As much as he had become a star on Canadian television as an actor, he wanted to go global with his music career. 

Drake dropped his first mixtape, Room For Improvement, on Valentine’s Day 2006. He was still working on Degrassi at the time, but had already made some connections in the rap game. Drake would wait a year before he followed up Room For Improvement. But in that time he had already made connections that would help him advance his music. Among the producers he brought in to make beats for him were 9th Wonder, who had worked with Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child and De La Soul, Atlanta’s DJ Toomp and a couple of local guys: Boi-1da once, and Noah “40” Shebib.

Jas Prince was an aspiring rap mogul from Houston, Texas looking to become a legit rap mogul like his father, J Prince, founder of Rap-A-Lot Records. 

While he was looking around MySpace one day in 2006, he found Drake’s artist page and saw a lot of promise in the tracks posted. He played some of the songs for his dad, J Prince, but he couldn’t hear what Jas was so excited about.

Then one day Jas shared Drake’s music with New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne, who had just struck gold with his album Tha Carter II. At first, Wayne wasn’t impressed.

Jas persisted though, and months later on New Year’s Day, he played Wayne a few more songs in the car, one of which was Drake’s remix of Wayne’s own “A Milli,” a song that had yet to be released commercially. That was the moment Drake became legit.

Jas put Lil Wayne in touch with Drake and the next day Drake was flying to Houston to meet with one of his heroes.

Drake ended up joining Lil Wayne for his I AM Music Tour at the end of 2008 and the Toronto kid quickly became the New Orleans legend’s protege. 

Every opportunity they could get they would record new tracks, some of which ended up on Drake’s next project. So Far Gone, Drake’s third mixtape, was released on February 13, 2009. One song on the mixtape stood out more than others and it began to catch fire, leading Drake to make a video with one of the biggest artists in the world.

This is the true story of Drake's 'Best I Ever Had' with newly unearthed audio from MUCH, as well as sound from Rap Radar, MTV News, Myspace, and CBS News.

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-faced R&B up-and-comer to bona fide casanova.

By the age of 20, he was winning Billboard and Soul Train Awards for his music, but he was also making a name for himself as one of the best dancers in the business, taking cues from his idol Michael Jackson.

Throughout 2001, Usher showed he could evolve as an artist while giving his fan base what they wanted. His next record, 8701 was a smash hit, outselling My Way and establishing Usher as one of the biggest stars on the planet. Songs like “U Got It Bad” and “U Remind Me” both topped the Hot 100 for multiple weeks.

But having finished touring 8701 in 2002, Usher felt the need to get back to music. And this time he wanted to leave an even bigger mark. 

Over the better part of 2003, Usher and his expansive pool of producers recorded 40 tracks for his next album. But there was a problem. Usher presented songs to Arista but the album was rejected by the label. Not only that, but Usher’s label boss, L.A. Reid, had reservations about the R&B star’s appeal to audiences. He told Usher to go back into the studio and record some bangers. But Usher was feeling dejected. 

Usher needed a hit. And he would find one with some help from the King of Crunk. This is the true story of Usher's Yeah! With newly unearthed audio from Mr. Entertainment himself.

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 ‘Country Grammar (Hot Sh*t)’ in early 2000, with album release plans on hold until he could prove to his label that he was worth the investment. 

He soon proved to be worth the investment and more, spawning 4 hit singles from his first record, and featured on a number of turn-of-the-century classics as well. 

While all pretty ubiquitous in their own right; none of these tracks went any higher than #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

Perhaps Nelly really *was* too tied to St. Louis, much like the label feared back in ‘99. 

Maybe what he needed to do to get that Chart topping single was to relocate… maybe he needed to move on from St. Louis and show the world what it was like in a place called Nellyville, because in Nellyville it was getting Hot.

This is the story of Nelly's iconic single 'Hot in Herre' with newly unearthed clips from Nelly Himself, and Interviews conducted by Encore's Myles Galloway.

Also includes audio from: The Fader, June 8th 2017.

Nelly Reveals The Secret History Behind "Hot In Herre"

Previous Encore episodes referenced: 

I'm Looking Crazy Right Now: The True Story of Beyoncé and Jay Z's 'Crazy in Love'

This Song is B-A-N-A-N-A-S: The True Story of Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl'

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 Take That, Westlife, and Boyzone, to the modern pretenders to the throne like JLS, The Wanted, and McFly - British and Irish boy bands have been influencing music and pop culture consistently for more than 6 decades.

But let’s be honest, there is only ONE DIRECTION this episode could be headed when talking about a British and Irish Boy Band that took the world by storm - this is the story of One Direction’s very first single ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ with newly unearthed audio from Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne

If you want to see Myles' Journey opening for 1D in Dubai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMaJJYnP4y0 

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 music was obsessed with teen pop, nu-metal and hip-hop, Nelly emerged with a genre-hopping sound that felt very much her own. She struck gold with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which spawned two hit singles - “I’m Like A Bird” and “Turn Off The Light”. 

For her second album, 2003’s Folklore - Nelly chose to take a more focused path for her music. Crediting her pregnancy at the time as the reason for its mellower direction, Nelly wanted to create “a modern folk record.” 

Folklore featured a variety of instruments like the banjo, the Portuguese ukulele, and the dulcimer, as well as “Força,” which Nelly sung in her parents’ native Portuguese. That song even gained a ton of exposure when it was chosen as the official theme of EURO 2004, held in Portugal… But in the end, the album proved to be both a critical and commercial disappointment. 

Luckily Nelly already had a vision for her next release. 

Nelly wanted to make something that was “smooth but sexy, universal, epic, iconic,” she told Fader in 2016. Madonna’s massive comeback album, Ray of Light, was her main inspiration and the template she began working from.

During a meeting with Interscope president Jimmy Iovine, Nelly was referred to work with Timbaland, who was riding high from his recent success with Justin Timberlake.

As the album was taking shape, Nelly began to see she was changing as an artist. 

The whole world was about to see a new side to Nelly Furtado. And she was ready to show it off. Released in April 2006, the first single from Nelly Furtado’s third album, Loose, introduced a new era for the 27-year-old singer. 

This is the story of Nelly Furtado's hit song 'Promiscuous' ft. Timbaland, with newly unearthed audio from Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, and Director X.