CanConCore 4: The Story of soulDecision's 'Faded'

Formed in Vancouver by Trevor Guthrie, David Bowman and Ken Lewko, Indecision would sign with Universal Music and rebrand themselves as soulDecsion (lowercase S, uppercase D) in 1999 as to avoid conflict with an American band who had already squatted on the name. Styled and Marketed as a boyband f…

CanConCore 3: The Story of Sugar Jones' 'Days Like That'

Do you remember when days were like that? More specifically, do you remember Sugar Jones and their song “Days Like That”?   If not, well, you are forgiven. Sugar Jones only existed for a couple years at the beginning of the millennium. But in that short stint they dropped what is widely considered …

CanConCore 2: The Story of Bran Van 3000's 'Drinking In LA'

Last week on Encore - the CanConCore special edition - we focused on an absolutely absurd teeny-bopper anthem from the year 2000 - and a real crown jewel of obscure Canadian Pop Music - B4-4’s ‘Get Down’.  While it was a wild and wacky song (and video) in its own right - nobody would be rushing to…

CanConCore 1: The Story of B4-4's 'Get Down'

Welcome to a special episode of Encore where we take a look at some of the iHeartRadio team’s favourite Canadian songs that you may have forgotten about. We’re calling it CanConCore… get it?  This week we have the story of B4-4’s “Get Down”! Remember the year 2000? If we weren’t worried about Y2K…

More Than You Bargained For: The Story of Fall Out Boy's 'Sugar We're Goin' Down'

Ah the many faces of pop punk…  Here on Encore we’ve explored a wide range of songs that fall under the genre’s umbrella; from the sounds of Green Day’s Rock-Opera-Political thriller American Idiot to SUM 41’s metal-worshipping, Jackass-inspired Fat Lip, to Avril Lavigne’s quirky and jealousy ridd…

A Titanic Hit: The Story of Céline Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'

Céline Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' is Arguably the most iconic ballad of the past 30 years. Despite everything Céline Dion has accomplished in her incredible career, which spans 45 years, if you can believe it, 'My Heart Will Go On' is without a doubt the song that everybody knows by her - and if …

Brighter Than The Sun: The Story of fun.'s 'We Are Young'

Success in the music industry is a funny thing isn’t it?  Whether you’re a Legendary Icon of the industry, or a One Hit Wonder, Pop Music truly feeds on a ‘what have you done for me lately’ model, where you’re almost always only as popular as your last hit. When you hit a certain level of success…

It's Been... The Story of Barenaked Ladies' 'One Week'

It’s beeeeennnn… one week since the last episode of Encore, and now here we are with another one. Our 79th episode in total - yes we counted.  Now, in music, novelty acts don’t tend to last very long. In fact, the average best before date of a novelty act lasts only about as long as a box of Kraft…

Her Everything: The Story of Ariana Grande's 'One Last Time'

There are few artists that truly define ‘pop’ music and popstardom like one Ariana Grande; One of the most streamed artists of all time. She is, after all the first female artist to have no less than 20 songs hit a billion streams a pop. Needless to say, this streaming success is not the only metr…

Cool Kids Never Have The Time: The Story of The Smashing Pumpkins' '1979'

A great pop song can evoke a universal feeling that just about every listener out there feels. You can make a case for just about any song and any feeling, but has a song ever encapsulated the feeling of being a teenager as accurately as the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979”? When he wrote it, at the age …