"Encore une fois" is a song by German DJ group Sash!. It was released in January 1997 as the second single from the album, It's My Life - The Album. It found huge success in clubs throughout the world and is one of Sash!'s biggest hits to date. The song also features vocals in French by German vocalist Sabine Ohmes. It was released in the UK in February 1997 and propelled itself to number 2 on the single charts, quickly earning a Gold certification. Throughout Europe, the track became a top-20 smash in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It peaked within the top-10 in Belgium, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden. In Ireland, the song reached the top of the charts. In the United States, the song became a club smash and hit number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart and stayed on the chart for fourteen weeks. Two main versions of the song exist. One is the original edit, which was used in the music video and appeared on Sash!'s debut albumIt's My Life. The second is the Future Breeze edit, which is a much harder version of the track and is the most popular with fans. It appears on Sash!'s best-of albums and as a bonus track on It's My Life. 11 years after it was first released the song again reached the top 40 in three countries as part of a mashup. The music from Sash!'s hit was combined with the vocals from Stunt's "Raindrops" to create a new track "Raindrops ". In 1998/1999, L'Oréal used this song for the promotion of their Elseve shampoo in TV advertisements. When the single was originally released, a pressing-plant error swapped the first two tracks thus giving the Future Breeze remix accidental success; it therefore became the official version.
Critical reception
Smash Hits said in their review, "Think Faithless' Insomnia in a trancey continental style." They added that the song is "big on the synth stabs, massive on bangin' 4/4 beats, huge on some husky French bird screaming, "Encore une fois!"."
Music video
The music video for "Encore une fois" was directed by Oliver Sommer. Two versions of the video exist, one with the Original Edit and one with a slightly shorter version of the Blunt Radio Edit. The former can be seen on 10th Anniversary's bonus DVD and the later can be seen on Altra Mode Music's official YouTube channel.
