Sash! timeless anthem ‘Encore une fois’ turns 29 years old

Sash! have officially hit a major milestone as ‘Encore une fois’ turns 29, and the track still stands as one of the defining Eurodance records of the 1990s. Moreover, few songs from that era managed to balance underground club momentum with true mainstream impact the way this one did.

Sash! first released ‘Encore une fois’ in 1996 via Mighty Records, later positioning it as the second single from ‘It’s My Life – The Album’ (1997). The record features French vocals from Sabine Ohmes, and that instantly recognisable hook helped push it into heavy rotation across Europe. Additionally, the single reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1997, while also landing top 10 placements in multiple countries, and even hitting No. 1 in Greece and Ireland.

Across the Atlantic, ‘Encore une fois’ became a serious club record, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and spending 14 weeks on the chart overall. However, part of its legacy also comes from the track’s multiple versions, including the Original Edit and the harder Future Breeze edit. In a twist that feels very 90s, a pressing-plant error swapped the first two tracks on early releases, which accidentally pushed the Future Breeze version into the spotlight and helped make it the unofficial “main” mix.

The music video, directed by Oliver Sommer, remains a time capsule of the era, and by mid-2025 it had passed 24 million views on YouTube. Ultimately, ‘Encore une fois’ didn’t just soundtrack club nights, it helped define the sound of an entire generation.