Encore un soir () is the twenty-sixth studio album, and the fifteenth French-language album, by Canadian singer Celine Dion. Released by Columbia Records on 26 August 2016, it includes songs produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, Jacques Veneruso, Zaho, Silvio Lisbonne, Humberto Gatica, and Scott Price. The lead single, "Encore un soir", was issued on 24 May 2016 and reached number one in several Francophone countries.
The album received positive critical reviews and became a major commercial success. It topped the charts in France, Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland, earning diamond certification in France, double platinum in Canada, and platinum in Belgium and Switzerland. It finished 2016 as the best-selling album in Belgium, the second best-selling album in France (and the year's top-selling album by a female artist), the seventh best-selling album in Switzerland, and the eighth best-selling album in Canada, where it was the only Francophone release in the year-end top ten. Encore un soir also became Dion's first French-language album to appear on the US Billboard charts and has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Background In August 2015, Dion's manager, Aldo Giampaolo, announced that the singer would release French- and English-language albums in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The French album would include mainly new material, as well as a cover of Robert Charlebois' song "Ordinaire", and a remastered version of "Trois heures vingt", which originally appeared on the singer's 1984 studio album Mélanie. On 19 May 2016, Dion's official website began revealing excerpts from the lyrics of the lead single, "Encore un soir", written by Jean-Jacques Goldman. The single was released on 24 May 2016. Its cover art, revealed on 17 May 2016, is identical to the album's cover.
During a series of interviews with various news outlets on 12 May 2016 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Dion announced that the upcoming French album would be released in August 2016. On 1 July 2016, the track list was published by several news websites, noting a standard edition with 12 tracks, and a deluxe edition with 15. On 9 November 2015, celinedion.com launched a contest allowing fans to submit a song for possible inclusion on the album. On 2 December 2015, after more than 1,000 votes, Dion's website announced that the winning submission was Daniel Picard's track "À la plus haute branche", which would be included on the album.
Content Encore un soir was recorded between June 2015 and June 2016. In the middle of the recording process, in January 2016, Dion's husband and manager, René Angélil, died. The album was released over seven months later, in August 2016. Dion and Angélil's plan for a new collaboration with French artist Jean-Jacques Goldman materialised with "Encore un soir", marking their first reunion in more than 12 years. Released as the lead single, the title track became both a commercial and critical success. For the first time, the French artists Francis Cabrel and Serge Lama co-wrote a song for Dion ("Plus qu'ailleurs"). Jacques Veneruso, one of her most frequent collaborators in recent years, also wrote and composed a new song ("Si c'était à refaire"). Grand Corps Malade contributed two titles, "L'étoile" and "Les yeux au ciel", continuing his collaboration with Dion that began on Sans attendre. Dion also worked with new writers and producers, including Zaho and LNT Musik (Ludovic Carquet and Therry Marie-Louise), who wrote and produced "Ma faille", "Tu sauras", and "À vous" (on the deluxe edition). Other new collaborators include Florent Mothe and Mutine (Manon Romiti and Silvio Lisbonne), who wrote "L'étoile", "Les yeux au ciel", and "Le bonheur en face".
Dion sought to pay tribute to Quebec's musical heritage by reinterpreting the classic Robert Charlebois song "Ordinaire". Marc Dupré also worked with Dion on "Je nous veux" and "Toutes ces choses". Daniel Picard's song "À la plus haute branche" was selected from more than 4,000 submissions following a contest launched on Dion's website. These Quebec-origin songs were produced by Humberto Gatica and Scott Price. In addition to "À vous", the deluxe edition includes "Ma force", written by Vianney, and a remastered version of "Trois heures vingt", Dion's 1984 recording. "Trois heures vingt" was originally recorded for the Mélanie album. It appears on Encore un soir because Angélil was particularly fond of the song, which was played during his funeral service at exactly 3:20 pm, marking the start of the ceremony. It also opened Dion's Summer Tour 2016. Other songs from the album performed on the tour included "Encore un soir", "Ordinaire", and "À la plus haute branche" (in Canada).
Singles "Encore un soir" was released as the lead single from the album on 24 May 2016. It received positive reviews from music critics and topped the charts in France, Quebec, and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It also reached the top 10 in Luxembourg and Belgium. On 12 August 2016, the audio of "Trois heures vingt" was uploaded on YouTube/Vevo. The following week, the song entered the chart in France at number 73. On 19 August 2016, the lyric video was also released. On 11 October 2016, "L'étoile" was announced as the second single in Canada. In 2017, "L'étoile" was released as the third single in France and Belgium. On 14 October 2016, "Si c'était à refaire" was sent to radio stations in France and Belgium as the second single there. On 13 February 2017, "Je nous veux" was announced as the third single in Canada. "Les yeux au ciel" was released as the fourth single in France on 14 April 2017, and in Canada in June 2017.
Promotion In November 2015, Dion's official website announced the first shows of her upcoming Summer Tour 2016. She toured Belgium, France, and Canada between 20 June 2016 and 31 August 2016, performing a total of 28 shows. The sold-out tour received positive reviews, with Dion performing several songs she had not performed live before, mainly from the 1 fille & 4 types album. The setlist included only a few songs from the upcoming Encore un soir album: "Trois heures vingt", "Encore un soir", "Ordinaire", and "À la plus haute branche" (added in Canada). On 7 September 2016, Dion performed "Encore un soir" and "Les yeux au ciel" for the first time on television on M6's Music Show – 100% tubes 2016 in France. On 1 October 2016, she also performed "Encore un soir" and "Les yeux au ciel" on Le Grand Show on France 2. Both shows were recorded in June 2016 while Dion was touring France. In the summer of 2017, she toured Europe with her Celine Dion Live 2017 concert tour.
Critical reception
Encore un soir received widespread critical acclaim. AllMusic awarded it four out of five stars, describing the album as "one of the subtlest and most moving collections in her catalog". Nicolas Houle of La Presse wrote that "Encore un soir", written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, demonstrates notable restraint and subtlety, calling it one of the album's strongest tracks. He also praised "Ordinaire", originally performed by Robert Charlebois, as well as the two songs written by Grand Corps Malade ("L'étoile" and "Les yeux au ciel"), and "À la plus haute branche" by Daniel Picard.
Alain de Repentigny of La Presse described the album as carefully arranged and highlighted "Plus qu'ailleurs" (written by Francis Cabrel and Serge Lama), "L'étoile" (with music by Florent Mothe and Mutine), "Encore un soir", "Je nous veux", "Toutes ces choses" (both written by Marc Dupré), "Si c'était à refaire" (by Jacques Veneruso), "Tu sauras" (by Zaho), and "À la plus haute branche". Benjamin Locoge of Paris Match also gave the album a positive review. He praised "Plus qu'ailleurs", "À la plus haute branche", and the new feminine adaptation of "Ordinaire".
Accolades On 26 September 2016, Dion was nominated for the NRJ Music Award in the category Francophone Female Artist of the Year. On 18 October 2016, Encore un soir was nominated for the RTL Album of the Year. The album was also nominated for the Swiss Music Award in the category Best International Album. It received two nominations at the Juno Awards of 2017: Album of the Year and Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. In September 2017, Dion was nominated for four Félix Awards: Female Vocalist of the Year, Adult Contemporary Album of the Year, Best Selling Album of the Year, and Most Popular Song of the Year ("Encore un soir"). The following month, Encore un soir won two Félix Awards for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year and Best Selling Album of the Year.
Commercial performance The album was a commercial success. Encore un soir debuted at number one in France with 218,684 units sold. It sold 216,555 copies (208,069 physical and 8,486 downloads), plus 2,129 units from streaming. Encore un soir had the second-largest opening week of 2016 and of the decade. In April 2016, Renaud entered the chart with 287,323 units sold. Before that, only Johnny Hallyday achieved higher first-week sales. In November 2002, his album À la vie, à la mort ! sold 305,634 copies in France. With Encore un soir, Dion also achieved the highest first-week sales for a female artist in France. In its second week, the album remained at number one with 90,408 units sold (86,141 sales and 4,267 streaming), bringing the total to 309,092 units. After two weeks, it was already the third best-selling album of the year in France. In its third week, it stayed at number one with 56,204 units sold (54,900 sales and 1,304 streaming), reaching 358,900 units in total. In the fourth week, it dropped to number two with 32,825 units sold (31,849 sales and 975 streaming), reaching 391,725 units. However, it remained at number one on the Physical Albums Chart in France. In the fifth week, Encore un soir returned to number one with 22,980 units sold (22,188 sales and 792 streaming). The following week, it stayed at number one with 22,921 units sold (21,509 sales and 1,412 streaming), reaching 437,626 units. In the seventh week, it remained at number one with 18,806 units sold (17,590 sales and 1,216 streaming).
The next week, Encore un soir fell to number three, selling 14,521 units (13,152 sales and 1,369 streaming), bringing the total to 470,953 units (463,884 pure sales and 7,069 streaming). In the ninth week, the album dropped to number eight with 11,155 copies sold. In the 10th week, it rose to number seven with 9,329 copies sold. The following week, Encore un soir fell to number eight with 9,408 copies sold. After 11 weeks, the album had sold 503,105 units in France (493,776 pure sales and 9,329 streaming). On 11 November 2016, it was certified diamond for sales exceeding 500,000 copies. In the 12th week, Encore un soir fell to number 10 with 8,588 copies sold, bringing pure sales to 502,364 units. In the 13th week, the album fell to number 12 with 8,078 copies sold, bringing pure sales to 510,442 units. The next week, it rose to number 11 with 10,700 units sold. In the 15th week, the album returned to the top 10 at number seven with 19,507 copies sold. The following week, Encore un soir rose to number five with 31,866 copies sold, bringing pure sales to 572,515 units. In the 17th week, the album climbed to number three with 48,398 copies sold, bringing pure sales to 620,913 units. In the final week of 2016, Encore un soir rose to number two with 27,493 copies sold. It became the second best-selling album of 2016 in France with 662,047 copies sold. In the first two weeks of 2017, the album sold 7,103 copies (number five) and 4,955 units (number seven). In the third week of 2017, Encore un soir fell to number 13.