One More Time (Daft Punk song)

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk cited Romanthony as an influence on their track "Teachers" and met him at the 1996 Winter Music Conference, where they became friends. They sought to collaborate with him on their debut album Homework but initially faced difficulty convincing him due to their then-unknown status. Despite this, Romanthony expressed enthusiasm for their work.^[2] He later released the single "Hold On" on Bangalter's label, Roulé, prior to the release of Daft Punk's single.^[3]

Daft Punk considered "One More Time" to be the link connecting their previous studio album Homework to Discovery.^[4] The song was completed in 1998, where it remained "sitting on a shelf" until its eventual release on 13 November 2000.^[5][6] It prominently features a vocal performance written and sung by Romanthony.^[7] As stated by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, "we thought the funkiness of his voice fit the funkiness of the music."^[8]

The song was considered an example of French house's frequent use of audio filters, featuring heavily processed auto-tuned vocals. Thomas Bangalter, a member of Daft Punk, said: "A lot of people complain about musicians using Auto-Tune. It reminds me of the late '70s when musicians in France tried to ban the synthesizer... What they didn't see was that you could use those tools in a new way instead of just for replacing the instruments that came before." According to Bangalter, Romanthony liked the effect and was interested in innovation.^[9] Bangalter also elaborated:

We care less now than we used to about what critics say about our music. We liked the track, Romanthony liked it, we can be disappointed about what they said about the song, but still we liked it. It's just music, it's just entertainment, and as long as we believe in it that's what is important. It's what we wanted to do. We love to be able to use instruments the way we want to. Criticising the Vocoder is like asking bands in the '60s, 'Why do you use the electric guitar?' It's just a tool... no big deal. Creation is interaction. The healthy thing is that people either loved it or hated it. At least people were not neutral. The worst thing when you make art is for people to not even be moved by it. Love and hate are interesting because it's deep and intense. It's one side of our music that people might be sensitive to and others might not.^[10]

The album version of the track includes a two-minute breakdown.^[11] Bangalter remarked that, "The break is so long it's not even the break. The song itself is the breakdown."^[12]

The single contains an eight-minute version of "One More Time" featuring extended vocals absent from the album version. An "unplugged" rendition was included in the 2003 remix album Daft Club. The remix album contains a remix of "Aerodynamic" by Daft Punk featuring elements of "One More Time". The "short radio edit" of "One More Time" from the single was later included in the 2006 compilation album Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005.^[21] Daft Punk performed "One More Time" on their Alive 2006/2007 tour; a performance was included on the live album Alive 2007.^[22]

"One More Time" appears in the 2003 animated film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, serving as a visual interpretation of Daft Punk's album Discovery. The film was co-written by Daft Punk and Cédric Hervet, and directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Hirotoshi Rissen, and Daisuke Nishio, under the visual supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. The song opens the film, introducing a pop band of humanoid, blue-skinned aliens consisting of guitarist Arpegius, drummer Baryl, keyboardist Octave, and bassist Stella. They perform a concert in front of an auditorium filled with thousands of extraterrestrial spectators also sporting blue skin. Towards the video's conclusion, spaceships invade the venue under the command of a mysterious, darkly attired figure.^[29][30]

An "unplugged" rendition by Romanthony was included in the 2003 remix album Daft Club. The remix album also features a remix of "Aerodynamic" by Daft Punk, incorporating elements of "One More Time".^[29] The "unplugged" rendition was unfavorably reviewed, with Ben Cardew of Vice saying that it was "as celebratory as a party popper firing off a balcony" and that it was "like Daft Punk as played by David Brent, which sounds brilliant but really isn't."^[31] Nick Sylvester of Pitchfork sarcastically stated, "It's not like Romanthony's gonna do something stupid like do an acoustic version of the song and actually sing without those vocal effects– that would be suicide!"^[32] Additionally, a "short radio edit" of the song was included in the 2006 compilation album Musique Vol. 1 1993–2005. Daft Punk remixed the song during their Alive 2006/2007 tour, both with "Aerodynamic" and as part of a mix with "Human After All", "Together" and "Music Sounds Better with You." This remixes were included on the live album Alive 2007.

"One More Time" was one of a few songs to debut at number-one on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles chart. It topped the single sales charts of Daft Punk's native France, Canada, and Portugal, and the dance charts of the UK, Ireland, Flanders, and the United States. The song almost topped the UK and Scottish Singles Chart, as well as Australia's dance chart, but stalled at number two. Elsewhere in Europe, the song was in the top-ten of sales chart in ten countries and an airplay chart for Poland. On the Danish singles chart and the Dutch Top 40, it almost was, but stopped at number eleven. It also made the bottom position of the top-ten in the Oceanic countries of Australia and New Zealand. The song's lowest peak on a single sales chart was in Sweden, where it reached number 26 during a 14-week run on a top-60 chart.

In the United States, "One More Time" peaked at number 61 on a 16-week run on the Billboard Hot 100 (tying with previous Daft Punk hit, "Around the World"), which, unlike most other national singles charts at the time that were sales-only, factored in both sales and radio. Its appearance on the chart was mainly due to sales; on the component chart for the format, it reached number 17 on its 14th week and lasted 26 weeks, exiting at number 71.^[39][40] By June 2013 it had sold 1,052,000 digital copies there, and became Daft Punk's first million-seller.^[41] On the Hot 100's top-75 component chart for radio, however, it only spent one week at number 71.^[42]

"One More Time" was listed at number five on Pitchfork's top 500 songs of the 2000s, with the magazine writing that it "distill[s] 25 years of pop and house into five and a half minutes of first-time joy."^[43] Rolling Stone listed it at number 33 of their top 100 songs of the decade (2000–2009)^[44] as well as number 307 on its amended "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in May 2010. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the greatest dance record of all time.^[45] The song was also ranked at number 11 on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual year-end critics' poll.^[46] In 2021, Billboard magazine ranked it number one on its list of the 20 greatest Daft Punk songs.^[47] In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked "One More Time" number two in their "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" list.^[48] In 2024, The Guardian named it the best French touch track.^[49] In 2025, Billboard ranked "One More Time" the third-best dance song of all time.^[50]

*Note: The radio edit is identical in length to the album version, but ends with a fade out.