Released June 19, 2001 Return of Dragon
(2001) Last Dragon
(2015) Release date 19 June 2001 | Length 42:19 Artist Sisqó Label Def Soul | |
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Recorded August 2000 — April 2001 Genres Contemporary R&B, Hip hop music, Rhythm and blues Producers Warryn Campbell, Teddy Riley, Jason Edmonds Contemporary R&B albums Dru World Order, Enter the Dru, InDRUpendence Day, Dru Hill, Mirror Mirror | ||
Sisqo return of dragon full album
Return of Dragon is the second studio album by American R&B recording artist Sisqó of Dru Hill, released on June 19, 2001 on Def Soul Records. The album did very well on the charts but its singles, "Can I Live" and "Dance for Me", were commercial disappointments compared to his debut album, Unleash the Dragon (1999). Despite the fact that Sisqó announced a third single, "Dream", this never materialized due to the commercial failure of the album. The song "Without You" was originally planned to be featured on Dru Hill's third album, Dru World Order but tensions grew between the group while working on the album and it was put on hold. Return of Dragon was later certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for excess of one million copies. Return of Dragon would be Sisqó's last album until Last Dragon (2015).
Contents
Critical reception
Return of Dragon garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the received an average rating of 61, based on 9 reviews.
David Crowley of Vibe praised the more romantic songs off the album for showcasing Sisqó's vocal abilities, concluding that, "Return of the Dragon largely shows Sisqó's growth as a musician and a man. And you don't even need a thong to enjoy it." AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier commended the record's songwriters and producers for crafting a lean track list that offers catchy singles, calling it "an energetic, slick, and stylish album with plenty of subtle sex and overt gloss — everything early-2000s pop listeners demand in their superstars." He concluded that "In short, Sisqó gives you exactly what you want — assuming you liked his debut album — offering a can't-miss collection of should-be hits and even more of his ceaseless crooning. " Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly praised the album's mixture of raunchy sex anthems and sensitive love ballads, calling it "a vast improvement over a debut that felt as artistically flimsy as the subject matter of 'Thong Song'." Barry Walters, writing for Rolling Stone, said that despite the commendable efforts of the producers to experiment with R&B instrumentations, they fall under the weight of studio mixing and Sisqó's shortcomings as a lyricist, calling it "a messy album, one that's instrumentally inventive, melodically underdeveloped, vocally overcooked and lyrically just plain lazy." Victoria Segal of NME was critical of the glossy production and so-called romantic lyrics throughout the record.
Songs
1Intro0:54
2Not Afraid2:58
3Infatuated3:30