''The Return'' is the third studio album by American R&B artist

Ruben Studdard Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of ''American Idol'' and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of ...

and was released on October 17, 2006, by

J Records J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG’s record labels in late 2008. It was distributed through the RCA Music Gro ...

. The first single, " Change Me", was released on July 31, 2006. The album was met with mixed reviews from critics who complained about the production and Ruben's performance. ''The Return'' debuted and peaked at number 8 but sales were low and it was the last album that Ruben released under J Records.

Controversy

Sony Music was accused of the unauthorized use of

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...

's copyrighted Toile as part of the disc's design. An undisclosed settlement was reached between

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

and LVMH, the parent company of Louis Vuitton.

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine found Studdard's performance throughout the album to be lazy with no melodies guiding him, concluding that "when combined with the dull productions, the results are deadly boring."

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

's Mark Edward Nero was also critical of Studdard's voice, saying that it had "no potency much of the time and almost sounds as generic as the vocals that accompany elevator music."

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' was more positive, saying that "The production's bland, but his sweet singing carries the day."

Commercial performance

The album debuted and peaked at number eight in the ''Billboard'' 200, with 71,000 copies sold in its first week of release. The album sold only 237,000 copies in the U.S. It subsequently became his last album with J Records, having been dropped from their line-up in December 2007.

Track listing

(co.) Co-producer ;Notes *Track 2, "Change Me", features additional background vocals by Steve Russell and Tank *Track 4, "Get U Loose", features additional background vocals by Steve Russell and Tank *Track 8, "Ain't No Party", features additional background vocals by Mocha ;Sample credits *"The Return (Of the Velvet Teddy Bear)", samples " You're The Reason Why", performed by The Ebonys, written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff *"Listen to Ya Heart", contains a portion of "

Foe tha Love of $ "Foe tha Love of $" is the second single by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, featuring Eazy-E, from their debut EP, ''Creepin on ah Come Up''. The song was produced by DJ Yella and executive produced by Eazy-E. "Foe tha Love of $" was a huge success for the ...

", performed by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony featuring Eazy-E, written by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Eazy-E

Personnel

Adapted from ''The Return'' liner notes. * Chris Gehringer: mastering ( Sterling Sound, NYC) * Anita Marisa Boriboon: art direction and

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

* Christian Lantry:

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

* Vincent "VJ" Lake: stylist * Mylah Morales: grooming * Chris LeBeau: photoshoot production *

Bre Scullark Brittany "Bre" Scullark (born April 26, 1985) is an American fashion model and actress. She became the last eliminated on ''America's Next Top Model, Cycle 5''. Early life Scullark was born in Harlem, New York. She began swimming competitively ...

: cover model

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Return, The 2006 albums Ruben Studdard albums J Records albums 19 Recordings albums Albums produced by Scott Storch Albums produced by Stargate Albums produced by the Underdogs (production team)