Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(60/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
BBC Music	(positive)
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	C
The Guardian
Houston Chronicle	C
Slant Magazine
Stylus Magazine	D+
Uncut
Yahoo! Music UK

Patience is the fifth and final studio album by the English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 18 March 2004. The much delayed follow-up to Older, at the time of its release it was considered Michael's comeback album since it was his first album composed of original material since 1996, and his first for Sony Music since 1990's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1.

Patience spanned six singles. The first two, "Freeek!" and "Shoot the Dog", were already released in 2002 by Polydor, when the album was originally due.

On 17 November 2003, Michael re-signed with Sony Music, the company he had left after a legal battle in which Michael claimed that his contract was stifling him and was keeping him in "professional slavery". As a result, his contract was sold by Sony to rival record companies Virgin Records and DreamWorks Records on 14 July 1995.

Patience went on sale in most of the world in late March 2004 and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and at number 2 in Australia on 22 March. It became one of the fastest-selling albums in the UK, selling over 275,000 copies in the first week. The album went on sale in the US on 18 May 2004, however, it did not contain "Patience Pt. 2" and "Shoot the Dog". It debuted in the US at number 29 but after many TV appearances, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, the following week, it reached its chart peak of number 12. As of 2006, the album sold 381,000 in the United States. It sold around four million copies worldwide, and contained six singles.

The first single "Freeek!" had already reached number one in Italy, Spain and Denmark in March 2002 and reaching the top ten in the UK and top five in Australia. The album features a remixed version called "Freeek! '04".

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