Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Alternative Press	8/10
Entertainment Weekly	A
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	8.6/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	7/10

Poses is the second studio album by the American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through DreamWorks Records in June 2001. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Pierre Marchand, with select tracks produced by Propellerheads' Alex Gifford ("Shadows"), Ethan Johns ("California"), Damian LeGassick ("The Tower of Learning"), and Greg Wells ("Across the Universe").

Poses contains ornate, piano-driven arrangements that cite a wide variety of musical sources, from "indie pop to Gershwin to trip-hop and back again." The album took a year and a half to record, with most of it written during Wainwright's six-month stay at the Chelsea Hotel. While Poses continues the enveloping sound established by Wainwright's debut album, collaborations between Wainwright and various producers and guest musicians pushed it in different directions, resulting in drum loops, "gritty beats in unexpected places", and a "fuller, live" sound. Using fewer operatic elements than the previous album, in an attempt to create a more radio-friendly pop record, Poses addresses debauchery and love in less esoteric means. Guests on the album include Wainwright's sister, Martha Wainwright, fellow singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson, and rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur.

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Wikipedia