Melanie C
Reason

THE REVIEW

For someone like Melanie Chisholm, who achieves all the success she wants very quickly, the second solo album is a new test. Sometimes being a star at twenty means not being able to handle popularity very well and eventually finding yourself full of frustrations. "Reason" is released in 2003, when Melanie is 29 years old, and offers a straightforward image of the English singer, without many frills, at a time in her life when it's necessary to tidy things up. And the solution is to rely on others, seeking comfort and gratification in a genuine relationship, devoid of superficiality.

This album reviews some of these attempts, starting with the opening track "Here It Comes Again", a song with a solemn and singularly powerful stride for the pop context in which it is still found; Melanie's voice is rusty, effective even when she intones sentimental song clichés that might seem worn out ("Don't give up on something you've never had before / you didn't succeed but we could make it together"). And in the title track, "Reason", her voice is in the foreground, accompanied by the piano, a musical metaphor of two people seeking understanding ("Please, come and take me away / detach me from myself for a while / Maybe when I'm older / I'll understand the reason").

The album continues along good level pop rock coordinates but one could have expected more: less aggressive than the previous "Northern Star," both in terms of sounds and lyrics, the record generates fewer hits (in fact, "Here It Comes Again" is perhaps the only one) and less sales success. There are notable episodes, including "Home" and "Let's Love" at the end of the album, with a return to rougher atmospheres marked by the presence of guitars, but overall it doesn't go beyond a decent making and good craftsmanship.

After "Reason," the last record release for a major label (Virgin Records), Melanie goes independent by founding her own independent label and taking on the production and distribution burdens. A curious path from mainstream to indie: usually the opposite happens, but not for someone like her.