Reason

While her debut, Northern Star saw the former Spice Girl (and the one with the best voice) asserting her “rock” credentials and distancing herself from the frilly pop that had made her a world-wide star, Reason sees her come to terms with her past. With a team of mainly LA songwriters and producers on board, including the ubiquitous Marius de Vries, this is unquestionably a pop record.

While there’s nothing as compellingly catchy as her biggest hit, ‘Never Be The Same Again’, to her credit she doesn’t go for the quick-fix, lets-rush-to-the-chorus option. The current single, ‘Here It Comes Again’(co-written with former Blow Monkey Dr Robert) is a mid-tempo grower underpinned by a Beatles-like guitar riff. The unmistakeable footprints of Greg Alexander are writ loudly all over the brassy ‘On The Horizon’ while ‘Positively Somewhere’ is spoiled by the kind of trendy, faux-cheery sentiments that can make you feel like killing someone. At least two numbers – the poppy ‘Lose Myself In You’, and the epic ballad ‘Do I’ – are closer to the Spice Girls than she’d want to admit, while the plaintive title-track, featuring just piano, strings and a nostalgic melody points to a world-weary “maturity”.

Though it lacks a singular songwriting voice - there are far too many collaborations here to make it cohesive – Reason falls together mainly due to Mel C’s muscular vocal performance and a handful of strong songs.

Not bad but far from essential.