Right after coming back from the traditional trip to Barbados, Melanie was dating a unknown man until then... days later his name was published: Thomas Starr, an English man, a building company director in Hetfordshire.

The working for the second album had already begun and Melanie was photographed several times around Los Angeles.

In March she attended Liza Minnelli’s and David Guest’s wedding, escorted by her new boyfriend Tom (Thomas Starr).

Rumours came up saying that Mel would sing the World Cup’s theme song, "Who Invented Fish And Chip (Pop It In The Onion Bag)", what didn’t happen.

Ever since March 2002 rumours that one of the songs from the new album was going to call Here It Comes Again appeared.

In April the soundtrack of the movie Bend It Like Beckham was released, including a new version for Melanie’s Independence Day. The song was never released before but it was well known by the fans as Melanie used to sing it at her gigs. Mel went to premiere of the movie, which also has I Turn To You playing in one of its scenes.

Sadly, on April 25th Lisa Left-Eye Lopes, member of TLC who sang with Melanie in Never Be The Same Again passed away in a car accident. It happened in Honduras, where she was on vacation.

Melanie took part in the re-opening of the alternative medical center Women & Health in June, showing up for a photoshoot.

Many song titles that would supposedly be at the tracklist of Mel's second solo album started to appear in the press. Rumours said that the delay on the release was because the record company, Virgin Records, wanted Melanie to lose weight before starting with the promotion for the new album. Everything was denied by Melanie on her official site, saying that the label had nothing to do with her own will to lose weight: "I'm not signed to a modelling agency, for f**k's sake."

Melanie shows up without her golden tooth (the golden cape that covered her tooth) in October at the Playstation 2 launch party. She was invited by Guy Oseary.

Rumours that Melanie was going to have her tattoos removed by surgery also appeared and were also denied.

On November 12th the official website announces the title of the album: Reason! And also confirms the rumours that the song Help Me Help You by Holly Valance had been written by Mel and that Here It Comes Again was going to be the first single taken from Reason.

On November 14th Melanie attended MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona, Spain, to give Pink the award for best song alongside the singer Anastacia.

In interviews, Mel admitted that when she was suffering from depression she thought about abandoning her career but soon realised that music was her reason, and that’s why she gave the album this title, Reason.

Right in the beginning of December pictures of the making off the video for Here It Comes Again came up. The official website also announced the release dates for the album and the single.

2003 started with a fuss: Melanie and Tom went to The Circle Club in Manchester with 9 friends on Melanie’s 29th birthday. Thomas went to grab Melanie’s bag but ended up grabbing another woman’s. He was accused of supposedly trying to steal it and the woman made a scandal calling security that took Thomas outside the club, throwing him on the streets. Melanie went running after him, getting round the paparazzi. Both took a ride home with their friends and left home.

In January her new official website was launched and an exclusive interview about the release of the new album and a webchat were made available.

The Spice Girls reunite in February. Victoria made a dinner in her house to get all the girls together, including Geri Halliwell. The press speculated about the outcome of the conversation: a reunion tour or the release of a greatest hits. But the conversation didn’t develop new professional plans for the group.

Here It Comes Again, the first single from her second solo album, Reason, is released on February 24th.

With Here It Comes Again’s entrance at the charts in number 7, rumours appeared that Virgin Records was starting to get dissatisfied with Melanie. Melanie’s manager, Nancy Phillips, denied the information.

The second solo album, Reason, is released on March 10th and it's dedicated to Tom: “ Tom, I dedicate this album to you… you truly are my inspiration. I love you – Melanie”

The tour in the United Kingdom and Ireland begins in April and is very successful.

In May the Shepherd's Bush Empire gig was broadcasted live by the 3D version of the official website.

Also in May the British artist Peter Blake updated the legendary collage from the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band CD cover. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are still on the cover but the icons from the 20th century that surrounded them were replaced by several newest and more intimally related to Liverpool figures. Amongst them, Melanie C, the football player Mark Owen and the former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. This new collage was ordered by Tate Gallery as a part of the campaign to establish Liverpool as the European Capital of Culture.

In June Louis Walsh and Melanie C argued live on CD:UK. It all began when both were sitting next to each other for what was supposed to be a calm conversation about the new musical videos. But after Melanie said her negative views about Westlife, it was clear that she had just invited Louis, the boys' manager, to a fight. Louis suddenly started to defend the boys saying that they are the most successful boy band ever and calling Mel and her former mates “losers”.

The single On The Horizon is released on June 2nd. The fans complain that the single was suffering from bad distribution by Virgin Records because when they’d find the single in some stores, there were always only very few copies available.

With On The Horizon in the 14th position the rumours that Mel would soon be fired from Virgin started to get stronger.

Melanie starts to declare that she’s not satisfied with the record company, for not promoting neither the album nor the singles properly.

The song Let’s Love is chosen by Toyota to play in an ad for their new car in Japan. A special Japanese non-commercial single is released with the song on August 6th.

Melanie was already shooting the video for the next single Yeh Yeh Yeh when she was invited to participate on a sports reality show called The Games. The main goal of The Games was to show many sports competition between celebrities that would receive votes from the viewers via telephone, what would raise founds for the charities chosen by each celebrity. When accepting the invitation, Melanie went to a house in Sheffield especially built for the show where the celebrities would live for a week.

In August, the training sessions for the sports competitions at The Games began, orientated by Olympic coaches.

During the training for the speed skating, Melanie crashed her head into a Perspex wall. A photographer said: “She was terrible on ice. She had her work cut out just keeping upright. Then she skated right into a screen by the side of the rink. Her nose got squashed against it and she let out a yelp. Her manage wouldn’t let us take photos of her.”

The show began on September 8th.

On September 11th during a judo fight against Miss World Azra Akin, Melanie fell and ruptured 3 ligaments on her right knee. She was urgently taken to the hospital and had to have surgery done to reconstruct the ligaments with her own hamstring, metal, screwers and clamps. She spent a few weeks without being able to walk and had to wear a brace (a splint with hinges at the side). in her leg for a while.

On The Games’ last day the participants made a tribute to Mel, wearing shirts saying “We love you, Mel!” Harvey, who was the man’s winner, said that he would buy 30 copies of Yeh Yeh Yeh once it was released!

With all that happened the single was postponed several times until it became a double A-side including the ballad Melt. A slower song that Melanie would be able to promote without having to move around so much on stage at TV shows.

The performance of Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh (released finally on November 10th) in the charts was the worst of Melanie’s career, debuting in number 27. The single had very little promotion, with only a few performances on TV.

More rumours that Mel would be fired from Virgin Records came in the press.

Melanie goes to her mother’s hose in Liverpool to recover from the accident and the tabloids report rumours that she could be unable to walk for 18 months! Soon Melanie went to GMTV and cleared that she’d be back to work in no time.

The end-of-the-year tour in Germany, “On A Mission”, was cancelled and Melanie was only able to do a few performances wearing the splint that immobilized her leg.

In November 2003, reports that Melanie was dissatisfied with Virgin Records started to show up. She claimed that the company wasn’t interested in the music but only in the sales.

In December Mel appears in some occasions without the splint, but in others she is wearing it. She does two end-of-the-year gigs: one in London and other one in Liverpool.

On December 30th the split between Melanie and the company Virgin Records is officially announced. The spokesman said: "It is true Melanie Chisholm is no longer with Virgin records - but it was a very amicable parting. She is already working on new material which we are expecting to be released sometime in the New Year (2004). As regards signing for a new record label I can confirm she will not be grabbing the first deal that comes along - she will take her time. She is very happy at the moment and is feeling very optimistic about her future and career."