Photo courtesy of Capitol Records

Lily Allen’s shocking lyrics still sound sweet

By LAUREN FULBRIGHT

On a first encounter, experiencing the music or the person of Lily Allen is something like observing a rare and potentially dangerous animal at the zoo. From a safe distance, it is difficult not to become transfixed.

With her sweet voice and explicit lyrics, the 21-year-old British singer-songwriter is a fascinating study of contrasts. In publicity photos, big earrings and funky dresses only serve to emphasize her delicate and almost childlike features, and her ska-pop is a strange combination of upbeat melodies paired with shockingly cynical lyrics.

Born in Hammersmith, England, Allen already has an extensive following in the United Kingdom. Her quirky debut album, “Alright, Still,” hit the United States on Jan. 30, 2007. The album has already reached number 20 on Billboard’s “Hot 100″ list.

From the opening stanza of her first song, “Smile,” which features a prominent curse word, the listener is quickly alerted that Allen is not going to play nice.

In “Smile,” the singer tells an ex that she can’t help but smile when he feels pain. The song’s subsequent video shows her paying a group of thugs to beat up her ex-boyfriend and to trash his apartment.

On another track, “Not Big,” Allen tells a lover that she has never been sexually satisfied during their long-term relationship, and says, “All those times that I said I was sober, well I’m afraid I lied. I’d be lying next to you, you next to me, all the time I was high as a kite.”

Other tracks challenge hypocrisy, and encourage listeners to take a second look at the ordinary things they see in their world. On “LND,” Allen describes her joy at bicycling around the streets of London, but says that nothing is as it seems. For example, she tells us, a well-dressed man turns out to be a “pimp and his crack-whore.”

On “Everything’s Just Wonderful,” the singer describes her desire to make the world a nicer place, but acknowledges her futility to do so. Rather than turning to advocacy, the complacent Allen says: “Until that day, I guess we stay, doing what we do, screwing who we screw.”

Several songs speak of personal demons. On “Smile,”she tells her ex-boyfriend that he messed up her mental health, and “Everything’s Just Wonderful” includes a line that says “Oh Jesus Christ almighty, Do I feel alright? No, not slightly.”

Despite her penchant for shock-value, Allen is a strong songwriter in her own right. The bittersweet love song, “Littlest Things” is surprisingly classy, and her lyrics are grounded in keen personal observation. Listeners will not be able to resist being drawn into her world.

“Alright, Still” is definitely worth listening to.