Album turns bottled emotions into pointed dialogue

For more than a decade, singer-songwriter A Si has been known for her songs with sharp-eyed humor and light-hearted lyrics telling stories about everyday life.

With her latest album, titled No Offense, But..., which was released on Aug 13, the singer-songwriter turns her wit toward heavier terrain: emotional health, workplace pressure, internet violence and the quiet burden carried by women.

"It sounds like I'm venting at the outside world," she says. "But deeper down, I'm reflecting on myself."

The title itself is a wink at her own personality.

As she says, she is a kind of person who doesn't want to trouble others, which leaves many thoughts unspoken.

"But like many people, I know the feeling of emotions pooling like water behind a dam — anger, frustration, loneliness — until it spills over," she says.

"We smile politely," she says. "But inside we're already boiling."

This album, she decided, would be different from her earlier introspective, self-questioning work. Instead of keeping the dialogue within herself, she wanted to address the world directly — asking pointed questions, poking at sore spots, and, in her own words, "being a bit cowardly while still offending people ... so please, bear with me".

The songs came together over a long arc: some ideas formed in her 20s, others took shape in the last three years.

Humor is still her strength when writing lyrics for this new album.

"People think humor is just for fun, but it's also a survival tool," she says. "It's how I cope with pressure and say the unsayable."

The song, titled Iced Cola, Por Favor, for example, is a track that begins with the absurd image of craving an iced cola, but soon reveals layers: the suffocating politeness of blind dates, the numbing routine of office meetings, and the absurdity of gendered expectations.