Furtado Finds Her Way Around

When Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado zoomed gleefully around the El Rey Theatre stage on Friday, pumping up the crowd with percussive, high-energy tunes such as “Party,” it was easy to see why her upbeat music has been pegged a smarter kind of teen pop.

But on this first of two sold-out nights, Furtado, 22, displayed more talent--though not, curiously, much more personality--than most singing, dancing youths with 5,000-watt smiles and buff abs. Such selections as the folky single “I’m Like a Bird,” for example, hinted that she could become a next-generation alternative pop-rocker, a la Natalie Merchant or Luscious Jackson.

After all, Furtado is a multi-instrumentalist who writes her own lyrics, and she co-produced her debut collection, “Whoa, Nelly!” She even recently earned four Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent to a Grammy). Such tracks as “Turn Off the Light,” rather than being artificially flavored ear candy, incorporate the myriad sounds she has absorbed, including styles from her parents’ Portuguese homeland, hip-hop beats and rapping, Brazilian rhythms and modern rock.

Backed by a quintet during her 80-minute Friday set, Furtado occasionally played guitar, rap-singing boisterous pop that at times expanded into exuberant jams, and wistfully crooning mid-tempo ballads, sometimes partly in Portuguese. Pensive, but optimistic and often fun-loving, her songs didn’t always stick with you. But they were an honest reflection of a promising young artist still in the process of finding herself.