There are loads of new female artists in need of your attention; several of them are coming out from countries other than the U.S.

M.I.A. (Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam) is an artist Sacramento State students may have heard of. Her hip-hop-infused tracks are sure to kick start a weekend party and send a wave of excitement through your veins.

M.I.A.’s second album “Kala,” an album the New York Times called “electrifying,” is named after her mother.

“M.I.A. is hailed as one of the most freshly creative artists to hit the scene, paving the way for fierce and adventurous females to break the mold. With ‘Kala,’ she pulls even more globe-trekking and genre-bending into her musical mix,” according to Amazon.com. “Recorded in India, Trinidad, Australia, London, New York and Baltimore, M.I.A. has crafted an international sound that is as excitingly indefinable as it is infectious.”

“Paper Planes” is perhaps the most popular track on the album and features M.I.A.’s catchiest of raps, including the opening lines, “I fly like paper/get high like planes/if you catch me at the border/ I got Visas in my name.” These songs of hers are anthems of electric excitement and youth and are hard to ignore.

“I like electronic music, so I generally like songs like this,” senior engineering major Graham Taft said after listening to “Paper Planes.” “This is a unique blend of hip-hop and electronic.”

A close musical relative to M.I.A. is Santogold. Santogold is Santi White along with producer and songwriter Johnny Rodeo (John Hill). White hails out of Brooklyn, N.Y.

White made friends with M.I.A. and British pop star Lily Allen and was on the January 2008 cover of Fader magazine, giving the New Yorker a bit of buzz.

Her album is set for release in late spring or early summer on Downtown Records, the label that brought Gnarls Barkley to the music scene. The album is full of infectious tracks like “Creator” and “L.E.S. Artistes.”

“L.E.S. Artistes” is considered the most possible ‘crossover hit,'” wrote Cam Lindsay, Canadian music blogger for Exclaim.ca.

“With a similar vocal pitch as Gwen Stefani, Santogold can certainly give that peroxide princess a run for her money on both commercial radio and in cooler circles,” Lindsay wrote.

French folk artist SoKo (Stéphanie Sokolinski) is erupting with a bit of attention from Natasha Kahn’s (Bat For Lashes) MySpace blog about a month or so ago about her video for “I’ll Kill Her.”

The 21-year-old began her career as an actress and appeared in several French movies before picking up singing in 2006, according to the artist’s website.

In October 2007, her folk track “I’ll Kill Her” was featured during fashion designer Stella McCartney’s show, according to SoKo’s website.

“It’s probably not a CD I would buy,” senior business management major Bonnie Zapp said. “But if it was on the radio, I wouldn’t change the channel.”

SoKo’s full-length album is set for release at some point in 2008 and in the meantime her music can be listened to on MySpace.

Sweden has been known for bringing out catchy new artists breaking ground in the states. Think Abba, Ace of Base and more recently Pete, Bjorn and John.

Lykke Li (Lykke Zahrisson) is the newest Swedish pop sensation. Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John assisted Lykke Li with the new album and Zahrisson sang the female vocals on several public performances of iTunes’ Download of the Year, “Young Folks” by PB&J.

The New Yorker’s pop-music critic, Sash Frere-Jones, devoted an entry in his blog to Li’s track “Little Bit,” saying it’s a song he hasn’t “managed to shake.”

Now on to the U.K. Adele is a new British artist similar to Amy Winehouse sans heroin addiction. Her fluttery, deeply sing-songy vocals take control of her tracks.

“Right as Rain,” a track off Adele’s album “19,” “reminds me of (Michael) Buble, that kind of new age soul,” Will Landreth, senior engineering major said. “I also thought of Macy Gray.”

Another strong, talented woman, Erykah Badu, is coming out with a new album at the end of February. It is called “New Amerykah Part One (Fourth World War)” and was released Tuesday.

Discovering new music can be an exciting prospect. Perusing around MySpace can be a good way to start the exploration.

“Looking online is how I begin finding new artists,” senior sociology major Olivia Smith said. “Making the effort is half of it, so I look often.”