In honor of International Women’s Day , here is a short list of women artists from across the globe whose music stays on repeat.  By NO means is this list all-inclusive. Just a small sampling of artists that I enjoy that you should consider letting take up a bit of space on your hard drive.

Alice Russell

I have loved Alice Russell long time and I have the receipts videos to prove it. The way she sang and shook her shimmy on stage in pink tights made me a fan for life.  This British powerhouse is criminally underrated, as her lane is a bit crowded. I’m hoping that her upcoming release, To Dust [read review] will finally put her on the map. It’s already one of my favorite albums of 2013. Take a look at a performance of “Hard and Strong,” one of my favorite tracks from the album.

Bonus video: cover of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

Coco of Quadron

It was love at first listen when I heard the sweet vocals of the female half of the Danish duo Quadron, the lovely Coco. When they performed in the DC area a year and a half ago, I was front and center grooving to tunes from their self-titled album released three LONG years ago. While we wait impatiently for the release of some new joints, enjoy Coco performing with Tyler The Creator on Jimmy Fallon and sannnnging on this banging new track, “Hey Love.”

The video above is a performance at The Google a couple of years ago. I chose it because she starts to acts all the way up at the 2:30 mark and it is everything I will ever need in this life and the next.

Hollie Smith

If I wasn’t so lazy busy, I would dig through my Twitter archive and find the multiple tweets I sent out raving about the Band of Brothers Vol I  album featuring the sweet sounds of  New Zealand songstress, Hollie Smith. It was my first introduction to the ‘Kiwi soul sister’ and I accepted my late pass because she was hardly new to the game as you will see in the video above. I cannot get enough of her voice and you won’t be able to either.

Joy Denalane

Last time I blogged about the beautiful German singer-songwriter was when she joined Bilal, Tweet, and Dwele on the Dresden Soul Symphony album/DVD compilation. I have been a fan since I heard her first English language album, Born and Raised, back in 2006. Since then, she has released her third studio album, Maureen, which is entirely in her native tongue. Although I can’t understand a word of what she is singing, the album gets frequent play. After all, the language of music is universal. In the video above, she performs the title track in English.

Kimbra

I just can’t get enough of that Kiwi soul. My soul brother from across the pond, Soul UK, introduced me to the sweet sounds of GRAMMY winner Kimbra, who recently won Record of the Year for her collaboration with Goyte on “Somebody That I Used To Know.” I can’t imagine it gets much better than receiving your award from Prince and him saying he digs the record. I mean, it just don’t seem like he digs much so it’s really an even bigger deal than the Grammy. Last year, Kimbra released her debut album, Vows, and it topped many best of lists.  Enjoy this dope live performance of one of my favorites from the album, “Settle Down.” Kimbra, if you’re listening, DC awaits!

Tawiah

I have probably been a fan of British singer Tawiah the longest of all the artists I’ve mentioned in this post. I introduced you back in 2008. You’ve had five years to catch up! I hoped we would have gotten a full length effort since the EP, In Jodi’s Bedroom.  But still we wait. A ray of hope came just today in the form of a video for a single from her upcoming mixtape. Let’s hope this is a signal of good things to come. Enjoy the new video and the hauntingly beautiful acoustic performance above.

Please support woman artists near and far during women’s history month and beyond.

Put me on to some of your favorite international artists in the comments.