Meet Ukrainian singer Mika Newton – who represented her country in last year’s Eurovision contest, and who’s now heading for the United States of America to find fame and fortune on the international pop scene.

Why should you care? We don’t often hear from eastern-European artists after they’ve sang their piece on the Eurovision. But Mika has got some solid backing behind her – she’s been working with American Idol veteran Randy Jackson and a team of incredible songwriters that includes BC Jean (who wrote Beyonce’s If I Were A Boy) and Adam Lambert/Daughtry collaborator Rune Westberg.

Our spies tell us that 25 year old Mika has already released two hugely popular albums in Europe and is also known as the “Queen of Soundtracks” in the Ukraine & Russia providing vocals for multiple television shows there. She’s currently signed to Randy Jackson’s Friendship Collective label.

Don’t Dumb Me Down is a feisty pop-rock stomp that has the slightest tinge of Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl in it, but the video seems to be poking fun at Perry’s faux-lesbian antics. And a host of other pop stars as well. There’s the teenage girl pillow fight, a hideous Britney-style dance routine and a definite Lady Gaga impersonation – none of them terribly flattering. We’re impressed with Newton’s powerful vocals and she’s definitely reminiscent of some of our favourite pop belters, like Perry and the inimitable P!nk.

She’s not joking when she says Don’t Dumb Me Down: Some of Mika’s songs are inspired by world events. She’s written about the 2004 tsunami and the war in Iraq. But it’s not all doom and gloom though – Yahoo.com is a song she wrote about meeting a guy in London and losing his email address. Okay, I suppose it’s a bit sad, but funny for the listener.

Fascinating fact: Mika’s real name is Oksana Stefanivna Hrytsay. But we’d like to hear you try and pronounce that in the USA! Mika works just fine for us!

Find Mika Newton online: We’ve already given you the official website, but you can follow her on Twitter (if you speak Ukrainian) and also on Facebook. Her YouTube channel if MikaNewtonTV. And finally…check out her Eurovision Song Contest performance of Angel last May: