Amy Winehouse is a British singer that Americans are going to love. She sings about rehab. She has crazy pin-up girl tats and a pitch-black beehive. She is an actual bad girl who manages to look incredibly, ethnically Jewish (schnoz, coarse hair, big eyes, and all) and still come off as smoking hot. She is kind of what our starlets want to be but can't—walking that thin line between trashy and respectable, hot and not at all. And she's headed our way.

Her second record, Back to Black, hits the States this week and lives up to all the hype it's been receiving. Her voice is one part Motown soul, one part jazz, and fifty parts booze and cigarettes—and you know someone is badass when their singing timbre gives away their vices. Her songs, which seem to be largely autobiographical, deal with her demons and cheating ways and are like nothing else out there—sultry, soulful, and smart.

She's no role model—earlier this month, Winehouse canceled two shows in London and was spotted buying booze only hours later. She also appeared drunk on The Charlotte Church Show and heckled Bono at the Q Awards. So, she's a sot. But hey, she is unapologetic about her love of alkie, men, and rabble rousing—sounds like a girl after our own heart.—Jessica Gardner