One of the most sought-after electronic music artists and DJs in the world: Who is Peggy Gou?

The story of Peggy Gou, a versatile artist and a true icon with her fashion sense and colorful character as well as her sets, pieces, and remixes, from Korea to Berlin and from there to the whole world, is as follows:

Catching Gou in Berlin is special because even though she lives here, she often DJs around the world, gifting her with toy giraffes (his favorite animal) or printed T-shirts with puns on her name (“Just Gou it”) is being done.

Since landing in Berlin, Gou has become one of the biggest names in dance music. “I was a raver before I became a DJ,” she says proudly. Spending every weekend in Berghain, Gou's style was shaped by the music she listened to there. “I really like Detroit DJs like Maurice Fulton. "You feel like it's going to play techno, then suddenly it turns into disco."

Kim Min-ji (born 3 July 1991), known as Peggy Gou, is a South Korean DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer based in Berlin, Germany. She has released seven EPs on record labels including Ninja Tune and Phonica. In 2019, she launched her own independent record label named Gudu Records, and released a DJ-Kicks compilation titled DJ-Kicks: Peggy Gou, through !k7 Records. Her debut album I Hear You is scheduled to be released on 7 June 2024 through XL Recordings.

Since her debut album in 2016, Gou has had her own record label, a joint fashion label with Louis Vuitton's Virgil Abloh, nearly a million Instagram followers, and her own mini-festival in London called Pleasure Garden. Gou, who does not work with a manager, prefers to be in charge of her own business.

Gou was a big K-pop fan when she was little, and her professional music training began when she moved to England at the age of 14. Gou, who lived with her guardians for three years because she was a minor, said: “I was a complete rebel. “I wasn't afraid to lie to them and would come home very late from parties.”

Gou, who entered the London College of Fashion at the age of 18, spent every weekend dancing at Plastic People or Corsica Studios. When a promoter from Cirque Le Soir club in Soho noticed a photo of her behind the decks on Facebook, he offered her to play at the club. Gou, who started an artist program at Book Club in east London, is learning to make music with Ableton in her spare time. And of course, with this intensity, she cannot achieve the expected success in fashion school.

“My family did not let me return to Korea because I failed. 'Do you know how much the school is? "They said, 'If you don't pass, you won't come back.'" Gou's parents arranged for her to stay in school for two more months to qualify. Immediately afterwards she moved to Berlin.

Gou summarizes her life in Berlin as follows: “Work at the record store, then go home, study music, and go to Berghain every Sunday. My family was saying: 'You wanted to study fashion, now you want to do music, what's next? And I said to them, 'Give me a few years. "If I can't do it, I'll go back to Korea," I said.

Gou began releasing a series of EPs in 2016. She rose to the top in 2018 with the Once EP, which included the song It Makes You Forget (Itgehane), which led to thousands of videos of English-speaking crowds singing strangely and enthusiastically in Korean.

Gou describes her music as “K-house.” “I believe many Korean and K-pop artists want to be European,” she says. “But there are many beautiful things in Korea. And this is something that has always struck me: My two biggest hits are not in English. Even if they don't know the words, they love them. But I remember, whenever I find a record whose lyrics I don't understand, say a Japanese record, it somehow becomes valuable. “I know this feeling.”

Having established her own record label, Gudu Records, Gou is now free to make her own choices. Gou is especially careful to work with Asian and female artists. "This is really important. I can't say that my sole purpose is to work only with women, because for me music is music, and gender does not matter. But on the other hand, unfortunately, we are still less than male DJs.”

In 2014, DJ Peggy Gou announced the details of her long-awaited debut album "I Hear You". This is her first album...

The album, consisting of ten songs, reveals the Korean-born artist's years of experience. Uniquely revered as both an underground icon and a global sensation, on this album Gou once again remains true to her unwavering vision of becoming one of the most sought-after electronic music artists and DJs in the world.

Her chart-topping songs of 2023 show she's taking her talent to the next level with the global hit “(It Goes Like) Nanana” and her collaboration with Lenny Kravitz, “I Believe in Love Again.”

Peggy Gou says about “I Hear You”: “It's so much more than my first album. “This is a testament to the power of long hours of dedication and listening to ourselves and each other in my journey to produce something timeless.”

In honor of her new album, Peggy Gou also released her new single "1+1=11", which will be the song of festivals, symbolizing "togetherness" and aiming to fill dance floors around the world.

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