Kim Min-ji (; born 3 July 1991), known as Peggy Gou ( ; ), is a South Korean DJ, singer, songwriter and record producer based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany. She has released seven

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

on record labels including

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

and Phonica. In 2019, she launched her own independent record label named Gudu Records, and released a

DJ-Kicks ''DJ-Kicks'' (styled ''DJ-KiCKS'' on all cover artwork) is a series of DJ mix albums, mixed by various artists for the independent record label !K7 Records. History ''DJ-Kicks'' started out in 1993 as a compilation of electronic DJ-style mi ...

compilation titled '' DJ-Kicks: Peggy Gou'', through

!k7 !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently hea ...

Records. Her debut album, '' I Hear You'', was released on 7 June 2024 through

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

Early life and education

Peggy Gou was born Kim Min-ji in

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, South Korea, on 3 July 1991. Her father, Kim Chang-yong, a former journalist, is a professor of

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples o ...

at Inje University and standing commissioner of the

Korea Communications Commission Korea Communications Commission () is a South Korean media regulation agency modeled after the Federal Communications Commission of the United States of America. It was established on February 29, 2008, combining the former ''Korean Broadcasting ...

. Gou began classical piano lessons at age eight. At age 14, her parents sent her to London, England, to study English. She moved back to Korea when she was 18 years old, but six months later she returned to London to study fashion at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...

. After graduating, she worked as the London correspondent editor for ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

Korea'', and then moved to Berlin, Germany.

Career

Gou was taught to DJ in 2009 by a friend from Korea. She had her first gig in Cirque Le Soir,

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, and later performed weekly at The Book Club,

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. In 2013, she learned to use

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for compos ...

and began to create her own tracks. Her first track, "Hungboo", was completed in 2014. "Hungboo" was named for the hero of a Korean fairy tale. She played the track in Korea for the first time at the 2016 Style Icon Awards opening show, featuring award-winning actor

Yoo Ah-in Uhm Hong-sik (; born October 6, 1986), known professionally as Yoo Ah-in (), is a South Korean actor, creative director, and gallerist. He is known for playing a diverse spectrum of roles in both television and film, where he often portrays dyn ...

in a visual art video. Gou made her recording debut in January 2016 on Radio Slave's Rekids label with ''The Art of War Part 1'', featuring a remix from Galcher Lustwerk. She next released four

including ''Seek for Maktoop'', with hit track "It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)". ''Maktoop'' was named after the Arabic word "maktoob", the equivalent to "written" or "destiny". This was followed by the EPs ''

Once Once may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Once'' (film), a 2007 Irish musical film by John Carney ** ''Once'' (musical), a 2011 stage adaptation of the film * ''Once'' (TV series), a 2017–2019 Argentine telenovela * Canal Once (Mex ...

'' in 2018, and '' Moment'' in April 2019. ''Once'' is the first time she has sung on a record. In 2017, Gou embarked on her first North American tour and made her Boiler Room debut in New York City. She became the first Korean DJ to play in Berlin's nightclub

Berghain Berghain () is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station.

. She plays more than one hundred live gigs in a year and has performed alongside the likes of

Moodymann Kenny Dixon Jr., better known by his stage name Moodymann, is an American musician based in Detroit, Michigan. He released his 1997 debut album ''Silentintroduction'' on the label Planet E Communications. He is the owner of the record labels Mah ...

The Blessed Madonna Marea Renee Stamper (born October 22, 1977), better known by her stage name the Blessed Madonna (formerly the Black Madonna), is an American DJ, producer and musician. ''Mixmag'' named her the DJ of the year in 2016. She founded her own record l ...

and

DJ Koze Stefan Kozalla (born 1972), better known as DJ Koze (), is a German DJ and music producer. Biography Born in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Kozalla first became known in the Hamburg music scene. In the early 1990s, he started as a rapper and DJ ...

. She has since played gigs as a part of worldwide festival lineups including

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, Sonus in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, Amsterdam's Dekmantel, London's

Printworks Printworks may refer to: *Printworks (London), a nightclub and events space in Rotherhithe *The Printworks (Manchester), an entertainment venue *Printworks Campus, of the Leeds City College {{DEFAULTSORT:Printworks, The ...

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

Amsterdam Dance Event The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is a five-day electronic music conference and festival held annually in mid-October. The event, organised by The Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation, offers a full programme of daytime conferences at ADE Pro, ADE Tech ...

Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish Noise rock, noise ban ...

in Portugal, Barcelona's

Sónar Sónar is a festival dedicated to music, creativity and technology, founded in Barcelona in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau, and Sergi Caballero. The festival has been divided into two parts since its inception: Sónar by Day and Sónar b ...

, as well as

Virgil Abloh Virgil Abloh (; September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. A trained architect, Abloh founded his own line of luxury streetwear clothing under the moniker Pyrex Vision in 2012, which he transfor ...

Off-White Shades of white are colors that differ only slightly from pure white. Variations of white include what are commonly termed off-white colors, which may be considered part of a neutral color scheme. In color theory, a ''shade'' is a pure color mi ...

fashion show among others. In an Interview with ''Vice'', she stated that she preferred to stay out of politics and would just perform for the people who want to hear her music. Gou released her music on record labels

and Phonica in 2018. That same year, "It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)" won Best Track at the

AIM Independent Music Awards The AIM Independent Music Awards, hosted by the Association of Independent Music (commonly abbreviated to AIM), began in 2011. It is established through a collection of independent record labels and providing service and support to independent and ...

. "It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)" was also listed on the tracklist for ''

FIFA 19 ''FIFA 19'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and released by Electronic Arts on 28 September 2018 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. It is the 26th install ...

''. In 2019, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' named Gou as one of the Asian leaders, pioneers and entrepreneurs under age 30. She launched her own fashion label KIRIN ("giraffe" in Korean), supported by Virgil Abloh, under the

New Guards Group New Guards Group is an Italian contemporary luxury Fashion design, fashion production and distribution holding company co-founded in Milan, Italy in 2015 by Claudio Antonioli, Davide De Giglio and Marcelo Burlon. History The company was founded ...

in February, followed by her own independent record label, Gudu Records (gudu means "shoes" in Korean) in March. She has stated that she launched Gudu to give artists starting out better opportunities and treatment than she received at the beginning of her career. She next released '' DJ-Kicks: Peggy Gou'', the 69th installment of

!K7 !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently hea ...

mix compilation in June. The album became her first ''Billboard'' chart appearance, reaching number nine on the Dance/Electronic Album Sales chart, and the second compilation to reach the top 10 after

's. In July, Gou released her first music video for her hit 2019 track "Starry Night" exclusively on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

, directed by Jonas Lindstroem, and once again featured

, the lead actor in the award-winning South Korean film, ''

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

''. The music video was released worldwide on YouTube in September 2019. In December 2020, Gou joined Apple Music's ''New Year's Eve DJ Mixes'' with 21 other electronic music artists. She next released her seventh single "Nabi" in June 2021, featuring

Oh Hyuk Oh Hyuk (, born October 5, 1993), stylised OHHYUK, is a South Korean singer and musician best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of indie rock band Hyukoh. Background Born in South Korea, Oh moved to China when ...

from

Korean indie Korean indie, referring to independent music in South Korea, developed in the 1990s in Hongdae, Seoul, Hongdae, an area of Northwestern Seoul. It is widely regarded as the counterpart to K-pop; whereas K-pop is characterized by a commercialized ima ...

rock band

Hyukoh Hyukoh () is a South Korean indie band signed to DooRooDooRoo Artist Company. The band was formed in May 2014 and consists of leader, singer, and guitarist Oh Hyuk, bassist Im Dong-geon, guitarist Lim Hyun-jae, and drummer Lee In-woo. Career Ba ...

, followed by a tribute to her teenage years, " I Go", that she called "My own reimagination of the sounds I grew up loving." In June 2023, Gou released " (It Goes Like) Nanana" through

, featuring a sample from

André Tanneberger ATB or atb may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ATB (DJ) (born 1973), German DJ and music producer * Active Time Battle, a role-playing video game mechanic * Andy Timmons Band, a band led by guitarist Andy Timmons * Atelier-Théâtre Burkinab ...

's 1998 song "

9 PM (Till I Come) "9 PM (Till I Come)" is a song by German DJ and producer ATB from his debut studio album, '' Movin' Melodies'' (1999). It was co-written by ATB, Angel Ferrerons, Julio Posadas and Yolanda Rivera. It features vocals by Spanish model Yolanda River ...

". It was the lead single from her debut album, '' I Hear You'', which was released on 7 June 2024. "I Believe In Love Again" with Lenny Kravitz was released as the second single from the album in November 2023, followed by "1+1=11" in April 2024.

Discography

Studio albums

DJ mixes

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

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International Dance Music Awards The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs was an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards were held every year from 1985 to 2020, except for 2017, when the ...

, rowspan="3", 2019 , "It Makes You Forget" , Best Song (Electronic) , rowspan="7" , rowspan="3", , - , rowspan=3, Herself , Breakthrough Artist of the Year , - , rowspan="2", Best House Artist (Female) , - , rowspan="2", 2020 , rowspan="2", , - , "Starry Night" , Best Song (Electronic) , - ! scope="row", Music Week Awards , 2023 , Magnum #ClassicsRemixed , Music & Brand Partnership , , - ! scope="row",

UK Music Video Awards The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotiona ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, "Starry Night" , Best Color Grading in a Video ,

''DJ Magazine'' Top 100 DJs

{, class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" ! Year ! Position ! Notes ! , - , 2019 , 80 , New Entry , rowspan="6" , , - , 2020 , 69 , Up 11 , - , 2021 , 38 , Up 31 , - , 2022 , 24 , Up 14 , - , 2023 , 9 , Up 15 , - , 2024 , 10 , Down 1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gou, Peggy 1991 births Living people Musicians from Incheon South Korean expatriates in Germany South Korean pianists Electronic dance music DJs South Korean DJs Women DJs Alumni of the London College of Fashion