FROM TIK-TOK SENSATION TO FESTIVAL HEADLINER, SOUTH KOREAN-BORN DJ, SONGWRITER, AND STYLE ICON PEGGY GOU IS ON A TEAR, SET TO RELEASE HER WILDLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT ALBUM THIS JUNE

BY DAN SALAMONE

BORN: Kim Min-ji, in Incheon, South Korea, on July 3, 1992.

SOUND: Right down the middle of traditional house, bouncy ‘80s pop, and minimal trance, with a special affection for the dance music made from 1978 through 1986.

BIG BREAK: She was taught how to DJ by a friend from South Korea while living in London in 2009 and booked her first gigs in Soho and East London. Her recording debut was a remix from Galcher Lustwerk in 2016, and just a year later, she became the first Korean DJ to play at Berghain, the famous German nightclub. By 2017, she was launching her first North American tour.

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In addition to a very busy tour schedule that’s taken her to Coachella, Glastonbury, Ibiza, and the Primavera Sound Festival, the artist has released a dozen singles since 2016, the most successful being 2023’s “(It Goes Like) Nanana,” which charted in ten countries. As for her turntable prowess, DJ Magazine chose her as the 9th best DJ on earth in 2023.

LATEST WORK: Two recent singles have raised her profile even more: “1+1=11,” from her soon-to-release debut album, I Hear You (whose cover portrait is a kind of glamorous Studio 54 version of body horror), and “I Believe in Love Again,” which features a recent nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Lenny Kravitz. I Hear You is Peggy Gou’s first full-length studio album of original work.

Peggy Gou @peggygou_