Is Peggy Gou the coolest DJ in the world right now? The South Korean It girls K-house

Publish date: 2024-07-02

Although most of these names are familiar household icons, there’s one individual who emerges as a relative newcomer to the international charts: Berlin-based South Korean DJ Peggy Gou.

Gou’s name already resonates strongly in electronic/house music circles though. Her infectious tunes have also found a thriving home on TikTok lately, with many of them going viral. Her song “(It Goes Like) Nanana” got so popular on Spotify and other streaming platforms that Calvin Harris even made a remix of it.

So what do we know about this multicultural, too-cool-for-school DJ?

Peggy Gou had an international upbringing

Born in 1991, in Incheon, South Korea, Gou studied fashion in London before moving to Berlin, Germany where she began to regularly perform as a DJ. Her full name is Kim Min-ji and she is known for honouring her Korean heritage and devoted fan base through her work and life. “I often combine European and Korean culture, and I’m very proud of that,” she told Vogue.

From raver to DJ

“Before I was a DJ, I was a raver,” Gou once told The Guardian. When she moved to Berlin, she would spend every weekend in Berghain, the German capital’s most exclusive nightclub. This ultimately shaped how her music is today, she told the publication. “I really like Detroit DJs, like Maurice Fulton. You feel like he’s going to play something techno, then all of a sudden it’s disco,” she said in her interview.

A rebel with a cause

Gou also told The Guardian that when she moved to the UK and lived with guardians, she “became a rebel”. “I lied to them, and I’d come home late [from parties],” she confessed.

When she was studying at London College of Fashion, she spent every weekend dancing at Plastic People or Corsica Studios, then began a weekly residency at the Book Club in east London. She then failed her fashion course and her parents didn’t allow her to come back to Korea, according to the publication. So she moved to Berlin, pursued her dreams, and the rest, as they say, is history.

She launched her own fashion line

According to Gou’s interview with Vogue, it was an encounter with the late Virgil Abloh in 2019 that inspired her to start her own fashion brand, Kirin. Named after the Korean word for “giraffe”, her favourite animal, Kirin is a streetwear label that made its debut at Paris Fashion Week that same year she met the Off-White designer.

She has also been tapped by Ray-Ban, Potato Head and Authentic Beauty Concepts, and her social media feed is filled with her wearing designer duds from Dolce & Gabbana, Simone Rocha and Miu Miu.

She has her own record label

Gou is a woman of many talents – and she’s the ultimate girl boss to say the least. In 2019, she launched her own label Gudu Records with an EP of her own, as per Resident Advisor.

“I realised I wanted to be my own boss with my own music,” she told Vice-owned i-D magazine, adding that, “At first I wanted to have just my music, but now I think people would like to know what kind of artists I support.”

She’s one of today’s most prolific DJs

With hits like “Starry Night – Edit”, “Can’t Get You out of My Head – Peggy Gou’s Midnight Remix” and “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)”, Gou has quickly climbed the ranks in the world of electronic music.

The star’s music – which she dubbed “K-house”, as per Vogue – combines house and electronic.

Gou’s tunes are described as vibrant with vintage deep house and post-disco vibes, without the songs sounding cliché or like throwbacks, as per Insomniac. What’s more, Gou stands out for her sheer ability to, well, stand out, with her impeccable sense of fashion and cool “It” girl vibe.

An icon for female representation

Gou has become an icon of representation for South Koreans, women and South Korean women as a whole.

According to Hypebeast, Gou became the first South Korean-born DJ to have a BBC mix and the first female Korean DJ to play in Berghain.

She’s also part of a growing list of successful female DJs in the industry, and once told Vogue: “The music industry is still very white and male-dominated. So the fact is: I don’t like talking about these issues, but unfortunately it’s still necessary. And no one who brings them up should be accused of wanting to play the ‘woman card’.”

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