Peggy Gou

Artist ∙ Dance

Peggy Gou channels the spirit of classic dance music into richly melodic, rhythmically irresistible club anthems that sound vintage and contemporary all at once. Born Kim Min-ji in South Korea in 1991, at 14, she moved to London where she soaked up the city’s house music and got her start behind the decks. Early releases like “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)” were notable not only for their sleek textures and effortless grooves but also for their Korean-language lyrics. A fixture on some of the world’s biggest club and festival stages, the DJ is one of Korean dance music’s most visible ambassadors on the European scene. Her label, Gudu Records, casts a wide international net, but what most characterizes all her output is the way it uses familiar sounds to transcendent ends. As she told Apple Music, “’90s music is timeless for me.”

June 14, 2023 at PDT
(It Goes Like) Nanana [Edit] - Single
1 Trackfalse
March 21, 2019 at PDT
Starry Night - Single
2 Tracks
June 6, 2021 at PDT
Nabi (feat. Ohhyuk) - Single
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January 22, 2018 at PST
It Makes You Forget (Itgehane) - Single
2 Tracks
June 6, 2024 at PDT
I Hear You
The cover artwork for Peggy Gou’s debut album features the South Korean DJ/producer wearing a mirrored headpiece that creates kaleidoscopic reflections of her ears. The piece, an aural sculpture by Olafur Eliasson, is an artful interpretation of Gou’s view that “everybody wants to be heard.” Years after crashing dance music’s radar in the late 2010s with shimmering tracks “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)” and “Starry Night,” she found crossover success in 2023 when her sunny single “(It Goes Like) Nanana” went viral.

I Hear You welcomes more people to Gou’s party utopia. It straddles the line between mainstream and underground, pairing the sleek production heard spilling from smoky nightclubs and Ibiza terraces with song-structured vocals. “(It Goes Like) Nanana,” “I Go,” and “Back to One” are effortlessly cool yet earnest, communicating messages of positivity, perseverance, and staying true to oneself atop ’90s dance rhythms. R&Balearic serenade “I Believe in Love Again” with Lenny Kravitz continues the throwback influence with a classic organ bassline, followed by Villano Antillano collaboration “All That,” which samples Kevin Lyttle’s 2003 song “Turn Me On.”

Beyond the summer anthems, the album occasionally gets experimental, swerving into drum ’n’ bass with a side of traditional Korean instrument gayageum on “Seoulsi Peggygou (서울시페기구)” and drifting through hazy acid breakbeats on “Purple Horizon.” Of all the sounds in Gou’s technicolor palette, her best instrument is her breezy voice, with which she delivers simple yet irresistible hooks in English and Korean. That she’s had hits in both languages is proof of music’s universal nature. As she sings in the latter on “Lobster Telephone,” “I know you don’t understand this/But it doesn’t matter/It’s all the same/We’re all the same.”
10 Tracks
June 27, 2019 at PDT
DJ-Kicks (DJ Mix)
For the 69th installment of !K7’s DJ-Kicks mix series, the Berlin independent label tapped dance music superstar Peggy Gou. A native of South Korea who now lives in Germany, the inventive DJ/producer is known for exquisitely curated live sets that offer a global perspective, sampling a range of eras and regions from classic Chicago house to playful nu disco. In recent years, she began releasing her own sultry productions which feature her featherweight vocals over growling grooves (listen to "It Makes You Forget [Itgehane]” for a taste). But her DJ-Kicks mix is less an impression of her live sets and more a musical diary, showcasing a selection of songs that have shaped her identity. Again, she casts a wide net: There’s dizzying polyrhythmic experimentations (Aphex Twin’s “Vordhosbn”), off-kilter electro (“Perseguido Por El Rayo” by Pegasus), and delirious, sputtering techno from Detroit’s Kyle Hall (“Flemmenup”).
19 Tracks
November 7, 2023 at PST
I Believe In Love Again - Single
1 Trackfalse
July 8, 2021 at PDT
I Go - Single
2 Tracks
December 30, 2023 at PST
Apple Music Live: NYE 2024 (DJ Mix)
In a club scene littered with in-demand, big-budget DJs, few have had a more steadily meteoric rise than Peggy Gou. There are many reasons for this—her exquisite style, her sultry singing voice, her magnetic ability to truly perform—but perhaps the most notable is her mastery of surprise. The Korean producer is known for sprawling, emotive DJ sets that slide from shimmering disco to acid house (and everywhere in between), and she admits that she delights at keeping fans on their toes. “I kind of like when I get feedback where someone says, ‘I didn’t know she played that fast,’ or ‘I didn’t know she played tracks like this,’” she tells Apple Music. For this mix, which was recorded at Apple Music’s first-ever New Year’s Eve party in New York, Gou delivers an electrifying, zigzagging set that includes archival gems (listen for a cameo from Doug Lazy’s 1989 hit “Let the Rhythm Pump”), reinterpretations of modern hits (Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” gets a club twist), and squelchy, dizzying acid stompers like Mogwaa’s “Boy (VIP Mix)” that remind you she is nothing if not an expert crate-digger.
14 Tracks
August 15, 2024 at PDT
Find The Way - Single
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April 18, 2019 at PDT
Moment - EP
2 Tracks
March 1, 2018 at PST
Once - EP
As one of Berlin’s rising-star DJ/producers, Peggy Gou stirs up vintage-sounding house and disco with tribal rhythms, burbling acid basslines, and sensual vocals. Once, her first EP for London label Ninja Tune, finds her singing over her own compositions for the first time ever—and in her native Korean. Hear her breathy vocals on “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)” and whisper-rapping on the party cut “Han Jan,” which features an English-sung chorus.
3 Tracks
February 11, 2020 at PST
Jigoo (Radio Edit) - Single
1 Trackfalse
February 25, 2018 at PST
Han Jan - Single
2 Tracks
May 30, 2019 at PDT
DJ-Kicks - EP
3 Tracks
October 13, 2016 at PDT
Seek for Maktoop - EP
3 Tracks
September 28, 2023 at PDT
(It Goes Like) Nanana - Single
3 Tracks
September 26, 2024 at PDT
I Hear You – Bonus Tracks Edition
New remixes augment the Berlin-based DJ/producer/vocalist’s debut LP.
15 Tracks
March 12, 2023 at PDT
GuduMix 010: Peggy Gou (DJ Mix)
“Excited to finally contribute to the GUDU Mix series! I recorded this mix in Seoul, and it features some of my favorite tracks of the moment along with forthcoming Gudu releases from Mogwaa, Ed DMX, Matrefakt, and Hiver. Thanks to everyone who’s contributed to the GUDU Mix series so far, and thanks to Jin Young Choi for the amazing illustrations!” —Peggy Gou
14 Tracks
April 26, 2020 at PDT
Boiler Room: Peggy Gou, Streaming From Isolation, Apr 27, 2020 (DJ Mix)
20 Tracks
November 30, 2023 at PST
I Believe In Love Again (Jex Opolis Remix) - Single
2 Tracks
March 31, 2016 at PDT
Day Without Yesterday / Six O Six - Single
2 Tracks
May 7, 2024 at PDT
Lobster Telephone - Single
2 Tracks
December 22, 2020 at PST
NYE 2021 (DJ Mix)
Peggy Gou lays down a forward-looking house and techno set to take you into 2021. Lockdown took a serious toll on dance and electronic music, scenes that depend on clubs, concerts, and festivals to survive. It was all the more inspiring, then, to see scores of DJs and producers continue to find ways to thrive, cope, and innovate. There were charity livestreams, virtual festivals, adventurous remixes, and transportive radio shows, all eagerly exposing listeners to diverse sounds and ideas. To close out 2020, Apple Music invited 21 of the world’s finest producers to compile exclusive DJ mixes that considered the year behind and the year ahead. Some are nostalgic and reflective, others are forward-thinking and optimistic, but all represent the fierce eclecticism that shaped the year in electronic music.
14 Tracks
March 29, 2022 at PDT
I Go (Remixes) - Single
3 Tracks

Peggy Gou

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