Peggy Gou won our hearts, minds and shoes on the dancefloor

We're toasting to our Stars Of The Year. First up: Peggy Gou

If you want evidence of how people have taken Peggy Gou to their hearts this year, look no further than the video clip from her Glastonbury set which is doing the rounds. “I was playing, and people started chanting ‘Peggy Shoe’ at me,” she explains. “I turned to Artwork and said, ‘I don’t think they know my name, Arthur.’ He replied, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this at Glastonbury before – I think they’re just saying hi!’ Then they all took their shoes off and started waving them in the air.”

The phenomenon has followed Peggy everywhere from Sub Club to Sunfall to Dekmantel, but getting her own football style chant and nickname is the least of her achievements in 2017.

The Berlin-based Korean DJ first broke through in 2016, her excellent ‘Seek For Maktoop’ EP introducing us to her knack for brilliantly elastic top-lines, but in 2017 she won over countless fans with a relentless campaign of gigs, playing around 150 shows in total.

“A lot of places that were top of my list have been ticked off. Getting to play Sub Club three times, Dekmantel and Panorama Bar. Oh my God, I had to stop the car like ten times on the way to Berghain I was so nervous!” she says.

While the 27-year-old might seem to have appeared out of nowhere in the past 18 months, she certainly put the groundwork in, initially falling for electronic music at venues like Corsica Studios while studying fashion in London and then moving to Berlin to pursue music more seriously.

“When I first moved to Berlin around 2014 my life was just working in a record store, making music in a home studio and going to Berghain on a Sunday,” she says. “I used to stand in exactly the same spot in Panorama Bar every Sunday and stare at the DJ, wishing I could play there. They must have thought I was so weird. I called it ‘Peggy’s Zone’.”

He relentless gig schedule has seen Peggy’s musical output restricted largely to remix work in 2017, but we’re set to hear a lot more of Peggy’s own productions next year. “In 2018 I want to travel half as much as I have been, and I want to get my album done,” she explains. “As an artist I think you have to have one.”

There’s also talk of starting her own party, running a juice stand at festivals and more work in fashion and TV in Korea. It looks like there’ll be no let-up for Peggy in 2018. Shoes at the ready, everyone.

Sean Griffiths is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow him on Twitter