Peggy Gou shares what influenced her collaboration with Lenny Kravitz during interview with Zane Lowe
“If you think about it, ‘90s music was quite simple,” says Gou.
Images: (Left) Han Myung-Gu and (right) Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images
DJ, producer and artist Peggy Gou has explained how music from the 1990s influenced her new collaboration with Lenny Kravitz on track I Believe In Love Again.
The new single landed on 8 November, and takes inspiration from R&B tracks of the ‘90s.
In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Gou spoke in-depth about the collaboration, where she revealed why she chose to take inspiration from this specific era of music.
“I love that you continue to draw inspiration from these timeless sounds that have given us these emotive clubbing experiences, but you make them modern,” says Lowe. “I mean you make them you. It’s like you claim them and make them your own. Where did the inspiration for I Believe In Love Again come from, Peggy?”
Gou responds, “This is my second single on the album. In the whole album, I have 11 tracks. That music, the inspiration came from ‘90s music, some rave, house music, but this song is more like R&B ‘90s because I also listen to a lot of songs from that period. I guess from my idea ‘90s music is timeless for me. I also love hip hop and every song from that period.”
Lowe then discusses her use of “upper register percussive instruments” in the song, which he says no one really uses anymore, but “they were everywhere in the ‘90s.”
“If you think about it, ‘90s music was quite simple,” she replies. “Although it is quite repetitive, I feel like it’s very catchy and you don’t get bored of listening to it.”
“It’s very true. It’s almost like the drums were by design a blank canvas to write these songs over and it was like there’s a naivety to the way technology was working back then that people have mastered now,” responds Lowe. “I love that you’ve captured that sense of optimism, sampling with optimism.”
“Thank you,” says Gou. “I also wonder if it wasn’t that sound, would Lenny have accepted my collaboration?” She later adds, “Also, I listen to Lenny’s songs a lot and my favourite album from him is 5. I’m sure a lot of people agree. His songs are to me very timeless and it was such an honour to get a chance to work with him.”
