If there’s one thing that Peggy Gou is shockingly good at, it’s marketing. Be in no doubt – Ears To The House thinks she is an advertising genius. Every time she puts a new single out, it becomes a full-on event – her fans love it, she makes some money in the process, and the socials have plenty to stick their teeth into.

In addition to all that, her PR people are all over the place when she has something to promote – we understand the dance music press were all contacted a few days ago. Gou is not the only person to use this style of news management to maximise coverage – politicians have been doing this for decades – but she is probably the one utilising it most effectively in the dance music world right now.

Now, we should clarify that Ears To The House did not hear from her PR team – the first we knew of the release was when a senior member of our vigilant team stumbled across it online. That’s how we had an article up on the subject yesterday – unlike the likes of Mixmag and Resident Advisor, we don’t have to keep an army of people happy in order to keep doing what we do.

With that in mind, the aforementioned Resident Advisor had their own review of the single “I Believe In Love Again” within hours of its release. Was it going to be remotely critical of the song? And was it going to make for even a faintly entertaining read?

Not exactly. The review begins by describing the instrumental as “divine” – words that are hardly going to endear Resident Advisor to Peggy Gou’s PR team. The drums are described as “sleazy”, Lenny Kravitz’s offering at one stage is referred to as a “wobbly falsetto”, and Gou’s contribution is called a “European tourist type of cheese”.

However, there are lines that will keep the marketing people happy – the words “it’s hard not to be swept up by Gou’s Balearic waves, everything falling into place like magic” are about as sycophantic as they come. And the tagline of “The one where Peggy Gou and Lenny Kravitz go to Ibiza” will be music to their ears – even if it makes no sense at all in November.

Back in 2020, Resident Advisor was in serious financial trouble – and applied to the Arts Council England quango for a bailout. They received £750,000 from the UK taxpayer, in addition to £41,000 from Germany and even £10,000 from Hackney Council in London. In their application for help, they grandly stated that “our contribution to the national and international reputation of the cultural sector could not be replaced”.

Nice to know that taxpayers money wasn’t totally wasted…