The Japanese Breakfast story so far in 8 songs
After nearly 15 years in music, Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast has carved out her place as one of indie’s most beloved songwriters – not just for her ability to turn grief into art, but for her DIY ethos, hands-on approach to craft, and storytelling that thrives in nuance and contradiction.
As many know, Zauner’s storytelling extends beyond music. In 2021, she published Crying in H Mart – a deeply moving memoir that explores food, loss, and identity following the death of her mother Chongmi in 2014. The book became a critical and commercial sensation, spending 55 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and landing a planned film adaptation (though the project is currently on hold).
Now, Zauner steps into a new creative era. Her upcoming album, ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)’, marks her fourth record but first official studio release, and was produced by the Grammy-winning Blake Mills [Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes]. As she turns the page, NME looks back at eight essential tracks that map the artistic evolution of Japanese Breakfast.
Little Big League – ‘Dark Matter’ (2013)
Michelle Zauner’s first material as Japanese Breakfast started as songs she penned during a challenge to write a song a day in the month of June 2013. Before Japanese Breakfast, though, she was in the indie-rock band Little Big League – founded in Philadelphia in 2011 with bassist Deven Craige, guitarist Kevin O’Halloran and drummer Ian Dykstra.
Zauner’s early songwriting in this band was raw and acerbic, tackling the turbulence of young adulthood including its wake-up calls, letdowns and existential struggles. Little Big League blended elements of emo, punk and math rock, sporting an unapologetically scrappy sensibility.
On ‘Dark Matter’, from their debut album ‘These Are Good People’, Zauner offers an early glimpse of her fascination with the cosmos and the emotional weight of transition after loss. Named after the mysterious, unseen substance that shapes most of the universe, the track swells with angular guitars, gritty instrumentation and Zauner’s raw, rasping screams as she delivers introspective verses: “Something dark, something dense / Rushed its way into our home… Fascinated by the infinite… and how the floodlights came and went… how we come in / how we come out.”
Japanese Breakfast – ‘In Heaven’ (2016)
In her memoir, Zauner described Japanese Breakfast’s debut album ‘Psychopomp’ as a last-ditch effort at music. After news of her mum’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis, she had moved back to her childhood home in Oregon, leaving her former band in Philadelphia, and after losing her mother, had resigned herself to a corporate 9 to 5 in New York. But she lost her day job and ‘Psychopomp’, initially released on the low-key indie Yellow K and then re-released internationally months later by Dead Oceans, became Zauner’s breakout moment.
The ‘Psychopomp’ opener ‘In Heaven’ captures the songwriter’s early years of grief and disorienting loss (“The dog’s confused / she just paces around all day… sniffing at your empty room”) while showcasing her knack for sharp, turn-of-phrase lyricism (“I came here for the long haul / Now I leave with an empty fucking hole”). Despite its heavy themes, ‘In Heaven’ softens sorrow with dancey rhythms and soaring melodies, making it an early cornerstone and fan favourite in Japanese Breakfast’s catalogue. It’s a showcase of Zauner’s signature ability to transform pain into cathartic beauty.
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Till Death’ (2017)
A love song and a heartfelt tribute to her husband and guitarist Peter Bradley – who Zauner married just two weeks before her mother’s passing, and continues to make music with 11 years later – ‘Till Death’ stands as one of Japanese Breakfast’s most tenderly moving songs in ‘Soft Sounds From Another Planet’. Zauner initially conceived the second album as a sci-fi-themed project to create distance from the grief-stricken tone of her debut. But as the writing process progressed, the concept felt heavy-handed and was ultimately scrapped – though the title and some cosmic allusions remained.
Rooted in reality, ‘Till Death’ examines the sturdiness of a committed partnership through life’s darkest, down-and-out moments. Zauner sings with both vulnerability (“I don’t deserve you, but I’m giving it my best”) and deep gratitude (“Your embrace, healing my wounds / teach me to breathe, teach me to move”), encapsulating the quiet strength found in love and support. Ethereal, compact, and understated, ‘Till Death’ poignantly acknowledges that healing is not merely a solitary process.
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Boyish’ (2017)
Carried over from Little Big League’s second and final album, ‘Tropical Jinx’, ’Boyish’ is testament to the power of production and arrangement, and how time and expert polish can elevate a good song into a great one. The original version was an angsty emo-punk anthem of scorned love, driven by sludgy, blaring guitars and Zauner’s raw, imperfect vocals that frequently teetered at the edge of a scream.
Three years later, Japanese Breakfast reimagined ‘Boyish’ as a hazy, waltzing ballad about yearning, shimmering with soft synths and lush harmonies. The re-recording evokes a swooning, vintage charm reminiscent of Elvis’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ with sparser verses that leave space for longing to settle in. At its heart is a sensual chorus that marries impish desire with quiet despair – a recurring thread in Zauner’s songwriting. She laments: “I can’t get you off my mind / I can’t get you off in general.”
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Better The Mask’ (2021)
With ‘Sable’ – the original soundtrack for the video game of the same name – Michelle Zauner ventured beyond indie-pop into the new world of video game scoring. Zauner has said she drew inspiration from Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi, ambient music pioneer Brian Eno and the dream-like soundscapes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But you don’t need to be a gamer or understand these influences to appreciate the immersive sonic landscape she crafted here.
Spanning 32 largely instrumental tracks, ‘Sable’ weaves together lush synth textures, delicate keys and a vast, atmospheric quality that mirrors the game’s themes of solitude, discovery, and wonder. The first two tracks feature lyrics that showcase Zauner’s literary acuity, particularly in ‘Better The Mask’, in which she condenses existential reflection into just 10 lines. Despairing but hopeful, she sings: “And in time you find / that you’ve doubled back / learn to see a future / in which it gets better.”
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Paprika’ (2021)
Japanese Breakfast’s emotionally complex yet largely blissful third LP, ‘Jubilee’, opens with ‘Paprika’ – a triumphant, marching band-inspired lead track influenced by Satoshi Kon’s 2006 animated film of the same name. Reveling in orchestral grandeur, the song explores the highs and lows of artistic expression. Through soaring horns and sweeping strings, Zauner reflects on the fleeting nature of creative fulfilment: “How’s it feel to be at the center of magic / To linger in tones and words? / I opened the floodgates and found / No water, no current, no river, no rush.”
The recording itself is buoyant and bold as is, but onstage, Zauner and her band elevate it to a magical spectacle, complete with a giant gong and mallet – just watch their Jimmy Kimmel performance. ‘Paprika’ serves as a striking opening salvo, ushering in an album that embraces expansion, celebration and life beyond loss.
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Savage Good Boy’ (2021)
Standing in contrast to the triumphant ‘Paprika’ is the sharp satire ‘Savage Good Boy’, one of the most distinctive tracks on ‘Jubilee’. Inspired by a New York Times article about billionaires hoarding bunkers in preparation for societal collapse, Michelle Zauner wrote the song from the perspective of one such tycoon, crafting a darkly comedic critique of power, greed, and control.
- READ MORE: Japanese Breakfast: “There’s freedom and creative growth in not having anything to prove”
The music video, directed by Zauner herself, stars The Sopranos and The White Lotus star Michael Imperioli as a wealthy villain luring a sugar baby (also played by Zauner) into his lavish underground hideaway. Eerie and ironic in its whimsy, the video perfectly complements the song’s unsettling themes and highlights how Zauner’s storytelling extends beyond the recording studio, weaving music with cinematic world-building.
Japanese Breakfast – ‘Orlando In Love’ (2025)
The lead single from the upcoming album ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)’, out this Friday (March 21), ‘Orlando In Love’ once again finds Zauner drawing inspiration from her reading – this time, from the exploits of the lovesick protagonist of Orlando Innamorato, an epic poem by Italian Renaissance author Matteo Maria Boiardo.
A longtime director of her own music videos, Zauner also took the helm for ‘Orlando In Love,’ collaborating yet again with cinematographer Adam Kolodny. In the video, she transforms into a sailor-pirate, starring alongside drag queen Jungle, who plays an ethereal siren emerging from a clamshell. The playful campiness of the visuals contrasts beautifully with the song’s sweeping, dreamlike orchestration, acoustic strumming and Zauner’s poetically hazy lyrics – teasing out a new era of Japanese Breakfast that leans into whimsical irreverence and solemn virtuosity.
Japanese Breakfast’s album ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)’ is out March 21 via Dead Oceans
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Khyne Palumar
NME
