On June 4th, Japanese Breakfast’s next album, “Jubilee” is coming out. With two singles off the album, “Be Sweet” and “Posing in Bondage”, it’s easy to say that the new album looks more than promising. In the meantime, however, here are ways to get ready for the “Jubilee” album, as well as just appreciating the underrated loveliness that is Japanese Breakfast.
Read the Rookie Mag interview and watch the music video for Jane Cum. At Tonitruale, we are big fans of Rookie Mag, and obviously there’s a reason for that. Not only does the interviewer ask intelligent questions that Michelle Zauner gives great answers to, but there are so many great interesting facts that come up throughout. For instance, how did Japanese Breakfast get its name? How was “PsychoPomp” conceived? What movie inspired the “Jane Cum” music video? Speaking of “Jane Cum”, it's an amazing song with a great music video, and this interview links it conveniently for the readers to enjoy.
Read Michelle Zauner’s book “Crying in H Mart” and listen to “In Heaven”. On April 20th, lead singer Michelle Zauner released this memoir about grieving the death of her mother. As exhibited by Zauner’s article for Harper's Bazaar (as well as every single Japanese Breakfast lyric ever), she is insightful and intelligent, and the book should be worth a read. For fans, this is an opportunity to get further insight into Japanese Breakfast’s lyrics and music video imagery. For everyone else, it’s an opportunity to read a great book. Because it not only was written around the time the book takes place but also covers themes of grief and acceptance, the song “In Heaven” is great accompaniment for the book.
Watch the “What’s in My Bag” video and check out Zauner’s picks
There is no question, Michelle Zauner has great taste. Not only does this video give good recommendations, but it gives good insight to Zauner’s personal life and the things that influenced her music. For example, she picks out a Cat Power record “Moon Pix”. In the video, she mentions that when she was 16 she was especially obsessed with Power and through that obsession, her writing was influenced. With the melancholy, dreamlike lyrics of both artists, it is easy to see how that could be the case.
Play the Japanese BreakQuest game On the Japanese Breakfast website, there is a button that says “Quest” on it. If clicked, one finds that there is a whole videogame hidden on the site. It follows a young woman on a spaceship named “J-Brekkie” who, while drinking rocket fuel, has a vision of a robot named the machinist who tells her that aliens will overtake the ship. The player has to help J-Brekkie get parts to assemble the machinist and eventually fight aliens. It’s a fun game, with cute character design, songs from the album “Soft Sounds from Another Planet” playing from room to room, indie music references, and various musician cameos. Overall though, it’s just another example of how amazing and fun Japanese Breakfast really is.
Watch the music videos for “Be Sweet” and “Posing in Bondage”. Though the two are very different in tone, both videos are equally wonderful. “Be Sweet” is essentially an X-Files episode, except instead of Scully and Mulder, there are agents Missy and Shelly Breakfast (Played by Marisa Dabise of Pussy Mannequin and Zauner). The two run around with flashlights and rayguns, and search for aliens. It’s light, fun, and for those who grew up with X-Files, nostalgic. “Posing in Bondage”, on the other hand is about a young woman with a bloody mouth (Zauner) roaming through a grocery store. She is watched by a cashier (Harmony Tividad of Girlpool), and the two seem to form a sort of strange bond. It is dark and surreal, but oddly enough, extremely comforting. With these two promising singles already out, it is safe to say that great things can be expected of “Jubilee”.