We’re officially getting a new Japanese Breakfast album this year– and it’s a joyous one

By Tatiana Tenreyro  |  March 2, 2021 | 3:00pm
Music Features Japanese Breakfast
We’re officially getting a new Japanese Breakfast album this year– and it’s a joyous one
Photo: Jubilee album art, photo by Peter Ash

Michelle Zauner released her excellent second Japanese Breakfast album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, back in 2017, tackling themes of processing grief after her mother’s death, re-examining toxic relationships, and her own fear of death. Since then, Zauner released a cover of Tears For Fears’ “Head Over Heels” and one-off single “Essentially,” but now we finally have the confirmation that a new era of Japanese Breakfast is coming – and it’s a very joyous one.

On Tuesday, Zauner announced that she’s releasing Jubilee on June 4, via Dead Oceans. The digital liner notes say that Zauner is “ready to fight for happiness, an all-too-scarce resource in our seemingly crumbling world.” And what better way to do that than with joyful, effervescent music? The first single, “Be Sweet,” is an infectious, ‘80s-inspired synth-pop track about wanting to have faith in a relationship. Zauner pairs it with an extremely fun The X-Files-themed music video starring Mannequin Pussy’s Marisa Dabice as the Scully to Zauner’s Mulder.

Here’s what Zauner had to say about “Be Sweet”:

“After spending the last five years writing about grief, I wanted our follow up to be about joy. For me, a third record should feel bombastic and so I wanted to pull out all the stops for this one. I wrote ‘Be Sweet’ with Jack Tatum from Wild Nothing a few years ago. I’ve been holding onto it for so long and am so excited to finally put it out there.”

That’s not all Zauner has in store this year. Her memoir about her late mother and Korean heritage, Crying In H-Mart, is set to come out on April 20. It’s an expansion on her viral New Yorker essay, published in 2018.

 
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