On Japanese Breakfast’s melancholic record, Michelle Zauner might be ‘the happiest’ she’s ever been

It must have felt like fate to have a record you titled Jubilee be as celebrated as much as Japanese Breakfast‘s third album was in 2021.

From the outside looking in, frontwoman Michelle Zauner was having the kind of year most indie musicians can only dream of: a record acclaimed by critics and fans alike, plus a bestselling memoir called Crying in H Mart.

Now, on the heels of a new album called For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), the reality of Japanese Breakfast’s breakout year becomes clearer.

“It’s kind of ironic,” Zauner says. “I was kind of miserable on the Jubilee tour — this joyous record — because it was such a grind. And on this record, I feel so at peace and so comfortable and just really happy … Funny enough, on the melancholic record, I’m maybe the happiest I’ve been.”

Today, Zauner joins us to talk about their fourth album, the books and art that influenced it, and the themes that run through it.

“A lot of what the record is about is every choice you make robbing you from another experience and the kind of melancholy that elicits,” she says.

Zauner also talks about the year she spent living in South Korea in between recording and releasing this album and about her next book that she’s currently working on.

Plus, Japanese Breakfast performs songs from the new album live in the studio.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.