Japanese Breakfast, the musical project of multi-hyphenate Michelle Zauner, performed “Be Sweet,” the hit single from her GRAMMY-nominated album, Jubilee, on Ellen.
Earlier this week Japanese Breakfast released a cover of Yoko Ono’s “Nobody Sees Me Like You Do” for the upcoming Ocean Child: Songs of Yoko Ono compilation. Of the cover, NPR said “where Ono’s voice quavered with fragility, Zauner is assured, almost confrontational – in its examination of commitment.”
Jubilee was released by Dead Oceans last June and quickly became one of the most praised albums of 2021, landing on Best Of lists from Rolling Stone, People Magazine, Pitchfork, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, NPR, Wallstreet Journal, The Ringer, SPIN, Esquire, Vulture, The AV Club, Paste, Cosmopolitan, UPROXX, Consequence of Sound, Slant and Hypebeast, amongst others. The album was also voted the #1 album of the year on NPR’s Listeners’ Poll, #1 on UPROXX’s Critics’ Poll, and its lead single “Be Sweet” was voted the #1 song of the year on Pitchfork’s Readers’ Poll.
In addition to Jubilee, 2021 saw Zauner release her widely lauded, New York Times Best Seller, “Crying in H Mart“, which she’s currently adapting for the screen for MGM’s Orion Pictures. “Crying in H Mart” is an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. The book has been on the New York Times Best Sellers’ list for 27 weeks. Zauner and “Crying in H Mart” are also featured in an episode of Take Out with Lisa Ling streaming now on Hulu.
She also released the original soundtrack to the anticipated video game Sable, which Entertainment Weekly compared to David Bowie’s 1977 masterwork Low and Pitchfork said is “a streamlined glimpse into her versatility as a narrative artist.”
