Michelle Zauner aka Japanese Breakfast has announced her new album: it’s called Jubilee and arrives on June 4 via Dead Oceans. It was 2017 when she last put out an album – we heard from her as part of BUMPER last year, plus she’s got her memoir Crying in H Mart arriving – but it’s great to finally have her back as her main project. Today she shares the album’s lead single and video, “Be Sweet”, saying:
“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.“
Fully embracing the joy has led Zauner to creating the most overtly poppy Japanese Breakfast song by far in “Be Sweet”, and it’s a shade that suits her. A song that seems to be an invitation to get to know her – as long as you’re sweet to her – “Be Sweet” is an absolute bop, ripe with infectious rhythm guitar, polychromatic melodies, power-pop harmonies, and Zauner’s great big heart, which she sings out with unabashed glee.
The frolics of the song are furthered in the fantastic video, which was directed by Zauner herself and finds her and her partner Missy (from Mannequin Pussy) embarking on a campy X-Files aping mission. Take a look below.
Japanese Breakfast’s new album Jubilee comes out on June 4 via Dead Oceans (pre-order/save). You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
