Japanese Breakfast is Michelle Zauner, the Seoul-born, Oregon-raised indie rock musician (and author of the bestseller Crying in H Mart) whose Jubilee (2021) earned Grammy nominations. Start with Jubilee or the raw, grief-stricken debut Psychopomp (2016). Browse Japanese Breakfast vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Michelle Chongmi Zauner, performing as Japanese Breakfast, was born in Seoul, South Korea on March 29, 1989 to a Korean mother and Jewish-American father. She was raised in Eugene, Oregon. She launched the Japanese Breakfast project in 2013 alongside her work with the Philadelphia band Little Big League. Her solo debut Psychopomp (2016) addressed her mother's 2014 death from cancer; the album was widely cited as a breakthrough indie rock release. Her 2021 album Jubilee was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best New Artist at the Grammys. Her 2021 memoir Crying in H Mart was a New York Times bestseller. She has also composed the music for the 2024 video game Sable. She is married to musician Peter Bradley.
Japanese Breakfast's sound combines indie rock, indie pop, dream pop, shoegaze, and art pop with Zauner's distinctive vocal delivery, atmospheric layered production, and lyrical content addressing grief, family, Korean-American identity, and personal experience. Her work has been a defining contribution to contemporary indie rock.
Dead Oceans pressings of the Japanese Breakfast catalog have been issued in multiple color variant editions and limited deluxe pressings.
Listeners new to Japanese Breakfast typically start with Jubilee (2021) or Psychopomp (2016).
