Michelle Chongmi Zauner (born March 29, 1989) is a Korean-American musician and author, best known as the lead vocalist of the
alternative pop
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
band
Japanese Breakfast
Japanese Breakfast is an indie pop band headed by Korean-American musician Michelle Zauner.
Zauner started the band as a side project in 2013, when she was leading the Philadelphia-based emo group Little Big League. She has said that she named ...
. Her 2021 memoir, ''
Crying in H Mart'', spent 60 weeks on ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. In 2022, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world under the category ''Innovators'' on
their annual list.
Zauner was raised in
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.
As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...
, and began playing music and hosting public performances when she was 15. In 2011, after graduating from
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
, Zauner and three other musicians formed
Little Big League
''Little Big League'' is a 1994 American family sports film about a 12-year-old who suddenly becomes the owner and then manager of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. It stars Luke Edwards, Timothy Busfield, and Dennis Farina. The film is directo ...
, a
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
-based
emo
Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...
band that released two albums, ''These Are Good People'' (2013) and ''Tropical Jinx'' (2014). Zauner, who in 2013 began to release music under the name Japanese Breakfast, left Little Big League in 2014 when she returned to Eugene to care for her ailing mother. In 2016, she released Japanese Breakfast's debut album, ''Psychopomp,'' which centered on grief and her mother's death. A followup album, ''
Soft Sounds from Another Planet,'' was released in 2017. A third, ''
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
,'' was released in 2021 and became the band's first album to chart on the
''Billboard'' 200, peaking at #56; it was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...
. As Japanese Breakfast, Zauner also wrote the soundtrack for the 2021 video game ''
Sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
''.
Zauner's essays have been published in
''Glamour'',
''The New Yorker'', and
''Harper's Bazaar''. She released her first book, ''
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir'', via
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
in 2021 to critical acclaim. It is to be adapted into a feature film by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
, with Zauner providing the soundtrack. She has directed most of Japanese Breakfast's music videos and has directed videos for other artists such as American singer
Jay Som
Melina Mae Cortez Duterte (born March 25, 1994), better known by her stage name Jay Som, is an American, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mixing engineer. Her debut record '' Everybody Works'' was released ...
and power pop band
Charly Bliss
Charly Bliss are an American power pop band from Brooklyn, New York, who formed in 2011. The band's line-up is composed of siblings Eva (lead vocals, guitar) and Sam (drums) Hendricks, lead guitarist Spencer Fox, and bassist Dan Shure. To date, th ...
.
Life and career
1989–2011: Early life and projects
Michelle Chongmi Zauner was born on March 29, 1989, in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
, South Korea, to Chongmi, a housewife, and Joel Zauner, a car salesman.
Her mother was Korean and her father is a white American of Jewish heritage. Zauner was raised in
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.
As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...
, where the family moved when she was nine months old.
Growing up, Zauner and her mother visited their family in Seoul most summers.
At school, she was often mistaken for being Japanese or Chinese by classmates she believed were unaware of the existence of Korea.
At 15, Zauner asked her mother to buy a guitar; she began taking weekly guitar lessons at The Lesson Factory, learning chords, and writing songs.
Her first songs were about "friendships and their fallouts."
She began playing at local
open mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...
nights and at performance venues around Eugene under the name Little Girl, Big Spoon, much to the chagrin of her mother, who hoped that her daughter would not pursue a career in music.
She began advertising her music around Eugene and frequently played at the
W.O.W. Hall as an opening act for singers such as
Mike Coykendall
Mike Coykendall is a musician, audio engineer, and record producer.
Born in Norwich, Kansas in 1963, Coykendall was a member of the Wichita-based Klyde Konnor, which performed and recorded frequently throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. He mov ...
,
M. Ward
Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...
, and
Maria Taylor Maria Taylor may refer to:
* Maria Taylor (sportscaster) (born 1987), American sportscaster
* Maria Taylor (musician) (born 1976), American musician
* Maria Jane Taylor (1837–1870), British missionary to China
* Maria Madeline Taylor
Maria Made ...
.
Zauner also played at school benefits.
Her musical activities strained her relationship with her mother, which caused Zauner to become
depressed during
twelfth grade
Twelfth grade, 12th grade, senior year, or grade 12 is the final year of secondary school in most of North America. In other regions, it may also be referred to as class 12 or Year 13. In most countries, students are usually between the ages of 17 ...
.
Zauner attended
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
in Pennsylvania, where she studied creative writing and became fond of authors such as
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
,
Richard Ford
Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel '' The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, '' Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and t ...
, and
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...
. She preferred to write fiction to avoid writing about her mixed-race identity as a Korean-American, believing that if she did, she would be playing the "
race card
Playing the race card is an idiomatic phrase that refers to the exploitation by someone of either racist or anti-racist attitudes in the audience in order to gain an advantage. It constitutes an accusation of bad faith directed at the person or ...
". In the fall of 2008, Zauner joined fellow Bryn Mawr students Marisa Helgeson, Casey Sowa, and K.O.H. to form Post Post, an indie pop band that rehearsed in Helgeson's dorm.
Post Post released an
EP, ''Meta Meta,'' on September 4, 2009, through the label Awkwardcore Records.
Zauner also played in a band called Birthday Girlz, through which she wrote the song "Everybody Wants To Love You."
She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 2011, then waited tables and worked at Philadelphia music venue
Union Transfer
Union Transfer is a music venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at 1026 Spring Garden Street in the Callowhill neighborhood, it opened on September 21, 2011, as a joint venture between The Bowery Presents, a New York City production compa ...
's coat check while trying to get her music career off the ground.
2011–2016: Little Big League and Japanese Breakfast
In 2011, Zauner started the Philadelphia
emo
Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...
band
Little Big League
''Little Big League'' is a 1994 American family sports film about a 12-year-old who suddenly becomes the owner and then manager of the Minnesota Twins baseball team. It stars Luke Edwards, Timothy Busfield, and Dennis Farina. The film is directo ...
with Ian Dykstra, Kevin O'Halloran, and Deven Craige.
O'Halloran and Zauner met in classes at Bryn Mawr; the two met Craige at a Post Post show and Dykstra at a party. On April 1, 2012, the band released an eponymous
EP.
Fronted by Zauner, it recorded music for its debut studio album in Craige's studio, at Berk's Warehouse in Philadelphia, wrapping in January 2013. The album was released on the
Tiny Engines
Tiny Engines is an American record label based in the Carolinas.
Controversy
In November 2019, Stevie Knipe of Adult Mom accused Tiny Engines of a breach of contract due to the delayed payment of $8,000 in royalties. Knipe claimed that Tiny En ...
label as ''These Are Good People'' on August 6, 2013, and the band launched a tour.
''These Are Good People'' spawned the single "My Very Own You".
In 2013, Zauner began recording songs that she released under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has said she picked the name after seeing a gif of
Japanese breakfast
Japanese Breakfast is an indie pop band headed by Korean-American musician Michelle Zauner.
Zauner started the band as a side project in 2013, when she was leading the Philadelphia-based emo group Little Big League. She has said that she named ...
, deciding that the term would be considered "exotic" to American people, and hoping it would make people wonder what a Japanese breakfast consists of.
In June 2013, Zauner and musician
Rachel Gagliardi of the duo
Slutever
Slutever is a punk rock band based in Los Angeles, California, consisting of Nicole Snyder and Rachel Gagliardi, both of whom are from Philadelphia. Gagliardi is also a member of Upset.
History
Snyder and Gagliardi met in high school, where the ...
recorded and posted one song a day on the
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
blog ''rachelandmichelledojune''. On July 1, she released the songs on
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
as the album ''June.
'' As Japanese Breakfast, Zauner also participated in a song project with musicians
Eskimeaux,
Florist
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related sup ...
,
Frankie Cosmos
Greta Simone Kline (born March 21, 1994), formerly known by the stage name Frankie Cosmos, is an American musician and singer-songwriter. She is known for her independent releases, inspired by Frank O'Hara's poetry, DIY ethics of K Records and ...
, and Small Wonder, who posted songs daily on the Tumblr blog ''may5to12songs'' in May 2014. On June 6, 2014, she released her songs as the Japanese Breakfast album ''Where Is My Great Big Feeling?'' on Bandcamp.' On July 24, she released another album, ''American Sound''.' She rereleased both in late July on cassette tape as ''American Sound/Where Is My Great Big Feeling?.''
Also in July 2014, Little Big League and rock band
Ovlov
Ovlov is an American rock band from Newtown, Connecticut. The band is led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Hartlett, usually accompanying him, his brothers Theo and Jon on drums and bass, respectively, and guitarist Morgan Luzzi.
Steve Hartlett is a mu ...
co-released an EP, ''Split'', on the Tiny Engines label. Later that year, they signed with Run for Cover, which released the band's second and final album, ''Tropical Jinx,'' in October. To promote the album, the band toured alongside Ovlov and punk-rock band
Mannequin Pussy, including a concert at
Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.[stage IV
Cancer staging is the process of determining the extent to which a cancer has developed by growing and spreading. Contemporary practice is to assign a number from I to IV to a cancer, with I being an isolated cancer and IV being a cancer that ha ...](_blank)
Squamous cell carcinoma
Squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs), also known as epidermoid carcinomas, comprise a number of different types of cancer that begin in squamous cells. These cells form on the surface of the skin, on the lining of hollow organs in the body, and on the ...
.
In 2015, dismayed by her lack of success in the music industry, Zauner took a job at an advertising firm in New York City. During her free time, she recorded songs about her mother's death as a way to cope with her grief''.''
In January 2016, Zauner formed the band Dog Island with Alanna Nuala Higgins from the band ''Moon'' and Kat Casale, former drummer for
Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
singer-songwriter
Mitski
Mitski Miyawaki (born Mitsuki Laycock; September 27, 1990), known professionally by the mononym Mitski, is a Japanese-born American singer-songwriter. Mitski self-released her first two albums, '' Lush'' (2012) and '' Retired from Sad, New Caree ...
. They played several shows at the Brooklyn venues
Silent Barn, David Blaine's The Steakhouse, and Market Hotel, where they opened for
DIIV in March 2016. The band released no music; Zauner mainly focused on recording with Japanese Breakfast.
In February, Little Big League reunited after a two-year hiatus to play alongside Ovlov on February 19 and the Loved Ones and Cayatena on February 20.
2016–present: Japanese Breakfast and other projects
On April 1, 2016, Japanese Breakfast released its debut studio album, ''
Psychopomp
Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afte ...
''. Zauner had decided to quit music and not tour after releasing the album, but changed her mind after it received critical praise and more attention than she expected. Japanese Breakfast subsequently opened for Mitski alongside American musician
Jay Som
Melina Mae Cortez Duterte (born March 25, 1994), better known by her stage name Jay Som, is an American, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mixing engineer. Her debut record '' Everybody Works'' was released ...
. On June 23, 2016,
Dead Oceans
Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...
announced that it had signed Japanese Breakfast, which made its live international debut that August in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
On July 13, 2016, Zauner won the 11th edition of the
''Glamour'' magazine essay contest with "Real Life: Love, Loss, and Kimchi", which discussed her mother's cancer diagnosis and death and the bond they shared over Korean food. Zauner said the essay was "largely about cooking along with" Korean-born American YouTuber
Maangchi
Emily Kim (born Kim Kwang-sook; ; born 1957), commonly known as Maangchi (), is a South Korean-born American YouTuber and author. She is notable for producing cooking videos centered around Korean cuisine. She was described by ''The New York Ti ...
's cooking tutorials.
On July 13, 2017, Japanese Breakfast released its second studio album, ''
Soft Sounds from Another Planet''. The album received critical acclaim and was the band's first album to chart, reaching the
''Billboard'' Top Heatseekers,
US Independent Albums
The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by ''Billboard'' magaz ...
, New Zealand Heatseekers Chart, and the
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...
.
![Japanese Breakfast - 51024127086](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Japanese_Breakfast_-_51024127086.jpg)
On August 20, 2018, ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' published Zauner's essay, "Crying in H Mart", which describes her experiences shopping at
H Mart
H Mart ( ko, H 마트 or ) is an American supermarket chain of Asian supermarkets operated by the Hanahreum Group, headquartered in Lyndhurst, Bergen County (버건군), New Jersey. The chain has 84 stores throughout the United States, operat ...
, a Korean-focused grocery store. She was subsequently contacted by
literary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...
s and
publishing houses, which convinced her to write a book-length memoir. On February 28, 2019, American publishing house
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
announced that it had acquired the rights to her memoir in an auction.
Later in 2019, Zauner hosted a five-episode
Munchies series, "Close to Home", that explored the effects of immigration on various cultures' cuisine and experiences "tied into intermingling food cultures." The series featured Maangchi and other guests.
In 2020, Zauner formed BUMPER with Ryan Galloway of the band
Crying
Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretom ...
. Galloway had earlier contributed a guitar part for a song, "Slide Tackle", that eventually appeared on Japanese Breakfast's studio album ''Jubilee'' (2021). As BUMPER, the duo recorded songs remotely during the
COVID-19 lockdowns
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...
. On September 3, 2020, BUMPER released an EP, ''pop songs 2020,'' to positive reviews.
On April 1, 2021, ''
Harper's Bazaar
''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...
'' published Zauner's essay, "#Forgiveness," which discussed her estrangement from her father after her mother's death.
On April 20, 2021, Knopf released Zauner's debut book, ''Crying In H Mart: A Memoir.'' The book's first chapter is essentially her ''New Yorker'' essay.
The memoir received critical acclaim and debuted at number two on the ''New York Times''
's nonfiction bestseller list; it would ultimately spend 60 weeks on the list from July 2021 to September 2022. On June 7, 2021,
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
announced that it would adapt ''Crying In H Mart'' into a feature film and pay Zauner to write the film's screenplay and supervise its soundtrack.
In April 2022, Zauner said she had finished the first draft of the screenplay.
On June 4, 2021, Japanese Breakfast released its third studio album, ''
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
''. The album received widespread critical acclaim and was the band's first to make the
''Billboard'' 200 list; it peaked at 56.
Artistry and influences
![Karen O 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Karen_O_2013.jpg)
Zauner grew up listening to
Motown music
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...
,
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
s, and British-American rock band
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...
, which she says inspired her to write pop music that is "interesting and has lyrical depth". The first song she learned to play on the guitar was
Built to Spill's "
Carry the Zero". Other musical influences include
Joe Hisaishi
, known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. He is also known for his piano scores.
Hisaishi's music has been known to explor ...
,
Frank Ocean
Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...
,
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...
, and
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s. She has called
the 1975
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now based in Manchester, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer G ...
her "fave band" and contributed uncredited guest vocals to its track "Part of the Band".
Zauner has called
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...
's discography "perfect" and said that Japanese Breakfast's third studio album ''Jubilee'' was inspired by Björk's third studio album, ''
Homogenic
''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 20 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dravs, the album marked a stylist ...
'' (1997)''.''
Zauner decided to be a musician after watching a DVD of Korean-American musician
Karen O
Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978) is a South Korean-born American singer, musician, and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist for the indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Early life
She was born in Seoul, South Korea, the daughter of a Ko ...
of the
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...
. She said O "rejected the stereotype of meek Asian girls" and "'made music more accessible'" for someone who was like her. Her youth as a Korean-American has also influenced her songwriting.
Videos
Zauner has directed most of Japanese Breakfast's music videos, except "In Heaven" and "Jane Cum", which were directed by Adam Kolodny, and "Everybody Wants To Love You", which she and Kolodny co-directed. Zauner described the video for the Japanese Breakfast song "Boyish" as her "magnum opus".
Zauner also directed the video for Jay Som's single "The Bus Song", for rock superduo
Better Oblivion Community Center
Better Oblivion Community Center is an American indie rock superduo consisting of musicians Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers. They released their self-titled debut album on January 24, 2019, through Dead Oceans.
Background
Oberst and Bridgers ...
's single "Dylan Thomas", and for
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
group
Charly Bliss
Charly Bliss are an American power pop band from Brooklyn, New York, who formed in 2011. The band's line-up is composed of siblings Eva (lead vocals, guitar) and Sam (drums) Hendricks, lead guitarist Spencer Fox, and bassist Dan Shure. To date, th ...
's single "Capacity", in which she gave herself a cameo as a reporter named "Shelley Breakfast", a role she reprised in Japanese Breakfast's video for "Be Sweet".
Personal life
![Japanese Breakfast at The Neptune Theatre in Seattle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Japanese_Breakfast_at_The_Neptune_Theatre_in_Seattle.jpg)
Zauner married her bandmate Peter Bradley in 2014, just two weeks before her mother's death of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
.
The pair met in a Philadelphia bar called "12 Steps Down"; Zauner has said her song of the same name details their first meeting. She wrote the Japanese Breakfast song "Till Death" as a love song and thank-you note to Bradley.
Zauner's mother died on October 18, 2014.
Zauner has said that her relationship with her mother, and its end, inspired her to collect "evidence that the Korean half" of her identity "did not die" when her mother and aunt did. After her mother died, Zauner began making frequent trips to
H Mart
H Mart ( ko, H 마트 or ) is an American supermarket chain of Asian supermarkets operated by the Hanahreum Group, headquartered in Lyndhurst, Bergen County (버건군), New Jersey. The chain has 84 stores throughout the United States, operat ...
, a supermarket that specializes in Korean food, and began learning how to cook the Korean food her mother made during her childhood, a process she chronicled in her essay ''Crying in H Mart'' and her book of the same name. She followed cooking tutorials from
Maangchi
Emily Kim (born Kim Kwang-sook; ; born 1957), commonly known as Maangchi (), is a South Korean-born American YouTuber and author. She is notable for producing cooking videos centered around Korean cuisine. She was described by ''The New York Ti ...
, with whom she became friends.
Zauner, who is not fluent in
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
, sometimes uses Korean phrases while speaking English.
Zauner is
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
. She said that the Japanese Breakfast song "Everybody Wants to Love You" was written about her relationship with a woman.
Zauner has said that she is estranged from her father,
who lives in Thailand.
Activism
Zauner has been an advocate for Asian-American issues. She spoke out on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
after the
2021 Atlanta spa shootings
On March 16, 2021, a shooting spree occurred at three spas or massage parlors in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Eight people were killed, six of whom were women of Asian descent, and one other person was wounded.
A su ...
, expressing her anger and calling it important to acknowledge
anti-Asian racism in the United States
Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and ...
.
In 2022, Zauner and Chicago-based
Goose Island Brewery
Goose Island Beer Company is a brewery in Chicago, Illinois, that began as a single brewpub opened in 1988 in Lincoln Park, Chicago, and named after a nearby island. The larger production brewery opened in 1995, and a second brewpub, in Wrigleyv ...
released a limited-edition
lager
Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...
at the
Pitchfork Music Festival
The Pitchfork Music Festival is an annual summer music festival organized by ''Pitchfork Media'' and held in Union Park in Chicago, Illinois. Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris at Grande halle de la Villette. The fe ...
to raise money for the "Heart of Dinner" charity, which helps elderly Asian-American struggling with
food insecurity
Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...
. The beer was named "Be Sweet" after her song.
Zauner has said she hopes to inspire more Asian-Americans to be involved in music.
Some of her videos, such as the one for "Everybody Wants to Love You", contain references to Korean culture.
Discography
Japanese Breakfast
*''
Psychopomp
Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are supernatural creatures, spirits, entities, angels, demons or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afte ...
'' (2016)
* ''
Soft Sounds from Another Planet'' (2017)
* ''
Jubilee
A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...
'' (2021)
Little Big League
* ''These Are Good People'' (2013)
* ''Tropical Jinx'' (2014)
Bumper
* ''pop songs 2020'' (2020)
Bibliography
*
References
External links
*
Michelle Zaunerat
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zauner, Michelle
1989 births
American indie pop musicians
American indie rock musicians
American musicians of Korean descent
American people of Jewish descent
Bryn Mawr College alumni
Dead Oceans artists
Downtempo musicians
Experimental pop musicians
Living people
Lo-fi musicians
Musicians from Eugene, Oregon
21st-century American musicians
21st-century American women musicians
Asian American music
American LGBT musicians
Bisexual musicians
LGBT songwriters
Bisexual women
LGBT American people of Asian descent
LGBT people from Oregon
LGBT singers from the United States