In her first-ever interview spoken fully in Korean, Michelle Zauner shared details about the next Japanese Breakfast LP, currently aiming for a March 2025 release date.
The recent interview with GQ Korea went in depth with Zauner about everything from her next album, to her successful writing career, to potential motherhood. Her music's overall direction is shaping up to be "gloomier" and guitar driven - an intentional departure from the joyous feel of her previous LP, Jubilee. She also described this new sound as “depressing,” with hopes of using her guitar skill to create a more “mature” feel when compared to the brighter horns and strings heard on Jubilee.
When asked about this new approach to her music, Zauner was clear about wanting to play guitar more often:
“The third album was about happiness. And I used a lot of instruments. There were a lot of horns and string instruments. So when I performed for that album, I didn’t play the guitar much. I just sang. So I missed the guitar a lot. I play a lot of guitar for this album. And it’s a gloomy album…”
2021 brought Michelle Zauner’s career to impressive heights, with her critically-acclaimed memoir Crying in H Mart - in which she details intimate memories of growing up as Korean-American, as well as the intense experience of her mother passing away after a long battle with cancer - reaching the top of many best seller charts. The book is currently being adapted into a film, written by Zauner herself.
Jubilee’s release was supported by a successful tour that brought Japanese Breakfast to four continents over the course of its 135-show run.
Zauner has been living in South Korea since the tour’s wrap-up in October 2023, where she has made appearances at the 2024 Asian Pop Festival, as well as alongside pop groups like Illit - all while working on her next book and album.
The full interview can be read here (in Korean - translation of the interview for this article was provided by Google). Photos from the upcoming September issue of GQ Korea can also be viewed on Zauner’s Instagram post below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_KpTdkpekl/?hl=en&img_index=1
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