You get the feeling Japanese Breakfast is on the verge of breaking out.
Lead by Korean American Michelle Zauner, the group celebrated the release of its third album, Jubilee, Friday, with an appearance on CBS This Morning on Saturday.
That’s after making their national TV debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in March. Their single, Be Sweet, has broken into the top 30 on the alternative charts.
She also released her memoir, Crying In H Mart, has also been released this year.
It’s probably not appropriate to call a group that’s been around since 2016 a break out. After all, Zauner has been featured on Rolling Stone and NPR as far back as 2016, and the group’s embarking on a 46 city tour beginning in Silver Springs, MD on July 21.
Long recognized for her talent, Zauner is now being noticed by the mainstream media and the perks that come with that.
Born in Seoul to a South Korean mother and a Jewish American father, her family moved to Eugene, Oregon when she was just nine months old.
She explained her group’s name back in 2016 to the Houston Free Press.
“It’s asked of me a lot more because I’m not Japanese. I’m half Korean. I wanted a name that hinted at not being American, without revealing my own personal ethnicity. I think that “breakfast” sounds like a very American word and I wanted to pair it with something foreign. I guess I wanted to play with feeling of Asian American visibility,” she said.
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