It’s been a rollercoaster year for Michelle Zauner, the founder and leader of the experimental indie band Japanese Breakfast. Not only was her third album, Jubilee, her mainstream breakthrough, but she also authored a New York Times bestselling novel, “Crying In H Mart.”
Backstage after her performance at Coachella, Zauner sat down with NME to discuss the last year, including one of her biggest goals – to let herself finally be happy, “It’s been a dream come true. I feel very at peace and happy. This year is about enjoying myself. I’ve been saying this very nerdy thing, ‘My number one job is to have fun.’ This year is about enjoying these gifts.”
During the interview, Launer explained that writing her three albums has worked as a way of going through her own grief. This period in her journey of finding happiness really began as she worked on her second album and began writing her book, telling NME:
“It made room for me to creatively focus on a different part of life, you know? I just thought ‘What a surprising theme to write about as someone who has this narrative of [being a] grief girl’. Also, the genre of indie music is rooted in sensitive sadder stuff. I thought it was a fun challenge and a surprise to write an album about joy.”