For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
Indie pop – Released March 21, 2025 – 10 songs, 32 mins
REID
If you’re a fan of Too Sweet Reviews, it’s no secret this week’s artist holds a special place in our hearts. But why? Out of the hundreds we’ve been introduced to by this blog, what makes Michelle Zauner and her band so special? Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way.
Jubilee (2021) is one of the best albums we’ve done in our four-and-a-half-year existence. Lundi and I ranked it the best of 2021 and Roz had it at fifth. We’ve seen them play three times live since and all are memorable. The first and second viewings were our trips to North America and Europe’s premier music festivals, Coachella (2022) and Primavera Sound (2023) respectively. The third was a more intimate viewing at a small venue, Razmatazz in Barcelona, where she played Tactics, a song we requested when we saw the band outside the bar hours earlier. I could write a blog on these incredible memories alone and I’ll cherish them all forever.
While all those things absolutely contribute to our fandom, there’s a bigger picture reason; Japanese Breakfast cemented TSR’s direction and was the start of our hard work paying off. What do I mean by this? Jubilee was our twenty-fifth review with the previous two dozen being a mix of old favourites, critically acclaimed from the past or new releases. We had made the decision to focus on new music but the results were middling at best, with the highest ranking being Peach Pit’s You and Your Friends. Then one Friday, Lundi worked his magic and found this band we have become so enamored with. I’ll never forget that morning when we revealed our rankings and collectively gushed over Zauner’s songwriting skills. We had a few similar moments like this up to that point but this trumped them all. I can confidently say I wouldn’t know who Japanese Breakfast is without this blog. We were finally earning the fruits of our labour. TSR was about chasing this feeling, sharing it together and with whoever else was along for the ride. Everything after that was icing on the cake.
Over three and half years later, J Brekkie is back and TSR is still going strong because of bands like them. Michelle’s star has risen exponentially after Jubilee’s release, the subsequent tour and the success of her New York Times best-seller, Crying In H-Mart. Everything she touches seemingly turns to gold. Having heard her music and read her book, I can attest this is due to her intelligence and immense creativity. The descriptive vocabulary in her memoir totally blew me away, opening my eyes even further to her talents. With that level of artistry often comes a desire to stay fresh and try new material. For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is their fourth studio album and fourth new direction.
A major distinction on Melancholy is in its songwriting. Jubilee was straight from the heart, focusing on her personal stories of grief and heartache. This time around Michelle delivers a collection of stories, leaving it up to the listener to determine which are fiction versus those that may intertwine with her life. Here Is Someone falls in the latter category as she sings of dreaming of slower days without letting you down, which feels like a glimpse into her professional life and her relationship with her fans. The album’s first single, Orlando in Love, is a heartbreaking story of a man who falls in love and loses her. Mega Circuit and Honey Water touch on the spreading culture of toxic masculinity in today’s world. She manages to slip in a line on oral sex in the former, staying consistent with her previous work. Men In Bars is an incredibly odd duet with Jeff Bridges on an on-again, off-again relationship. Winter in LA sounds like a happy song but when you listen closely, it’s a sad story of a broken woman. Zauner is all over the place thematically on Melancholy but the way she coins her thoughts does not disappoint. A favourite lyric of mine from Picture Window, ‘Are you not afraid of every waking minute, That your life could pass you by’, has you contemplating all of life’s decisions.
Zauner also strays away from the synthesizer as their main instrument of choice, electing to go with a more toned-down guitar led sound. It certainly misses on the wow-factor of Jubilee but the addition of strings, bass, organ and saxophone, amongst others, do well to amplify the soundscapes. Overall Melancholy is much more suited for a small, intimate setting than a festival or arena.
One final thing to close this out. I’m convinced Zauner’s talent, youthful exuberance and dedication to her craft will always lead to good results. As a human, I’ll always applaud someone for scratching their creative itch and doing what makes them happy. With that said, as a fan I am disappointed in this transition from the synth pop joy that made me fall in love with them.
Japanese Breakfast traded in their triumphant horns and swooning synths for a more laid back, guitar driven effort with tasteful strings, piano and percussion accentuations. Paired with Zauner’s angelic voice and elegant storytelling, Melancholy is a quality addition to a diverse discography.
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
Favourite Song: Mega Circuit
ROZ
Never have I had such a vivid experience and parasocial connection to any artist than I did with this week's front-woman. The year was 2023; Reid, Lundi and I were on the tail end of an action-packed festival adventure across the grounds of Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain. We had just left the Sunday portion of the event – Electric Brunch – and, war-torn and fatigued, slowly made our way across the city to a little dive bar by the name of Razzmatazz. As we sipped our beers at a bar across the street waiting for the show to begin, we sat in awe as the lead act of the night, Japanese Breakfast, sauntered in with their gear in tow. Never ones to shy away from a fun moment, one of us in the group cries out: “Hey! Can you play Tactics?”. While the drummer of the band shook his head as a resounding ‘not a chance’, how excited we became during the show itself when Michelle Zauner herself mentioned our call-out just before switching right into it. To this day, I still can’t believe they played Tactics.
For this week’s review, TSR looks at the first release that Japanese Breakfast has put out since 2021’s acclaimed Jubilee. For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) is the fourth studio album from the indie pop outfit, with a gap long enough between the two albums that would make any fan vibrate with anticipation. On Melancholy Brunettes, Zauner is in top form as she once again flexes her might with the pen and paper. Her songwriting has always been a strength of hers and this album continues to reverberate that strength, with skilled prose and structures that feel much more akin to poetry. The engine that powers this machine is talented singer-songwriter-producer Black Mills, a gentleman who’s production and guitar credits span all across the music sphere – Alabama Shakes, Bob Dylan, Beck, Feist, Fiona Apple, to name a few – and it is this diversity of experiences that really aids in getting this album to where Zauner herself wants it to go. His Americana and folk rock roots allow the record to lean more into the rustic, with angelic string arrangements, softly plucked guitar and country-western sensibilities making up the bulk of the album’s overall timbre. These characteristics fit perfectly together with Zauner’s vocal talents, as stand-out tracks Mega Circuit, Leda, Picture Window and Magic Mountain highlight. The cherry on top is the almost surreal collaboration with actor Jeff Bridges on Men in Bars. Nothing beats a fun little out of place surprise here and there, as long as it isn’t complete trash – The Dude abides.
It bears repeating that the album steers away from its predecessor Jubilee quite a bit. It is as if Zauner is hyper-aware of this fact – look no further than the title that she gave it. For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) could not be more in your face as to who its target audience is. You’d be hard pressed to find anything on the album akin to say, a Slide Tackle, a Be Sweet or a Savage Good Boy. For new fans after her breakout effort this could be somewhat jarring, especially as glimpses of that version of Zauner seemingly shimmer across some tracks – Picture Window shimmering the most out of the lot. Conversely, older fans might argue that it’s business as usual for Japanese Breakfast and that Jubilee was the experimental outlier. Be that as it may, there is very little doubt in my mind that many flocked to this album only to leave with a puzzled if not disappointed look on their face. Does that take away from the talent permeating throughout the record? In my mind, it does not. In fact, the more you can separate each artist’s body of work in your mind, the more you will be able to enjoy it (or not enjoy it) for what it is.
Japanese Breakfast awakens from their four-year slumber to serenade you with their somber instrumentation and – as the name suggests – melancholic message. Zauner is still very much at the top of her game, even as she slides away from that upbeat indie pop style shown across the previous Jubilee.
Overall Rating – 8.0/10
Favourite Song – Magic Mountain
LUNDI
Well, this writing thing sure does get more dynamic and challenging by the week. As time continues to pass all too swiftly TSR has reached a point where some of our personal favourite finds are releasing new music to delve into. It’s an exciting proposition, but preparing the writer side of your persona for that day isn’t easy. Am I overrating this musician because I adore their previous albums? Maybe I’m underrating this new output because it isn’t what I hoped for? It is my opinion at the end of the day and the war of subjective versus objective in critical analysis will never go away but this week the challenge has felt as difficult as ever with the ultimate TSR darling, Japanese Breakfast, finally releasing the follow up to 2021 Album of the Year Jubilee. For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), a salivating album title for yours truly, is front woman Michelle Zauner’s fourth studio album, one that further cements her as one of the greats in indie pop, but also fails to live up to the great heights of its predecessors.
Beautiful, charming, gorgeous, the synonyms fill my review notes. Brunettes is breathtaking as it throws away the synths and distorted electric guitars of past outputs for a mix of elegantly woven strings and brass. This shift sees Japanese Breakfast take on a fourth indie sub-genre in four efforts, amplifying her impeccable skillset and creative vision. While many bands will try to recreate their breakout albums and miss, for better or worse each of Zauner’s albums is a different offering scratching a different musical itch. Even if one catches the ear better for you, the other’s foregoing replication of a particular sound highlights an uncanny musical aptitude that very few have. Brunettes may not be her best but it rounds out her discography even more so.
On top of the tonal and genre shift there’s also a very apparent change in deployment of personnel as Brunettes finds Zauner carrying nearly all the weight of each track. While JB started as solo project in 2013 it has since morphed into a well oiled machine with a very in tune band that played a massive part in elevating everything Zauner did. She’s simply fantastic and would have succeeded on her own no doubt but the band dynamic is to me what ascended Soft Sounds and Jubilee to upper tier records. Brunettes flips that script and unfortunately feels like a solo effort. It’s intimate but is half baked, particularly on the second half of the album. I’ll never be one to say subdued and slow is bad but there’s only a few scattered moments that truly grab you and make you want to return. The first four tracks constantly captivate on each listen and feel as if something great is building with Honey Water and Mega Circuit holding their own as all time great JB tracks but as the album takes a breath with Little Girl it never finds form again. The use of Americana comes off bland and a very odd and distracting Jeff Bridges feature derails a very promising start. The album does a firm albeit low key job of closing but the damage in the middle is done and these meandering sonic lullabies can only do so much to help recover.
Timing of this album certainly did Zauner no favours here either as Perfume Genius’ Glory and Lucy Dacus’ Forever is a Feeling, also produced by Blake Mills, were released just a week later. Add on top that they all follow very similar sonic arrangements and musical visions, anyone digging deeper has no choice but to wonder if Brunettes was rushed or didn’t get Mills’ full attention. As someone who works in consulting, I can promise you that when push comes to shove only one client gets your best work. Now Mills is deservedly a desired name in the business but three albums in the same studio over a similar time period is biting off more than you can chew. Tin foil hat here but indie music is not the pop music factory and if a genius idea hits, is Mills going to give that to his good buddy on their fourth album together or one of the studio newbies? It’s all guesswork, but the pieces fit.
For all my negative critical analysis, it needs to be said that this record is still quite good and all the right pieces are there for it to be art that gets better with time. Zauner shines with astute lyricism using a story board focused on the perils of desire and continues to deliver one of the most unique and captivating vocals in the industry. It’s just damn hard to write positively when you’re disappointed with an outcome. JB is still and always will be a TSR darling.
For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is a beautiful expose of Michelle Zauner’s singer-songwriter talent that is sonically over simplified and less impactful than anything that came before. The albums stripped down charm doubles as a front woman breaking free from the foundational backing band that vaulted Japanese Breakfast into such a musical darling over the past decade.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Song: Honey Water