2013–2016: Early releases and Psychopomp Japanese Breakfast's first release was a split with Saint Louis emo band
Foxing on February 3, 2013, which featured Zauner's first recorded version of "The Woman That Loves You" (later re-recorded and released on 2016's "Psychopomp"). The second Japanese Breakfast release was
June (2013), the result of a month-long project in which Zauner and
Rachel Gagliardi recorded one song a day and posted them on the
Tumblr blog rachelandmichelledojune. In 2014, Zauner participated as Japanese Breakfast in a song project with musicians
Gabrielle Smith,
Florist,
Frankie Cosmos, and Small Wonder, who posted songs daily on the Tumblr blog may5to12songs. She released her songs from the project on
Bandcamp as two digital albums:
Where Is My Great Big Feeling?, released on June 6; and
American Sound on June 24. Both were released weeks later as the cassette tape
American Sound/Where Is My Great Big Feeling. While in Oregon with her family in 2014, Zauner continued recording as Japanese Breakfast, starting with
samples of music as a meditative exercise and "instant gratification". She said she had more to say after
Tropical Jinx, the 2014 studio album by her
emo group
Little Big League. In 2015, while working at an advertising agency, Zauner recorded her first
studio album as Japanese Breakfast:
Psychopomp, named for the
mythological creature. The album's rollout on Yellow K Records began in January 2016 with the release of the single "In Heaven" via
Stereogum. A second single, titled "Everybody Wants to Love You" was released on February 18, 2016, and the album itself was released on April 1, 2016. Around this time, Japanese Breakfast signed with
Dead Oceans, which on June 23, 2016, announced the signing and said
Psychopomp would be re-released internationally. A music video for "Jane Cum" was also released the same day. To promote the album, the band opened for Japanese-American singer-songwriter
Mitski alongside American musician
Jay Som and released a music video for the song "Everybody Wants to Love You" which was later ranked as the 154th best song of the 2010s decade by Quinn Moreland of
Pitchfork. By 2016, Japanese Breakfast had become a band, consisting initially of Zauner (lead vocals, guitars), Kat Casale (drums), and Craig Hendrix (drums, keyboards, bass, guitars). The band assumed its current lineup in 2017, when Leslie Bear briefly joined on bass, Casale left, and the band added Devin Craige (bass) and Peter Bradley (guitar).
2017–2018: Soft Sounds from Another Planet On May 4, 2017, Japanese Breakfast released the single "Machinist" and announced the upcoming release of a second studio album,
Soft Sounds from Another Planet, whose lyrics are largely concerned with Zauner's detachment and trauma. The song "Boyish" was released as a single on June 7, 2017. A third single from the album, "Road Head", was released on July 6, 2017. The full album was released on July 14, 2017. To promote the album, the band released a video game, "Japanese BreakQuest", in which the main character, "J-Brekkie", gathers a band to prevent an
alien invasion. The game was developed by Zauner and game designer Elaine Fath, and uses songs from the album, rendered as 8-bit
MIDI tracks by Peter Bradley. from 2017 to 2019. Along the way, the band
opened for English
shoegaze band
Slowdive, American musician
(Sandy) Alex G, and Canadian duo
Tegan and Sara. On October 19, 2017, a music video for "Body is a Blade" was released. It was animated using old family photographs and video of Zauner visiting locations from the photos. She described it as "a really personal mixed media piece, almost like a moving scrapbook". On February 13, 2018, the music video for "Boyish" was released. It depicts a girl going to a high school dance, where Zauner and her band, accompanied by fellow indie musician
Leslie Bear, are playing a set. The video also features a cameo appearance by musician
Lindsey Jordan and was directed by Zauner, who at the time of its release described it as her "favorite video yet" and has retrospectively considered it to be her "magnum opus".
2018–2024: Jubilee and Sable In 2018, indie game developer Shedworks sent Zauner preliminary images from their video game
Sable and commissioned her to write its soundtrack. Unlike the pop songs she writes for Japanese Breakfast, the Sable soundtrack is mostly
ambient music. Zauner took inspiration from other game soundtracks, notably the soundtracks to the
Final Fantasy games,
Secret of Mana (1993),
Chrono Cross (1999) and two games in
The Legend of Zelda series: ''
Majora's Mask (2000) and Breath of the Wild'' (2017). Her commission was announced during
E3 2018. The game was to be released in 2019, but was delayed twice. In 2020, during the
COVID-19 lockdown, Zauner began reworking the songs after playing updated versions of the game. The game and its soundtrack were released on September 23, 2021. In 2019, Japanese Breakfast released two singles under the
W Hotels music label: "Essentially" and a cover of the
Tears for Fears song "
Head over Heels." Zauner recorded the singles in
Bali, which she described as a "glamorous change" because she had typically recorded in "cold studios." Proceeds from the latter single were donated to the
American Civil Liberties Union. That year, Zauner told
Flood Magazine that she aimed to make a "fun album" for Japanese Breakfast's third album. This would manifest as
Jubilee, her second studio album for the Dead Oceans label
. in
Seattle The rollout of
Jubilee began on March 2, 2021, with the release of the album's
lead single, "
Be Sweet", and a video for the song. Two other singles—"Posing in Bondage" and "Savage Good Boy"—were released before the album itself dropped on June 4. Zauner said the album was inspired by
joy, in contrast to earlier Japanese Breakfast albums, and that she was inspired to "go big" by Icelandic musician
Björk's third album,
Homogenic (1997).
Jubilee was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and Japanese Breakfast for the
Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost at the
64th Annual Grammy Awards to
St. Vincent's album
''Daddy's Home'' and to
Olivia Rodrigo. On August 7, Japanese Breakfast embarked on the Jubilee Tour. In March 2022, Japanese Breakfast announced that they would open for English indie rock band
Florence and the Machine and American indie rock bands
the National and the
Yeah Yeah Yeahs. In mid-2022, Japanese Breakfast and Chicago-based
Goose Island Brewery teamed up to produce a limited-edition
lager named "Be Sweet" after the song. The beer was sold at the
Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2022; proceeds were donated to Heart of Dinner, a charity that helps elderly Asian-Americans who struggle with food insecurity in
New York City. In October 2023, after the end of the Jubilee Tour, Zauner said she planned to move in December to
Seoul,
South Korea, for a year to work on a new album and a new book.
2025–present: For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) The band's fourth album,
For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), recorded at
Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and produced by
Blake Mills, was released by Dead Oceans on March 21, 2025. On March 18, 2025, the band revealed on social media that they had written a song for
Celine Song's 2025 film
Materialists. On July 10, 2025, the band appeared as a featured artist on the
Silica Gel single "NamgungFefere" (南宮Fefere), with Zauner contributing vocals and lyrics. "NamgungFefere" marks the first time Zauner has written Korean lyrics for a song. In September 2025, the band joined the No Music For Genocide boycott to geo-block their music from music streaming platforms in
Israel in protest of the
Gaza genocide. == Musical style ==