Michelle Zauner Says She’s Pausing Japanese Breakfast to Pen a New Book

Michelle Zauner, the brainchild behind indie pop outfit Japanese Breakfast, is about to embark on a new creative adventure. During a conversation with writer Hua Hsu at The New Yorker Festival, the Crying In H Mart author revealed her plans for the new year.

“I’m moving to Korea [on] December 29 to live for a year and work on my second book where I am going to study the language and document that process,” Zauner said, according to reporting from Stereogum. “And I think it was such a natural response to writing a book that was so rooted in the past, and so much of what was hard about it was like it was so obviously emotional, but also it was hard to remember all of that.”

Released in 2021, Zauner’s memoir Crying In H Mart won acclaim for its intensely personal recollections of moments spent with loved ones. The best-selling book, which begins with Zauner embarking on a shopping trip to the Asian supermarket H Mart, expanded upon an essay published in The New Yorker in 2018.

Rather than reflecting on her past, Zauner’s upcoming project looks to document a new set of experiences as they happen. 

“I’m really looking forward to writing about the day-to-day experience of living in another country and learning a language,” she added.

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Although she didn’t directly address if new music from Japanese Breakfast will arrive before her big move, Zauner confirmed she has a few songs ready to record. The uncompleted project would be the group’s first full-length release since their third studio album, Jubilee, arrived in 2021.

Fans have one last chance to catch a Japanese Breakfast live show before Zauner heads overseas. They’ll take the stage on October 31 for a Halloween night performance at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, which is currently sold out. Fans can sign up for a ticket waitlist and find additional information on the show by visiting Japanese Breakfast’s official website.

Photo by Hyunwoo Min, Courtesy of Grandstand Media