Album Review: Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast
- Amanda Sykes-Quirk
- Mar 7
- 4 min read
by Amanda-Sykes Quirk
Genre: Pop/Soft-Rock
If I could describe “joy” as an album, I would use this one. Japanese Breakfast’s "Jubilee"
(2021) is the musical manifestation of what my mind looks like. Following her previous albums "Psychopomp" (2016) and “Soft Sounds from Another Planet” (2017), which detailed her raw grief and losing her mother, Jubilee marks a pivotal turn in her career. It highlights how the pain from loss can turn into joy for living. It is quite truly a blessing to the music industry.
I first encountered this album in my uncle’s car on Thanksgiving 2021. “Be Sweet”
came on as we drove through the streets of Boston, and I immediately added it to every playlist
I had (which at the time were still feeling the aftereffects of my Dracotok phase). I honestly owe
my musical transformation to this woman's music. While “Jubilee" is a no-skip album, I think
talking of all 10 songs might bore you, so I am going to talk about my 5 favorites: “Paprika”
,“Be Sweet”,“Slide Tackle”,“In Hell”, and “Posing for Cars”.
“Paprika” opens with marching band instrumentals that immediately creates a
celebration-like atmosphere. The song's meaning is deeply personal to lead singer and New
York Times Bestseller Michelle Zauner: she talks about being in “the center of magic” or the
heart of the creative world. The unique feeling artists have of being the ones to create the magic for others to hear rather than receiving it when creating music. She sings “I want my offering to woo//to calm//to clear//to solve.” She does not want to bring her listeners' pain, but she wants to heal us. And she does nothing short of this perfectly, with such grace and beauty.
“Be Sweet” my love. This song is what it feels like to drive with the windows down
along the beach on a sunny day with your best friends in the car with you (I’m sorry if you
cannot relate to this feeling, I’m just a #suburbanqueen). I am a fiend for guitar-heavy songs, so that mixed with the bass and drums in this upbeat beauty really does it for me. The lyrics are a plea for a joyful relationship built with forgiveness and vulnerability. Talking about “make it up to me you know it’s better// be sweet to me baby.” Blatantly asking for a partner to not just choose to end the relationship but continue through forgiving each other and just being sweet. This song is just so real and so relatable with “caught up in my feelings, overthink the truth.” She just gets it.
Now my favorite song on this album, my senior song, my day, my night: “Slide Tackle.”
Again, my love for guitar drew me in, but the lyrics really made me stay. Within the first 20
seconds of the song she says, “I want to navigate this hate in my heart somewhere better.” What a powerful line. She is not using her hate towards resentment, but instead using it for change for the better (queue wicked “I have been changed for goooodddd”). The song talks about struggling mentally and wanting to be better as a person for yourself and for those who love you. My favorite part of the whole song is the saxophone solo. Literally just perfection.
“In Hell” is the first “slower” track I have chatted about, and yet again it is guitar heavy
and beautifully written. Never have I ever heard a song that has such a morbid meaning but is so instrumentally happy. Her tone in voice is so full of mourning and sadness and contrasts the upbeat instrumentals beautifully in an unexpected way. This song is another ode to her motherwhich of course is more than necessary. She details being in a hospital room with someone dying by your side, of the fluorescent lights and having to be the one to pull the plug, literally a heart wrenching meaning. The chorus- “Hell is finding someone to love//and I can’t have you.” Captures the hardship of trying to love again even platonically after a devastating loss. This second half of the chorus 'I can’t have you,' perfectly captures the specific agony of grief: the subconscious search for the person you lost in every person you meet. This song is just a chef's kiss.
Last but certainly not least is “Posing for Cars” the closing song to this masterpiece of an album. It is significantly slower than any other song on Jubilee and hits hard. She explores the pain of loving someone when they do not love you, singing “Don’t make me beg you just because you can.” Man does that line hit close to home, the feeling of being taken advantage of because someone knows you won’t leave. This entire verse deserves to be shown here “Can't sort release from what I sold you//Is this what it takes to enjoy the day?//All of my pleasures left on display//I'm just a hollow root pushing through//I'm just the empty space inside the room.” Now take a second and read it again, just the overwhelming pain that is radiated from this song. Feeling so taken advantage of and used that you just feel empty. How someone can take so much from you that you just become this physical body, not a person. To end the song, she hits us with a four-minute instrumental piece that starts with violin and ends with a gorgeous guitar solo. It is insane how much emotion she conveys without saying a single word.
This album can have my left kidney and first-born son. I love it so much and I hope that if you haven’t listened to it yet my love for it has convinced you to do so. You will not regret it at all, I promise.
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