Michelle Zauner, Japanese Breakfast I had really given up on music after my mom passed away [in 2014], and then of course the record that I saw as my death rattle [2017âs Soft Sounds from Another Planet] got picked up in a big way. It was a very bittersweet moment where all these great things were happening in the wake of loss. I didnât allow myself to feel that for a long time. Now I feel ready to embrace feeling. I actually wrote this album (Jubilee) before the pandemic, at the end of 2019. After writing two albums that were rooted in grief and general suffering, and a book about that experience, I felt ready to move on. A lot of the record is about fighting for joy, and struggling to feel joy, or walking away from a situation that negates your joy. Also getting older, and knowing that so much art is rooted in these very intense, almost teenage-like feelings, I wanted to find a way to tap into that as an adult.