Jubilee (Japanese Breakfast album)

Jubilee has been labeled as an alternative pop,[9][10] dream pop,[11] indie rock,[12] chamber pop[13] and indie pop record.[14] Zauner has described the album as being about joy.[15] This is in contrast to her previous two albums, Psychopomp (2016) and Soft Sounds from Another Planet (2017), both of which had prevalent themes of grief surrounding her mother's death from pancreatic cancer in 2014.[16]

Zauner took music theory lessons and studied piano in preparation for Jubilee. She noted "I was just able to incorporate more interesting chord changes and write more on piano for the first time."[17]

The first song written for the album was "Be Sweet", which Zauner wrote with Wild Nothing lead singer Jack Tatum years before Jubilee's release. "I’ve been holding onto it for so long and am so excited to finally put it out there," she said.[18]

Jubilee was produced using the digital audio workstation (DAW) software Pro Tools. The production of the song "Paprika" resulted in the Pro Tools session maxing out due to the large number of tracks being used.[19]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.5/10[35]
Metacritic	88/100[36]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[37]
Clash	9/10[38]
DIY	[39]
Exclaim!	9/10[40]
The Independent	[10]
NME	[41]
Pitchfork	7.8/10[42]
Rolling Stone	[43]
The Skinny	[44]
Slant Magazine	[45]
Uncut	7/10[46]

Jubilee was met with widespread critical acclaim. Critics lauded the album's joyous tone, Zauner's storytelling abilities, the songs' hooks and the album's production. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 88, based on 19 reviews.[36]

Zack Ruskin of Variety noted that the album deals with a "different type of catharsis" and that it "takes all the things that have always served Japanese Breakfast well – Zauner's awareness of her voice and how best to deploy it, her knack for narrative and story as well as great hooks – and offers them fresh soil in which to grow".[47] Alisha Mughal of Exclaim! also noted the album's approach to catharsis, stating that the album offers "a validation of whatever it is you feel" and that Zauner's voice makes listeners "feel alive".[48] Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork considered the album to be "an interesting example of pop's fluidity" and deemed Zauner's energy on the album to be "infectious".[49] The Quietus' Ed Power also lauded the album's joyous tone while both writers noted the album's darker songs such as "In Hell" that deal with grief.[49][50]

Zauner's perceived maturation in the album was also acclaimed. Clash magazine's Sam Walker-Smart found Zauner to be "fully unshackled for the first time, keeping the emotive core of her songwriting and marrying it with boundless energy and ambition".[38] Sean Kerwick of DIY also observed maturation in the singer, describing her as "older and wiser with melody, lyrics and storytelling pulling focus" with results that establish her as a dominant "creative force".[39]

However, the album's second half was criticized as being uneven by few. In a mostly positive review, Ethan Gordon of No Ripcord opined that during the album's second half, "things don't click as strongly" though he stated that the song "Savage Good Boy" salvages "the end of the album".[51] Tom Hull regarded the album's first half as "glorious pop", but concluding that the rest "tails off a bit".[52]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[68]

Musicians

• Michelle Zauner – vocals, production, bass (4), piano (7), acoustic guitar (3), electric guitar (6, 7, 8, 10), percussion (1), synthesizers (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10) string arrangements (1, 3, 9), horn arrangements (1)
• Craig Hendrix – production (1–4, 6–10), drums (1–4, 7–10), bass (1, 3, 6–10), electric guitar (4, 8), acoustic guitar (10), slide guitar (3), Rhodes (9), piano (10), synthesizers (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10), percussion, string arrangements (1, 3, 9), horn arrangements (1, 4, 8), vocals (8), engineering
• Jack Tatum – production, synthesizers, programming, electric guitar, E-bow electric guitar, bass, vocals, engineering (2, 5)
• Ryan Galloway – production, electric guitar, synthesizers (4)
• Alex Giannascoli – production, Rhodes, piano, synthesizers (7)
• Molly Germer – violin (1, 3, 9)
• Veronica Jurkiewicz – viola (1, 3, 9)
• Carolina Diazgranados – cello (1, 3, 9)
• Adam Schatz – saxophone (1, 4, 8)
• Aaron Rockers – trumpet (1, 4, 8)
• Adam Dotson – trombone (1, 4, 8)

'Additional engineers

• Alex Santilli – additional engineering (1, 3, 9)
• Eric Bogacz – additional engineering (1, 3, 9)

Artwork

• Michelle Zauner – creative direction
• Peter Ash Lee – photography
• Evaline Huang – production design
• Peter Bradley – production assistant
• Cecelia Liu – styling
• Maiko Waki – hair and makeup
• Nathaniel David Utesch – layout, design

• Jubilee at Discogs (list of releases)