For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)

Opulence is the perfect playground for Zauner’s spiky sensibilities, an allegorical minefield for the morbidity and bloodiness of our hedonistic modern existences. No one nails that like Japanese Breakfast.

For Zauner and Japanese Breakfast, the answer is always something in between and more complex and creatively assured than what has come before. With For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), Zauner invites us into the magic mirror of her life and pulls us through to the other side.

This is Japanese Breakfast’s “artist’s” album—daring, literary, entirely inspired, and unique.

The synth-pop-meets-sci-fi vibe of Soft Sounds is a far cry from the orchestral grandeur of For Melancholy Brunettes, but both are the type of album that you don’t so much listen to as immerse yourself in it, letting it wash over you and bathe you in its brilliance.

Japanese Breakfast’s most satisfying album to date.

For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) represents a significant sonic step forward for Japanese Breakfast—it’s the first of the band’s albums to be recorded in a proper studio—while preserving a familiar moody tone. The kind of melancholy that Zauner explores here isn’t simply sadness itself, but the possibility of sadness as fertile ground for transformation.

One of her strongest collections of songs yet, a finely-hewn and blushing jewel.

The result is a record of ever-changing moods, navigated with lush detail, care and subtlety. [Jun 2025, p.103]

For Melancholy Brunettes is an odd, subtle, suffocating album essaying a complexity and ambiguity you don’t often hear in modern pop.

Michelle Zauner’s most mature offering to date, and one that grows on you with every listen. This is a record to get lost in, an album to soundtrack your moments of reflection. Bewitching, bold and most importantly fresh territory.

For Melancholy Brunettes is an evolution of everything that came before — mixing and merging imagery both mythic and mundane with A-class instrumentation from the likes of Bob Dylan guitarist Blake Mills (who produced the record), legendary session drummer Jim Keltner, and on one track, vocals from actor Jeff Bridges.

Showcase[s] the melancholic beauty of Zauner's songwriting, her storytelling skills honed across mediums. [Apr 2025, p.31]

Like every great record, For Melancholy Brunettes fits well in its release’s social sphere. These poignant songs are as relevant as ever in the United States, now equipped with an insatiable leading figure who has become a patron saint of noxious male authority for the impressionables. It’s only a shame that the music, albeit beautifully composed, doesn’t feel as forceful as the subject.

The dense barrage of Honey Water recalls the smoky alt-rock of Zauner’s second album Soft Sounds from Another Planet, while Picture Window is a much brighter, busier tangle of country, rock and pop. Closing track Magic Mountain paints another gorgeous cinematic soundscape, scattered with clusters of celestial chimes.

At just half an hour, this is a slight album, despite moments of heart-bursting ambition that at times leave you wishing for more to sink your teeth into.

Zauner could have gone extra bold and abandoned some of the charm she burst onto the scene with. And yet, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is bursting with charm.

While some may posit the album is contemplative, it can get slumbrous at times, which softens the impact. Japanese Breakfast still offer plenty of quality to stay relevant while silencing the fanfare.

Her soothing voice, though very lovely, doesn’t always sell the cleverness of her lyrics.