Michelle Zauner and co. performed “Picture Plane” from their latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
Japanese Breakfast brought the “Melancholy Inn” to Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night with a performance of “Picture Window.”
The track appears on Japanese Breakfast’s latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) — hence the neon “Melancholy Inn” sign casting its blue glow on Michelle Zauner and the rest of the band as they performed the catchy, tender tune. “But all of my ghosts are real,” Zauner sings in a sweet falsetto on the hook, “All of my ghosts are real/All of my ghosts are my home.”
Back in March, Japanese Breakfast released a music video for “Picture Window,” which Zauner directed while she was living in Seoul, South Korea, last year. Starring Omega from Balming Tiger and Gyuri Kim, the visual complements the song’s themes of grief, dread, and anxiety, following Omega and Kim as they play a game of tug-of-war with the passage of time.
In a statement at the time, Zauner said of the song, “Ever since I was a young girl I’ve dealt with intrusive thoughts of loved ones dying horrible deaths. When someone is running late or they’ve neglected a text or even if they’re just looking over a balcony, my mind has a tendency to run to the worst case scenario, a reflex only exacerbated by my experience of many real deaths. It can be both a relief and a struggle to love someone who doesn’t share this same proclivity for anxiety. ‘Picture Window’ explores that dynamic.”
Japanese Breakfast released For Melancholy Brunettes in March, marking the group’s first album since their 2021 breakthrough, Jubilee. The group is set to perform at the second weekend of Coachella, after which they’ll officially kick off their North American tour. The run starts April 23 in Austin and wraps May 16 in Philadelphia. A run of international dates will follow before a second North American leg kicks off in July.
