Spotlight On: JAPANESE BREAKFAST

ABOUT THIS WEEK’S SHERO IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

Michelle Zauner, who performs and records as Japanese Breakfast, was born in Seoul, Korea to a Korean mother and an American father. When she was just one year old, her family immigrated to the US, to Eugene, Oregon where as a teenager, Michelle became obsessed with music and the Pacific Northwest indie rock scene. Seeing a DVD of Karen O performing with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs turned that passion into a full blown drive to create. Michelle got the guitar she had begged for at Christmas and she was on her way. Tragically, her momentum came to a halt when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and Michelle had to move back home from Philadelphia to be her caretaker until her death in 2014. Grief would become the subject of 2016’s Psychopomp, and 2017’s Soft Sounds from Another Planet, Michelle's first two albums under the moniker Japanese Breakfast. Written in heartbreakingly beautiful detail in her debut memoir, Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner's story now has a joyful new addition with the arrival of Japanese Breakfast’s third album, Jubilee. Celebrate its release and the success of that memoir on this week’s SHEROES Radio, as Japanese Breakfast joins us as our SHERO in the spotlight. 

Our playlist features new music from Garbage (a preview of next week’s SHERO conversation with Shirley Manson!), a new Liz Phair song off her first album in 11 years, Soberish, and Canadian-Indian sister hip hop duo, Cartel Madras. 

SHERO BIRTHDAYS:
We celebrate two SHERO birthdays this week: Nancy Sinatra (6/8) and Bridget Kearney of Lake Street Dive (6/10).

This week’s Radio SHERO: Laura Shine of WFPK in Louisville Kentucky joins us to share a new favorite of hers from British rockers Wolf Alice called “Smile,” off of their upcoming album Blue Weekend that will be out on Friday, 6/4.