Zauner released a tape in June 2013 under the solo moniker Japanese Breakfast. The tape was titled June and boasted thirty tracks written and recorded every day of the month. A stark deviation from Little Big League's guitar-based indie rock, it showcased Zauner's dark lyrics, unique vocals and inherent knack for pop melody.
Two bedroom pop cassettes later, Japanese Breakfast returns with a first full-fledged LP and vinyl release, Psychopomp. The album explores Zauner's experimental interests and hosts a wide range of sound: jarring anime samples, minimalist ballads, rhythms and synths reminiscent of Tango in the Night-era Fleetwood Mac paired with the moody intimacy of Mount Eerie. Psychopomp revisits and revamps lo-fi tracks and adds chilling new songs to fall in love with.
In 2019, Japanese Breakfast released two singles under the W Hotels music label, "Essentially" and a cover of the Tears for Fears song, Head Over Heels.
In 2021, Zauner returns, having released three singles to her upcoming album, Jubilee, which will be out on the 4th of June. The singles are Be Sweet, Posing in Bondage, and Savage Good Boy; they were released in this order.
Posing For Cars
Japanese Breakfast Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Posing for cars on the American stoop
Don't make me beg you just because you can
I'm just a woman with a loneliness
I'm just a woman with needs
And how could you ever conceive
How much I need you, how truly barren I can be?
But it's been one o'clock for hours
Oh, the day is long untangling
Can't sort release from what I sold you
Is this what it takes to enjoy the day?
All of my pleasures left on display
I'm just a hollow root pushing through
I'm just the empty space inside the room
And how could you ever conceive
This adolescent heart skipping beats
When all your love, it grows full and firm beneath
Without a festered thought, without an emerald want
Just a single slow desire fermenting
The lyrics of the song "Posing For Cars" by Japanese Breakfast convey the emotions of a woman who has woken up from a dream in which her lover had left her. She talks about her loneliness and the way she has to pose for cars on the American stoop. The singer pleads with her lover not to make her beg him for his love just because he can. She expresses her vulnerability and the emptiness that she feels even when she is surrounded by pleasure.
The chorus of the song talks about the woman's need for her lover and how much she needs him. She talks about how time is the only certainty, but the day seems to be long untangling. The woman talks about how she cannot sort release from what she sold him and wonders if this is what it takes for her to enjoy the day. She feels like a hollow root pushing through and just the empty space inside the room. She wonders how her lover could ever conceive the adolescent heart that skips a beat in her and how his love grows full and firm beneath. The song ends with the woman expressing her desire, which is slowly fermenting inside her.
Line by Line Meaning
Woke from a dream in which you'd left me
I woke up from a dream where you abandoned me
Posing for cars on the American stoop
Feeling vulnerable and exposed as cars pass by on the street
Don't make me beg you just because you can
Please don't take advantage of me just because you have the power to do so
I'm just a woman with a loneliness
I am a woman feeling sad and alone
I'm just a woman with needs
I am a woman with desires and necessities
And how could you ever conceive
How could you possibly understand
How much I need you, how truly barren I can be?
You have no idea how important you are to me and how empty I feel without you
They say that time, it is the only certainty
People often say that time is the only thing we can be sure of
But it's been one o'clock for hours
Time feels like it's standing still
Oh, the day is long untangling
The day seems to be dragging on and complicated
Can't sort release from what I sold you
I can't separate myself from what I gave to you
Is this what it takes to enjoy the day?
Is this what it takes to be happy during the day?
All of my pleasures left on display
All of the things that used to make me happy are now out in the open and not as satisfying
I'm just a hollow root pushing through
I feel like I am empty on the inside, trying to grow and survive
I'm just the empty space inside the room
I feel like I am just empty space in the room, unnoticed and forgotten
And how could you ever conceive
How could you possibly understand
This adolescent heart skipping beats
My young heart beats erratically
When all your love, it grows full and firm beneath
While your love feels strong and stable
Without a festered thought, without an emerald want
Without any negative feelings or desires for anything more
Just a single slow desire fermenting
Just a slow-growing feeling of wanting
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB.
Written by: Michelle Chongmi Zauner
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind