Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has had a cloakroom at the Union Transfer in Philadelphia named in her honour, hot on the heels of her five-night run headlining the venue.
A Philly native herself, Zauner sold out all five of her shows at the 1,200-capacity venue. It was somewhat of a full-circle moment for the acclaimed singer-songwriter, as sheâd worked at the venue â as a coat-checker, no less â when it first opened in 2011.
As such, the venueâs cloakroom has now been officially dubbed The Michelle Zauner Coat Check. Zauner shared the news on her Instagram, posing with the cloakroomâs tip bucket and declaring: âI love Philly the most.â
Local publication The Key reports that Zauner reminisced about her Union Transfer origins during her show on Sunday (August 15). âI didnât even really have the ambition at that time to be like, âThatâll be me one day,’â she said. âI was just like, âI want to work at a cool venue.ââ
Apparently, during a stint working concessions, Zauner once accepted a fake $100 bill someone used to pay for a $1 pretzel, giving them $99 in actual change. The lost cash was pulled from Zaunerâs wage, but as she mused to concertgoers, âSean [Agnew], my boss, paid it off for me. And now weâve paid him back by playing five sold-out shows at Union Transfer!â
Zaunerâs hometown shows were performed in celebration of her third album as Japanese Breakfast, âJubileeâ, which landed back in June via Dead Oceans. Flanked by the singles âBe Sweetâ, âPosing In Bondageâ and âSavage Good Boyâ, the album also saw Zauner take the stage for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and CBS This Morning.
In a four-star review of âJubileeâ, NME writer Will Richards said: âEven when things get musically darker ⊠there remains a prioritisation of pop melody; the fat is trimmed from all 10 songs on the record, leaving perfectly formed three-and-a-half-minute pop songs that want â and deserve â to be blasting out of your radio.â
Zauner chased the LPâs release with a Simlish redux of âBe Sweetâ and a live cover of Dolly Partonâs âHere You Come Againâ. Sheâs set to follow âJubileeâ up with a full-length soundtrack for the video game Sable, due for release on September 23.
She’s also set to perform at the Levitation Fest in Austin, Texas come the last weekend of October, headlining alongside such acts as Thundercat, Black Midi and Red Fang.
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