Japanese Breakfast’s ‘Boyish’ Video Is A Scene Of Sweet Vengefulness

Update: Japanese Breakfast’s ‘Boyish’ video is now available outside of Apple Music. You can watch it above.

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After nearly a year of dreaming and planning, our magnum opus is finally here. Boyish is a song that has gone through many transformations but ultimately it’s a song that’s simply about wanting to feel pretty & loved. It’s my favorite video yet and you can watch it exclusively on @applemusic (link in bio) Don’t think I would have had the courage to start directing my own videos without Adam Kolodny lifting me up and giving me the confidence and tools to take it on. @akolephoto is the most talented & hardest working DP I have ever met. He helped me enter into an unfamiliar medium with the utmost patience and without condescension. Together we have chased visions through warehouse catwalks at 4 am, tick infested high grass, scaled semi trucks and murdered 7 foot demons. It’s a tremendous privilege to call him my friend, collaborator & creative soulmate.  Cheers to another one & many more to come 🍸 We absolutely could not have done it without the tremendous hard work & talent of many other people. Leading this team was an absolute dream—there wasn’t a single person not giving this project their all. Thank you to @houseofnod and @yaybennett who produced the video and saved our location last minute and kept hope when I had accepted all was lost. Thanks @donniejamesricketts world’s greatest gaffer I hope I never have to make another video with you. Logan Quarles our AC, Leah Jubara our AD, key grip Phil Sokoloff, Varun Bajaj our PA, colorist Kevin Ratigan and Robert Kolodny who I was thrilled to finally work with as our editor. Thank you Allie Pearce who dressed the entire cast and the majority of the extras. Your command & vision was such a pleasure to add to our team. Jarmel Reitz who slayed art department & transformed our gym above and beyond my own insane expectations. Thank you also to my cast—Alicia Clow, Riley Buttery, Tina Ngo, Lindsey Jordan, Sara Chernikoff, Leslie Bear, Craig Hendrix and Peter Bradley for putting their trust in me and being so fun to be around. Last but not least— all my extras who showed up to a bucks county gym last minute. They are the beautiful, diverse, unique faces of fans who support me and my work.

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“Boyish,” a track from Japanese Breakfast’s stellar 2017 album Soft Sounds From Another Planet is one of those angsty, harrowing ballads I’ve found myself dejectedly screaming along to while driving too fast on dark, emptied freeways, clutching the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles started turning white.

The arresting, sweeping arrangement spotlights Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner divulging her feelings towards unreciprocated affection in the most unblushing manner, openly making defiant remarks like, “I can’t get you off my mind / I can’t get you off in general / So here we are, we’re just two losers / I want you and you want something more beautiful.”

The new music video for “Boyish” was conceptualized and directed by Zauner and dropped today with House of Nod. It depicts a scene of sweet vengefulness set at a high school dance with Japanese Breakfast providing the soundtrack. The trajectory that transpires in the video is one I’ve imagined for myself more than I’d like to admit – girl, unnoticed, enters the room with her chin held high, seemingly confident yet still stealing longing glances at the White Boy in the corner.

But as Zauner sings the line, “If you don’t like how I look, then leave,” the girl struts towards the stage with a beaming grin (a more assured one this time) and the whole student body cheering her on, then takes the stage, front and center, and becomes the guitar-playing spectacle, never looking back.

On her Instagram, Zauner, about the video, said, “After nearly a year of dreaming and planning, our magnum opus is finally here. Boyish is a song that has gone through many transformations but ultimately it’s a song that’s simply about wanting to feel pretty & loved. It’s my favorite video yet.”

The video is an exclusive on Apple Music here, or you can watch a preview below.

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