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