By Kate Wiselogel, Contributor

[Dead Oceans; 2025]

Rating: 7/10

Earlier this year, Japanese Breakfast announced their fourth album, titled For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women). The album is the follow-up to 2021’s Jubilee. Frontwoman Michelle Zauner’s announcement of the album was paired with the release of the album’s lead single, “Orlando in Love.” While the song itself is interesting both sonically and lyrically, it ‘s somewhat underwhelming, despite revealing a natural and ambitious progression in Japanese Breakfast’s music.

The ballad from which the forthcoming album derives its title, “Orlando in Love,” evokes the story of Orlando Innamorato, an incomplete epic poem from the Italian renaissance. The song itself tells the story of a poet who is lured to his death by the calls of a siren, a deviation from the narrative of the original poem. 

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The storytelling aspects of “Orlando in Love” don’t totally stand out from Japanese Breakfast’s previous work. On songs such as “Savage Good Boy” and “Kokomo, IN,” Zauner has showcased her ability to weave detailed and vivid narratives. Moreover, while promoting Jubilee, Zauner also released her memoir Crying in H-Mart, which went on to become a bestseller. It is clear that Japanese Breakfast has already dabbled in the literary space through both lyrical narratives and Zauner’s own contribution to literary culture. However, what makes “Orlando in Love” particularly unique and interesting is that it draws on these storytelling abilities to comment on and adapt a story that already exists. 

Zauner succinctly encapsulates the song’s narrative through her lyrics and uses a narratorial shift at the end of the song to further tell the story. In the song’s third verse, Zauner describes the siren who lures Orlando to his death before ending the song with the repetition of the name Orlando. The ending of the song seems to mimic the sound of the siren calling out to Orlando. The production of the song aids in this feeling. The song’s beautiful orchestral break builds up towards the song’s ominous and uncertain ending. The use of this instrumentation and vivid lyrics make the song feel wistful and other-wordly, like you, the listener, are getting swept up in the same way as Orlando. 

While compelling both sonically and lyrically, listening to “Orlando in Love” it is clear that the audience is only hearing a small part of a larger body of work. In this way, “Orlando in Love” is successful as a single, in that it signals new ideas for Japanese Breakfast as a band and leaves its listener wanting to know more. However, as a standalone song, it lacks direction. While not the best Japanese Breakfast song, or even single, “Orlando in Love” only heightens the sense of intrigue regarding For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/3qDO9F32RqyPXK34ZujwBc?si=8c6bf0ad12984727