Japanese Breakfast Perform Buoyant ‘Be Sweet’ on ‘Kelly Clarkson’

Japanese Breakfast appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show to perform an uplifting rendition of their song, “Be Sweet.” Vocalist and songwriter Michelle Zauner also sat down with Clarkson to discuss the Grammys and her critically acclaimed memoir, Crying in H Mart.

In the interview, Zauner recounted how she came up with the name Japanese Breakfast. She also told a story about how she ended up bathroom as the same time as Doja Cat before the musician ran onstage at the Grammys to accept her award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with SZA for “Kiss Me More.”

“I wasn’t with her, but I was like in the bathroom,” Zauner laughed. “I had just finished peeing and she came in and I was like, ‘Oh my God, maybe I can like hang out and get a bathroom selfie with Doja Cat. And then I was like, ‘That’s really weird to wait for her.’ So then I was like, ‘I’ll just out into the hall and try to get a snack and wait for her to come out and then I’ll get a photo with her. And then someone came running by and was like, ‘Doja Cat! Doja Cat! Doja Cat!’ And she ran into the bathroom and just started pulling her out by the wrist to go back in.”

Last month, Japanese Breakfast released a revamped version of “Be Sweet,” alongside a stripped-down cover of Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” for Spotify Singles. The recordings were part of the streaming platform’s series highlighting the Grammy nominees for Best New Artist.

In addition to Japanese Breakfast’s Best New Artist nomination, the band’s most recent LP, Jubilee — which Rolling Stone called Japanese Breakfast “most ecstatic-sounding album to date,” — was nominated for Best Alternative Album.