Japanese Breakfast’s “Posing in Bondage”

Amid the many bright tracks on Japanese Breakfast‘s 2021 album Jubilee exists the dusky “Posing in Bondage,” which feels closer to an elongated throb. Moody synths and skittering drums open the song, together marking the measure of desire that pulses underneath. “Can you tell I’ve been posing/ This way alone for hours/ Waiting for your affection/ Waiting for you,” Michelle Zauner sings, almost luxuriating in her confession. She doesn’t disguise her need; instead, she lays it bare.

It took a while to find my way into Jubilee, though I can’t quite pinpoint any rational reason why. But since that early, inexplicable flub, it’s become an album I regularly play on repeat. I enjoy sinking into the ’80s pop charm that sparkles at its edges and Zauner’s fervent lyricism. (“But alone it feels like dying/ All alone I feel so much,” from lead track “Paprika,” is perpetually in my head.) It’s an album that requires attention, and it has succeeded in capturing mine.

There’s a hint of damage that courses throughout “Posing in Bondage” and Zauner explores the hunger it can provoke. “When the world divides into two people/ Those who have felt pain and those who have yet to/ And I can’t unsee it although I would like to,” she sings yearningly in the second verse. Having been hurt in ways she can’t control, Zauner seeks out something she can. Her lover’s touch delivers an outlet and an escape. “Posing in bondage, I hope you come home soon,” she adds.  

The song grows even more raw and ravenous at the chorus. A man’s voice softly joins Zauner’s and the two lengthen the single words that illustrate the vivid need circulating at the song’s core. “Closeness/ Proximity/ I needed/ Bondage,” they sing together, while synths build to an electric force. The craving to be bonded to another, or the craving to experience the kind of trust such bondage necessitates, is intoxicating.

A breathy synth that surfaces in the song’s instrumental interlude gives way to a background cry (“Yaaa”) from Zauner. What begins as a soft outburst eventually blossoms into a primal shout. “Yaa-yaa-yaa,” Zauner sings with increasing intensity, as though delivering a warrior’s cry. It would be reductive to suggest that Zauner is stronger in the wake of her pain, but there’s a sense of bravery woven about “Posing in Bondage” and her cry reiterates that steeliness. Alone, the hurt might be too much, but her connection to another—the safety and allure of that bondage—quells those fears. She can’t be broken so easily.