Jimmy Fallon explains Japanese Breakfast's "Jimmy Fallon Big!" in introduction to performance of "Jimmy Fallon Big!"

Jimmy Fallon explains Japanese Breakfast's "Jimmy Fallon Big!" in introduction to performance of "Jimmy Fallon Big!"
Screenshot: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Last week, Michelle Zauner announced that Japanese Breakfast was finally “Jimmy Fallon Big!” enough that her band had been booked to play on last night’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Now, the sideways prophecy of the song’s title has been fulfilled: Japanese Breakfast has played “Jimmy Fallon Big!” on Jimmy Fallon.

In his introduction to the performance, Fallon explains the track’s genesis, summarizing how the bassist in Zauner’s previous group, Little Big League, left to play in a band that he thought would go on to become “Jimmy Fallon big.” Years later, he returned and ended up in Japanese Breakfast, which now, unlike his other band, are actually, very literally “Jimmy Fallon Big.”

After hearing this story, The Root’s Black Thought asks, “Are we Jimmy Fallon big? We made it to The Tonight Show!” Fallon, in turns, wonders, “Am I Roots big?” Everyone, it seems, just wants to be someone-else’s-fame-proximity big, no matter how much else they’ve achieved.

Aside from playing “Jimmy Fallon Big!,” which must have been extremely satisfying, Japanese Breakfast also performed “Be Sweet,” the first single from the band’s upcoming third record, Jubilee. It’s a good video. There’s an alien bartender in it.

As if all of these landmarks—putting out a highly-anticipated new record, playing songs about Fallon on Fallon, and meeting a friendly extraterrestrial—weren’t enough on their own, Zauner’s memoir, Crying In H-Mart, will be out on April 20th.

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