The animated series “Hazbin Hotel” has garnered significant attention, and with it, the “Hazbin Hotel” cast album has emerged into the digital music sphere. For fans of musical theater, the cast list alone is enough to pique interest, boasting Broadway heavyweights. However, despite the vocal talents of stars like Stephanie Beatriz, Jessica Vosk, and Alex Brightman, the soundtrack has sparked debate. While the show itself has faced criticism for its writing and character design, this analysis focuses specifically on the Hazbin Hotel Songs, questioning whether this star power translates into a compelling and memorable musical experience.
Having navigated the often-curated realms of Spotify recommendations, it was inevitable that Hazbin Hotel songs would surface. Given the presence of Broadway luminaries within my frequently listened artists, the algorithm’s suggestion was logical. Yet, each foray into the album felt jarring, like an unwelcome intrusion. Driven by curiosity and a background steeped in musical theater fandom – from drawing “Heathers” fan art to attending “Be More Chill” – I delved into the Hazbin Hotel songs with a sense of hopeful anticipation. The conclusion, however, was starkly disappointing: the soundtrack underwhelms, failing to capitalize on the immense vocal talent at its disposal and ultimately detracting from the overall impact of the show.
Misplaced Musical Numbers: Songs Serving Premise, Not Emotion
Legendary choreographer Bob Fosse articulated a core principle of musical theater: song emerges when emotions transcend spoken word, and dance ensues when emotions surpass even song. This philosophy typically dictates the integration of music in musicals, reserving songs for pivotal plot junctures and moments of heightened emotional intensity. Consider beloved Disney musicals: anthems like “Let It Go” from “Frozen” or the emotionally resonant tracks of “Encanto” arise from moments of profound character emotion. These songs resonate independently because they are born from significant emotional peaks within the narrative.
However, “Hazbin Hotel” often employs Hazbin Hotel songs to establish exposition. Tracks like “Welcome to Heaven” and the opening number “Happy Day in Hell,” sung by Charlie (Erika Henningsen), primarily serve to outline plot points, such as Charlie’s ambitious plan to address Hell’s overpopulation. Instead of amplifying emotional depth or advancing the narrative through feeling, music becomes a vehicle for delivering factual information, seemingly to maintain audience engagement. This approach results in musically unengaging pieces because the lyrical content lacks emotional grounding for the listener. Without prior investment in Charlie or her motivations, her plan, conveyed through song, fails to emotionally connect. This reliance on song for exposition also suggests a lack of confidence in the plot’s ability to captivate on its own merits.
Lyrical Letdowns: When Singing Obscures Substance
Songs are inherently inefficient conveyors of factual information. The act of singing can compromise lyrical clarity. In an attempt to ensure intelligibility within the Hazbin Hotel songs, the soundtrack leans heavily into “talk-singing,” resulting in clumsy lyrics and a diminished listening experience. Effective musical theater typically utilizes songs either for broad summaries of events, as exemplified by the “Prologue” from “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” or to emphasize a singular, specific point, such as “Hard to Be a Bard” from “Something Rotten.” Notably, “Hard to be a Bard” demonstrates effective talk-singing, utilizing the style to create a sense of frantic energy. In contrast, Hazbin Hotel songs like “You Didn’t Know” suffer from uneven rhythm and syllable counts per line, lacking a consistent meter. It appears the songwriting process prioritized fitting lyrics into pre-existing melodies, rather than crafting lyrics and music in tandem. “You Didn’t Know” exemplifies this with awkward sentence splitting, where melodic phrases resolve mid-sentence, disrupting the natural flow and comprehension for the listener upon initial listens.
Stylistic Schizophrenia: Genre Clashes and Incoherence
One arguably positive aspect of the Hazbin Hotel songs is their distinct stylistic identities. Each track often draws from a specific musical genre, immediately associating it with the character performing it. However, this stylistic diversity contributes to a significant drawback: the album lacks cohesion as a unified artistic work. Genre integration can be a powerful tool in musicals for character development, as seen in “School of Rock: The Musical,” where the musical progression from choral to rock elements, culminating in a fusion of both, mirrors the narrative themes. “School of Rock” succeeds due to its focused stylistic choices – primarily blending two genres – and, crucially, because the musical style serves as a narrative through-line, connecting characters and songs. In “Hazbin Hotel,” Charlie’s Disney-esque princess ballads and Lucifer’s techno-cabaret, performed by Jeremy Jordan, feel disconnected from the overarching narrative. These stylistic choices appear more as superficial character quirks than integral, thoughtfully integrated elements of the musical storytelling, making the Hazbin Hotel songs sound disparate and tonally inconsistent.
Alt text: Group shot of Hazbin Hotel main characters Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Alastor, and Husk, showcasing the diverse character designs from the animated series.
Lucifer’s electro-swing, derisively described as a “baby’s first Apple Logic Pro project,” raises questions about the intended audience. While perhaps appealing to a segment of online teenagers associating profanity with edginess, this musical direction undermines the show’s aspiration for serious thematic consideration. The amateurish quality of some Hazbin Hotel songs, while potentially charming in fan-created content, becomes grating in a full-length album format. The electronic elements often feel like a convenient shortcut rather than a deliberate artistic choice, and vocal performances can sound repetitive, potentially indicating a lack of nuanced vocal direction. Even Jeremy Jordan’s performance in “Hell’s Greatest Dad,” a song featuring a performer known for vocal dynamism, can feel underwhelming and repetitive.
The lyrical content further compounds the issues. Lines like “You’re a loser, baby / A loser, goddamn baby / You’re a fucked up little whiny bitch,” directed at a character in an abusive relationship, come across as tone-deaf and cringeworthy rather than edgy or impactful. Other lyrics are simply nonsensical, such as “Best hotel that you’ve ever seen / Twice the bedrooms, we can fill it.” The comparison in “Twice the bedrooms” lacks context, rendering the line meaningless, especially given the hotel’s nascent concept within the show’s premise.
Structural Stagnation: A Monotonous Musical Blueprint
Perhaps the most significant failing of the Hazbin Hotel songs is their pervasive monotony. Musical theater thrives on dynamism, experimentation, and pushing creative boundaries. Yet, the overwhelming majority of tracks in the “Hazbin Hotel” soundtrack are composed in 4/4 time signature. This deliberate adherence to a single time signature, coupled with repetitive phrasing across numerous songs, results in a musically stagnant listening experience. This is particularly frustrating as some tracks, like “Respectless,” which hints at flamenco influences in its opening guitar riff, could have benefited immensely from rhythmic variation. Embracing the time signature shifts inherent in flamenco music could have provided a distinctive and memorable approach, particularly for a song intended as a character argument. However, such nuanced musicality might be beyond the creative scope of the “Hazbin Hotel” team.
Furthermore, the melodic range of the Hazbin Hotel songs is remarkably limited, often confined to five to seven notes within an octave and a half. While not every musical theater song needs to be a virtuosic, octave-spanning piece, the underutilization of vocal potential is glaring, particularly given the caliber of the cast. Casting Jessica Vosk, renowned for her Elphaba in “Wicked,” and then providing her with songs that lack vocal challenge or showcase her abilities feels like a missed opportunity. “Hell is Forever,” performed by Alex Brightman, is a rare exception, allowing Brightman to utilize his signature raspy rock vocal style. Even then, the song feels constrained, failing to fully exploit Brightman’s unique vocal capabilities.
This limited melodic range is further emphasized by the lack of vocal harmonies. The Hazbin Hotel songs predominantly feature solo performances, with a few duets, but lack ensemble or background vocals. Even contemporary popular music frequently incorporates background vocals to enrich the sonic texture. Ensembles are especially vital in musicals, representing the characters’ connection to the world and amplifying emotional expression. While not every song requires an ensemble, the absence of harmonies in the Hazbin Hotel songs, combined with limited melodies and pacing, contributes to a sense of sonic emptiness and half-heartedness.
Conclusion: A Missed Musical Opportunity in Hell
To put it bluntly: if “Hazbin Hotel” were to have a million detractors, I would undoubtedly be among them. The Hazbin Hotel songs, despite the impressive vocal talent behind them, represent a significant artistic misstep.
While acknowledging that not every viewer approaches “Hazbin Hotel” with a critical musical theater ear, and some may find the show and its music enjoyable, the soundtrack remains a weak point. The criticisms extend beyond just the music, but the Hazbin Hotel songs specifically highlight a lack of creative depth and execution. As season two approaches, there is hope for improvement. However, if the musical quality remains stagnant, perhaps those resources could be better allocated to projects with greater artistic merit. There is a wealth of superior content available. For those seeking dark, campy musical comedies, consider “Schmigadoon,” “Smash,” or even “Glee.” For narratives exploring complex moral themes within a fantastical Heaven and Hell setting, “Good Omens” offers a far more compelling story. And for animation enthusiasts, countless options abound. Ultimately, exploring the extensive catalogs of Broadway musicals, featuring many of the “Hazbin Hotel” cast members in far superior roles, offers a richer and more rewarding musical experience. These artists’ Wikipedia pages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazbin_Hotel#Voice_cast) provide a starting point for discovering their more accomplished work. Having endured the Hazbin Hotel songs for this critique, the algorithm now persistently recommends related content. The least one can do is encourage listeners to explore genuinely exceptional musical theater instead.
Daily Arts Writer Lin Yang can be reached at yanglinj@umich.edu.
