One week has passed since the finale of the much-anticipated second season of Vivienne Medrano’s adult cartoon Hazbin Hotel. As a musical series with a star-studded cast including Keith David, Kimiko Glenn, and Alex Brightman, one of the biggest highlights of the shows is its soundtrack. This season brought us 20 new songs: four more than the 16 tracks from Season One. To celebrate the season finale, here is my personal ranking of my 10 favorite songs from Hazbin Hotel Season Two!
Honorable Mention: VOX POPULI
If Lucifer’s part was its own song, this might have made it into my Top 10; however, the rest of the song (which is twice the length of Lucifer’s rockstar solo) is just a little too jazzy for my tastes.
10. Hazbin Guarantee (Trust Us)
At first, I dismissed this song as another cheerful, Charlie-centric overture barely distinguishable from Season One’s “Happy Day In Hell.” What secured it a spot in my Top 10, however, is the Vees’ part in the second half. The dissonant harmony between Val and Velvette gives me chills every time, and the “snip, snip, snip” is just so good. Charlie’s repeat-after-me bit is pretty fun, too.
9. Bad With Us
Before this season the only Overlords I could name were Alastor, the Vees, Rosie, Zestial, and Carmilla, and I never put any thought towards the others (and completely forgot they even existed, to be honest). The whiplash of Vox changing genres with each Overlord he speaks to is a quick, fun way of reminding us of who these characters are and what they’re generally about. (I just wish he actually sang when talking to Zestial instead of grumbling at him.) But my favorite part of this song, and probably what solidified its placement in this ranking, is Velvette and Val’s doo wop backing vocals. So cute!
8. Live to Live
This song is simply beautiful, both lyrically and musically. Sir Pentious is probably my favorite character in Hazbin Hotel, so seeing him be so miserable and lonely in Heaven was so painful. This heart-to-heart between him and Sera, during which he helps her reach an understanding not only of Pentious himself but also of human nature, is such a healing moment. The partial reprise of “It Starts With Sorry” from Season One especially gets to me; it brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. One might think that Pentious’s theatrical, heavily characterized voice wouldn’t mesh well with Sera’s angelic vocals, yet somehow they don’t clash at all. Alex Brightman may not have the chance for any more Adam solos this season, but he still got his time in the spotlight as Pentious.
7. Love In A Bottle
The main reason my partner is even considering watching Hazbin Hotel is because Keith David is in it, and you know what? I get it. I know I said above that jazz isn’t my style (I would even go so far as to call it my least favorite genre of music in existence), yet this swingin’ tune is such an undeniable toe-tapper. Those delicious low notes from Keith David, backed by the “Huskettes,” go down smoother than the smoothest whiskey you can find. It also paints a perfect picture of what Husk is all about (on the outside, at least): old school gambling and drinking. We know this life doesn’t really make him happy, though, and he slips that sentiment into the lyrics of this song.
6. Brighter
To be honest, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to Vox being the main antagonist of this season. He’s still probably my least favorite of the Vees, and I honestly don’t love his voice; nevertheless, I can’t pretend his big solo song isn’t a banger or that Christian Borle didn’t kill it here. He really showcases his vocal prowess by ranging from a dark and menacing villain bent on vengeance to a charismatic showman. The combination of electric guitars and electronic music is perfect for a character with a TV for a head (i.e. an electricity motif), and interspersing Vox’s human backstory throughout the song was a smart move. Plus, the part where Vincent says “brighter” overlapping with the background vocals singing the same word? ART.
5. Easy
4. Piss (A Love Song)
When the pilot came out all the way back in 2019, Cherri Bomb was my favorite character. Yet I found myself liking her considerably less—possibly even disliking her—in the core series. It was hard to see her as anything more than a bad influence on Angel, and Sir Pentious’s crush on her felt so random without the extended interactions we saw between the two in the pilot. Thankfully, Season Two redeemed her in my eyes, and this song played a huge part in that. The interactions we lost from the pilot appear here as musical flashbacks that finally show us that the two were constantly having turf wars rather than just telling us. We never got to hear Krystina Alabado (Cherri’s voice actress) sing in Season One, and damn does that woman have some pipes! (I don’t understand why they had her do a fake Australian accent for Cherri, but I digress.) An 80’s power ballad called “Piss” is a hilarious concept, and I absolutely love it for these two crazy characters.
3. Sera’s Confession
I somehow managed to avoid seeing anything about the Speaker of God before watching the season, which meant her design was completely new to me – and I was blown away. She is exactly what one would expect from a Heavenly being: ethereal, gentle, and emanating warmth and unconditional love. Her duet with Sera contains such beauty and power, the Speaker’s wisdom intermingling with Sera’s desperate pleas. This song sounds like something straight out of an Andrew Lloyd Webber score. It’s a reminder that Hazbin Hotel isn’t just a raunchy cartoon: it’s also a musical masterpiece.
2. Hear My Hope
As soon as I saw that Patrick Stump (frontman of Fall Out Boy: one of my favorite bands of all time) would be voicing Abel, I couldn’t wait to hear him sing. Although this wish wasn’t granted until the season finale and as brief solos in longer full-cast songs, it was well worth the wait. I admittedly wouldn’t have recognized Patrick Stump’s voice just based on his speaking parts, but I could hear a little bit of Fall Out Boy in the “Gravity” reprise during “When I Think About The Future”; however, he brought out the full-force pop punk energy for Abel’s solo in the final song of the season. Yet this incredible solo is just one highlight of “Hear My Hope.” The entire song is an emotionally stirring full-ensemble piece that just screams musical theatre. One of the reasons I love this song so much is that I’m such a sucker for the “heroes and villains setting aside their differences to fight for the greater good” trope. Sure, it’s pretty cheesy and I’ve seen people compare this scene to Care Bears and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; but damned if it isn’t moving. This song makes for a touching and powerful finale that stuck with me more than that of Season One.
1. Gravity
The Hazbin Hotel team couldn’t have chosen a better song to release as the first single off this season’s soundtrack. When Lute cosplayer Lady Whispers Cosplay met Vivienne Medrano at GalaxyCon Richmond back in March (see picture below), the creator confirmed that Lute would be getting “a kickass song in Season Two” – and boy did she! Lute’s grief and rage are palpable throughout her first big solo song. The trauma of losing Adam causes Lute to hallucinate his presence, and he both hypes her up and harmonizes with her as she sings. Yet even the iconic Alex Brightman takes a backseat to the vocal powerhouse that is Jessica Vosk in this song. With a voice like that, it’s no wonder she used to play Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway (and if you’ve read some of my other articles, you know I LOVE Wicked)! As for “Gravity” itself, the chanting of “sanctus dominus” in the background reminds us that Lute is a creature of Heaven – and that not all holy beings are as lovely and gentle as characters like Emily and the Speaker of God. I don’t think a day has passed since this song dropped on October 10th that I haven’t played it at least once or twice.
