Hazbin Hotel has some incredible songs within its two-season run on Amazon Prime Video so far, including hits such as "Gravity," "Hear My Hope," "Loser, Baby," and more. Given that there are so many amazing musical numbers in Vivienne Medrano's animated show, some are bound to slip through the cracks.
The Direct sat down with Hazbin Hotel songwriter and composer Sam Haft to break down one of Season 2's most underappreciated songs: "Sera's Confession." Haft noted that what really made the process of creating this song unique was that from the onset, they "didn't know a lot about the character" or "who would be playing the character." They had to ask themselves, "How do we know an unknowable character, such as you know enough to write for them?"
"So much of the song is about the conflict and the pain that comes from being in a position where no one can tell you what to do," Haft expained, adding that "The Speaker of God to Sera in that song is really just a mirror" as Sera is "having this moment where she's having this crisis of belief in herself, belief in her [abilities]."
More from Haft can be read below, and the full interview is also available to watch. Hazbin Hotel is streaming on Amazon Studios' Prime Video, and fans can read up on some theories about the show here.
Let's Talk About 'Sera's Confession,' the Hazbin Hotel Season 2 Song That Needs More Love
"[It] Could Use a Little Big More Talking About..."
Sam Haft had plenty to say about the stellar music of the Amazon Studios animated series, most importantly of which was to shine a spotlight on a song he doesn't feel has gotten enough discussion.
"Sera's Confession" features in Hazbin Hotel Season 2, Episode 2 and sees Sera singing out her guilt to The Speaker of God about having allowed the exterminations in Hell to ever happen in the first place.
One thing that makes the song different from a creative perspective is that Haft and company didn't know "who the character of The Speaker of God was," and they "didn't know who would be playing the character:"
Sam Haft: I think 'Sera's Confession' is a song that could use a little bit more talking about, and not because it had a pivot like that, but because it was a song that also came together, not knowing who the character of The Speaker of God was. We didn't know a lot about the character. We didn't know who would be playing the character. We just knew that they were this sort of majestic, ethereal character who was, in so many ways, kind of unknowable, and that is part of the essence of that character in the show, but that makes our job as songwriters a lot harder, because how do we know an unknowable character, such as you know enough to write for them?
"The Speaker of God to Sera in that song is really just a mirror," Haft explained, adding that they "[aren't] giving Sera any answers:"
Haft: And so much of that was figuring out that The Speaker of God to Sera in that song is really just a mirror, and in so many ways, The Speaker of God is behaving the way a song into a mirror would behave in that Sera is having this moment where she's having this crisis of belief in herself, belief in her ability to know what to do in to know how to conduct her responsibility as the kind of High Steward of Heaven. And The Speaker of God isn't giving Sera any answers, and Sera is desperate for those answers. All she wants is for someone to tell her what to do.
Haft continued to prove his deep understanding and talent for what he does by further breaking down "Sera's Confession," saying that "so much of the song is about the conflict and the pain that comes from being in a position where no one can tell you what to do:"
Haft: And so much of the song is about the conflict and the pain that comes from being in a position where no one can tell you what to do. And that really is all The Speaker of God is saying. The Speaker of God is basically like, you've done wrong, and you know it, and you need to be the person who finds your way through this. Because if you're not the one doing it, then it doesn't mean anything. And I think that is, in so many ways, like, yes, she is telling Sera what she wants to hear, but it's so fascinating that really, The Speaker of God isn't saying anything. She's really just a mirror. And having The Speaker of God exist in that way.
The songwriter and composer compared Sera's experience in the song to that of what prayer is:
Haft: And I think that is so much of what prayer is when you boil it down and like, I'm not a religious person particularly, but I think so much of what prayer is, it is a mirror, and it is meditating on the things that you've done, that you're sorrowful about, or the things that you wish you had, and you don't know how to find. And I think to have that song be kind of a microcosm of like what prayer is, because Sera having access to The Speaker of God, it's like—it is the ultimate version of prayer. You are talking to as close to God as you can speak to. And I think having that be thematically what the song is really interesting.
Interestingly enough, Haft didn't even know that Broadway actress and Emmy-award winning actress Liz Callaway was going to be lending her voice to The Speaker of God:
Haft: And I think another component of the song that is really fun is the fact that we wrote it not knowing that Liz Calloway was going to be The Speaker of God. In fact, the references cast-wise for what The Speaker of God might be and how The Speaker of God might sound were, It was people like R & B singers, it was like it was in a world of kind of vocal diva-dom, and looking at it that way, the way we wrote Speaker of God's vocal line. Had we known it was Liz, we would have written it completely differently. We didn't know Liz could do that.
"Liz brought the heat [in ways] that I wouldn't have expected," Haft admitted:
Haft: Had we known it was Liz, I don't think it would have been like The Speaker of God is, like, relentlessly doing all these like vocal runs. Because we thought, essentially, in musical conversation, we have Patina Miller, who is this powerhouse vocalist who is phenomenal with a vocal run. And so we thought we were going to have kind of this, like diva off moment, and Liz brought the heat on that in a way that I wouldn't have expected. Just being familiar with her work in like 'Anastasia,' that's not like a vocal run type performance.
At the end of the day, not knowing that they had Liz as The Speaker of God "helps the song so much:"
Haft: And so the fact that we didn't know it was Liz until the song was written helps the song so much because I think we may have made what clearly would have been a mistake, which is to make it overly kind of conservative and make The Speaker of God match Liz's sort of vocal character. And Liz has this very gentle vocal character in a way that, like, wouldn't, to me as a songwriter, make me go, okay, vocal runs out the wazoo. And yet, it works in this unexpected way. And it was just kind of a happy accident.
The full 40-minute video interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim and Hazbin Hotel's Sam Haft can be viewed below:
