'Stayed Gone' Is WORSE Than You THOUGHT [HAZBIN HOTEL] 

This could very well be a stretch, but I feel there can be an argument for why Alastor’s mirrored verse doesn’t completely match Vox’s. Vox set a “status quo” of his own when he began the song, and now Alastor in turn is corrupting it and making it his own; the point being that it being broken is also to piss off Vox even more. This could just be devil’s advocate though.

I think that this would have worked if they had more repetition - I mention this toward the end, but musical theatre songs build up familiarity before changing things up, so if Vox had two verses or two chorus' similar to the opening and Alastor had changed it at the end I'd be like "Ohhhh I see" but because there's only two we don't have enough 'data' so to speak. I think you're on to something in terms of what they were attempting but they didn't "earn" the change since the audience has nothing familiar to compare it to.

I'm not familiar with musical structure at all, but I love poetry, and I'm wondering if the syllable scheme for the singing part might have been fixed by simply moving Al's "And" to the beginning of Vox's first verse there? "And while he hid in radio" would match Al's 8-8-11 for the first verse, and "Here's the sugar in the cream" would match Vox's 7-7-11 for the second verse?

First, love the videos and everything. I've watched all 3 now. I am curious what your opinion is about when the lyricist purposely lines up the assonance of stressed syllables instead of complete rhyming. There's actually a school of thought that for darker/heavier songs you want to line up the assonance of stressed syllables but not rhyme on purpose so the song sounds more serious and less whimsical/sing-songy/childish. Like with the "Welcome home" and "Say hello" part, I find the real glaring problem to be that the "o" in "hello" isn't a stressed syllable, and that the meter doesn't line up since "Welcome home" is stressed syllable-unstressed syllable-stressed syllable and "Say hello" is stressed syllable-stressed syllable-unstressed syllable. So I think it really crumbles because they don't have assonance of stressed syllables lined up: they have assonance between a stressed syllable ("home") and an unstressed syllable (the "o" in "hello"). Anyway, just something to think about. Once again, your videos are the best I've seen on this subject apart from the ones from Pat Pattison (of course).

@vagabondangel2753 Yup, you're exactly correct!

Agreed. It conveys Vox's character of just spitting out whatever he can with cheep entertainment to try to minimize the situation. However Alastor decides to chime in right in the middle of Vox's rant and Vox's performance begins to fall apart as he is not able to keep up with Alastor.

That is literally the obvious point of it lmao

@@Jdudec367once again just because you can read it from subtext doesn’t mean it’s done well in the song lol

@@blossomentrails3398 It was done well though/

​@@Jdudec367 It's really more opinion on wether or not it was done well

Yeah I know what you mean. I think to illustrate this better they should have done “Vox in private, Vox confident, Vox scrambled” so then we’d know 100% everything was intended. Cause I do like the scrambled but I wish we had some more verses to be familiar before the change!!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch I read through some of the comments to make sure I wasn't repeating but seconded. A little more build up probably would have fixed most of the issue- either via lyrics by showing Vox in a 'neutral' state vs 'triggered', or (and this is is the comic artist coming out) by showing Vox doing all those different channels simultaneously, it builds up to him accidentally bringing outfits from one set onto another set and mis-matching to emphasize he's got too many fingers in too many pies and is losing track. Just two cents, you can take or leave.

I agree that it makes him seem aristocratic, and also that expression has an old-timey vibe even though it's not actually a real expression. Cal is right, I think "sugar IN the cream" makes a lot more sense than "sugar ON the cream", because whipped cream is made with sugar to sweeten it.

Yeah that might be it! I tried to look up the clotted cream thing just now to see some history and all there is is recipes LOL. But I think they should have been more specific in that case since I had no clue what he was talking about 😭

Isn’t “that’s the tea” stand for telling someone a secret

Yes, it is!

I feel if Alastor said the line as "Here's the sugar with the cream", we'd have less issues with the length still being 7 syllables, the saying making sense with cream and sugar, just flipped on its head, and it makes more sense for British Tea.

Ye I feel that. I wish they had sung it though :( I’d love to see someone do that part but sung and see what it would be like!!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch There are already plenty of covers! I'm sure we'll find one.

I appreciate that!

That’s HILARIOUS!

I mean there’s obscure and there’s nonexistent lol

*alastor

...like podcast?

I think what would have assisted this would be a part for Vox where he wasn’t insecure, so we could see him slowly descending into madness lol. Just because this song is soooo short there’s really no reason not to do a little more.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch we do see that in his interaction with Velvette and Val prior though. He has Val wrapped around his finger the entire conversation; leading him on and manipulating him into not wanting to go after Angel anymore. Then during the song we see him frantic and desperate for the public eye

Oh I meant musically. Not character wise!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch regardless, I feel like the necessary context is provided for the song

Yeah, I was wondering that as well and mention that later on in the video - I think the issue with that is that the instrumentation doesn't really change. Like if we had unhinged instrumental with unhinged lyrics it would do better to convey that, but the song treats them as though they are equals. It's a weird mixed message where Vox's lyrics would tell us he's desperate and not Alastor's equal but the music is telling us they are the same. Yeah re: the cream thing, I did look it up and I couldn't find ANYTHING. Google has been terrible lately but even "sugar on the cream english saying" doesn't give me anything so thanks for letting me know! I don't know though if in terms of a lyric it's "well known" enough to be used like this since it's not as widely used as "icing on the cake" but I am glad they didn't just invent it LOL.

Edit: I hadn't watched the entire video when you directly address this lol

Lol don't worry, you're fine, it's all engagement XD

​@CalxiynCaresTooMuch Yeah, it would kind of be like a surfer dude character saying something is "radical" even though nobody outside of that surfer-dude persona really uses that word. "Sugar on the cream" isn't really used nowadays, but it just makes sense for a character from the 30s or 40s or whenever old-timey time he died.

​@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch I don't think Alastor is english. With out his radio filter he's got an American accent. It's a front he puts on. Sugar on the cream could be referring to cream pie. I think there's also a different desert that's literally just cream and sugar.

Don’t worry about the long comment! I enjoyed reading it - I totally agree like, I feel what they were going for could have been expressed better with more time because if we got verse-verse-chorus for both of them and a bridge we’d get to see that contrast more. We should have had “Vox in private, Vox feels confident, Vox gets desperate, then Alastor feels confident, duet, Alastor in private.” I can’t wait to talk about Alastor and Lucifer though! Other than the ending I think there’s some really cool stuff going on in there!! Thanks for watching and leaving such a thoughtful comment! 🥰🥰

I hope so too! They are really fun for me and a nice change of pace from what I usually do on my other channel so as long as people keep watching them I’ll be here!!

I really like that! Begged is a really nice word to use in there too, good job!

Uh.. no. To “work with me” implies literally the opposite of what “join his team” does. That would mean Vox was agreeing to work *under* Alastor, which is just… fucking no. I do agree that “begged” is a great word to put in there though. It’s nice and condescending :P

@@Kayta-Linda "Work with" literally doesn't mean "work under." I work WITH my coworkers. I work UNDER my manager.

@@IsomerMashups When you ask someone if you can work with them, it automatically implies the other person has authority and final say on things. .. especially when you aren't just asking, but *begging.* Context is important, and that line would paint a *very* specific picture.

@@Kayta-Linda exactly. What better way to humiliate your rival than to say that he begged for the mere chance to be your lapdog?

I'd love to know what you're top 3 are just out of curiosity! I'm curious if there's a common pattern about the people who have my similar top three vs the opposite. I think a big reason the song is still able to really hook people is because while the melody has structural issues, the composition in the instrumental is still sound/catchy. It's similar to "You Didn't Know" where my friend and I were like "there's some weird stuff happening here but the way the music hits is so punchy that it gets you emotionally first" lol. When I found out that they wrote all the songs in 8-10 weeks I was really distressed by that sksksksk. Hopefully they get more time next time!

I feel really similarly to this person, I know talk-singing has it's hatred to an extent, however I'm at the complete opposite of the spectrum and generally love it, weird/wonky ryhme schemes, both in rap and in this genre can really characterize/show differences in motivations,choices, and more. My top three are stayed gone, Happy day in hell, and you didn't know. @@CalxiynCaresTooMuch

⁠​⁠@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchI’d love to hear your thoughts on “You Didn’t Know”! I do like that song (though “Hell is Forever” and “Respectless” are my personal favorites) but it would be interesting to watch an analysis about it (even if it is not always positive).

Yeah I totally agree. They didn’t sell me on the idea of a feud because there was no struggle. Something like “What Is This Feeling” in Wicked has those contrasting blows and overlapping parts that I feel like this really needed! I’m glad I’m not alone I was really worried about posting this LOL

Omg yes... You've hit the nail on the head. There's nothing currently for me to root for Alastor/to hate on Vox. Like, all I saw was what seemed like a Gary Stu defeating a guy, because that's just what was presented to me. 🤷

​@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchyes!! It didn't feel like a feud. So as a result, I just felt embarrassed watching it. 🫣

​​@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchYou're so brave for having posted this at all to be honest 😂 the hazbin fandom can definitely be intense at times. But I think your first two videos on the songs from Wish already proved that your criticism is constructive and that you know what you're talking about. I wasn't 100% on board by the title of this video alone but I ended up agreeing completely by the time I was done with it

Yeah I was a little bit worried about posting this, and even in the back-end there's some funky stuff going on that I suspect has to do with Hazbin Hotel fans not liking what I have to say LOL. But Hunter and I (who I mention I do reactions with) have been making content on the show since the pilot came out, so I hope people will understand I'm not hating blindly or anything but just want to be honest!

Awwww thank you so much!! I do have a Respectless video cooking and I’d love to do every song as long as you all want to hear it!

I wonder how it sounds like in the other official languages on Amazon, because I think there is singing in Italian and such. I wonder if they changed it or kept the structure the same to match the EN singers.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch as far as I can tell while going through the individual tracks of all/ most of the languages' soundtracks they're of varying quality, but I'm pretty sure that's because Amazon didn't give the dubbing studios alot of time. So all of them had to decide what songs they priorities in translation and dubbing and which ones kinda have to be sacrificed. Poison is ironically one of the songs I saw sacrificed alot and I think it's because the song is so fast and music video like in nature that most of the most important meaning is already conveyed in the visuals and the overall vibes of the lyrics. You REALLY would need to go out of your way to NOT give the viewer to intended information. But coming back to Stayed Gone, the best version I've heard besides English is Russian. I highly recommend it! My language's version is German and while I do like it, I think it's clearly a case of the studio not having concidered it a priority lyrics wise and your video actually made it clearer to me why that could have been the case. With the amount of kinda random nonsense Vox is saying, how many times he is repeating himself, and how much of a mess the original lyrics are structure wise, I couldn't blame them for prioritizing songs like "Loser, baby" (German Husk is AMAZING!), "You didn't know" or both Lucifer duets in episode 5.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch The italian one is quite good (to me), but that's mostly cause there was heavy editing and changing of words. The latinoamerican version (made in my country, chile) is very bad. It barely rhymes at all and sometimes it feels like they get left behind by the instrumental. The spanish one is less bad, rhymes better, but still kinda mediocre to be honest. Here's a multilanguage of the full song, if you want to hear all the official versions. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jjJGaztXBQs.htmlsi=NPDhF0C00jy26xVy

"You Didn't Know" is REALLY... something haha. A trend I'm seeing in the comments is basically like "the instrumental is so catchy but I felt like something was off" and I think that it's the same case. Like the composer is "doing his job" so to speak but the lyricist is like, some of the rhymes are WHACK lol. It's almost like, if you can remember the instrumental better than you can remember the lyrics it's usually not a good sign (though as you mentioned Lute's part that one may actually have the tight lyrics, I need to investigate further haha)

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchher part does have an imperfect rhyme (about/mouth) but i’ve noticed i’m much more forgiving of those than you are (makes sense, i didn’t go to school for this). definitely not the worst in the song though, and she probably has one of the better rhymes as well (already/petty - though i’m curious to see if you disagree with this, to me it works cause i say petty the same way it’s sung more like “peddy”) all in all i really love your analysis videos and it was such a nice surprise to see you cover hazbin! even if i don’t mind some of the songwriting sins you point out i love the passion in your videos and find you to be a fellow lover of nitpicking the media we enjoy. i know i can’t love anything without tearing it to shreds in one way or another lmaoooo

Yeah, I feel like they should really update the subtitles to say "don" because that makes so much more sense to me LOL

Yeah, I understand what they were going for but the scene before this has Vox manipulating Valentino. So I think he should be smart at first and only become stupid when Alastor starts taking his audience away lol

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch I see where you're coming from, but tbh I'm fine with Vox still being 100% stupid while being able to manipulate his employees because Vox is supposed to be like a tech CEO and they tend to have cults of personality especially around their inner circle while seeming like total idiots from the outside

Thank you so much!!! I’m happy to share my knowledge with all of you!

Yeah, and I hope this helps to put to words why it feels off in places!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch After finishing the video, yeah, absolutely. And it's a shame, because I feel like they nailed it for "Hells Greatest Dad" so they can clearly do the song battle well. Either way, great analysis!

Thank you so much! I can't wait to talk about Hell's Greatest Dad, I feel like except for the ending (lol) it's SO fun, and so clearly Aladdin inspired I LOVE IT

Yeah I agree with you. Like despite the criticism I had with “purports” and “support”, it’s really clever. And whereas Vox tells people what he wants them to think, Alastor just lets people question. Which is more powerful because it’s leading someone to their own conclusions.

It was SO good! I can’t wait to talk about it - whereas I don’t know what happened with this 😭😭😭

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch this was… well at least the next episode had better songs (not amazing, but better than this. I do love Loser Baby though)

Thank you!

😅 I had the same thought when I heard it.

I’m glad to hear it’s not just me!! Left to Lose is a great example - they could definitely have had this vibe of Alastor and Vox broadcasting at the same time to different groups of people until Alastor wins!

It’s not necessarily the rhymes themselves but you need to have a consistent structure. Some Disney songs don’t have a lot of rhymes but the ones they do have are consistent!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch why do you need consistent structure?

I explain this in the video, but: 1. Structure allows our brains to recognize patterns, which is what makes a song catchy. So in this case, the music (as in, the instrumental), is catchy, but the vocal melody and the lyrics are not. So you have this weird clashing where some people may remember the music but not be able to remember the words, or the song itself may just end up being forgotten. 2. Musical theatre songs especially rely on familiarity to suck the audience in, and then when the audience is comfortable subvert their expectations. If you have no structure, you can't lull the audience into that security and so you can't break their expectations in an interesting way. So the audience is less likely to be able to follow along when your structure is a mess, which means you can't build to larger pay off. If the audience can't "snap into" your song, they will either forget it when they leave the show or not get invested in those characters in the moment. So structure doesn't just help with long term investment, but short term investment. 3. There's actually scientific studies about this - a listener's interest is maintained through repetition + new material, not just repetition OR constant new material. If you repeat the same things over and over, people get bored. but if you constantly change things, listeners can't get invested. It basically comes down to how our brains are wired at all levels, and the fact that because musical theatre songs deliver information, it's more important to use those "memory techniques" and investment techniques to get that information across.

That’s the difference between other music and musical theatre - but at the end of the day that’s what makes musical theatre different :) or rather it should be.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch fair point. If the medium with which the show is trying to be, which is musical theatre, fumbles the ball, then someone like yourself has every right to call them out for it. Im still gonna love it tho 🤪

Thank you for watching!!

That’s really interesting! I guess the radio distortion may have caused that. They could have even said “his cohorts” to bleed into the idea of the Vees being stronger than him as well!!

​@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch omg you responded 😮 hi!!!! Yeah, cohorts would be pretty good there. You're work is amazing!

"Is Vox as strong as he reports Or is he just an on-loop retort? He'd be powerless without the other Vees!" That's how I'd figure they'd rewrite it (Lame retorts? Tame cohort? Idk)

I have a lot of problems with that one, I can't wait to talk about it LOL.

The subtitles say “Dawn” on Amazon prime but if it’s “Don” that’s SO much better

Thank you so much! I’m glad that people who still like the song enjoy the video too 🥰🥰

So here’s something interesting about that: There’s “Tea” as in, tea time and “T” as in the truth. So you can say “That’s the T” as in that’s the truth, or “No T no Shade” as in “it’s not any snarky T, its not malicious T, it’s like, the real T that you need to hear.” - the internet has turned “T” which was just the letter “T” into Tea. Gathering for tea and gossiping was something that people definitely did before 2010, so I think it’s actually a nice blend of the old and new meaning. If they had written it as “T” and also didn’t have the cup (??? Lol it’s been so long I can’t remember… he does have a cup right???” I’d think they were trying too hard to be cool but I think it actually does sound old fashioned when Alastor says it. Reminds me of Bridgerton 😂 I can’t think of a good example but by comparison if he said “GOAT” or “Delulu” or “Rizz” I’d be all over it but I think in this case it’s passable lol.

I’m so glad to hear it! I’m glad that this helps!

Exactly!

No, he hates sweets canonically

I’m glad to hear I was able to do that! I think a lot of people feel “I know this is off on instinct but I don’t know exactly why” because human beings are very good at picking up on oral patterns or inconsistencies, but we may not be able to figure out exactly what they are without counting out syllables and such 🥰

I guess the best way I can explain it for that second thing is for example: if you said "Cal is getting angry" that would imply that I was previously happy/calm. I didn't think of it that way though, I think that may be too complicated for a single lyric but I do understand what you mean now that you mention it. Like it's less that Alastor is the meat, but that he's the actual chef.

Yeah that was personally confusing for me LOL. I’m glad someone else noticed.

It makes sense though? "Don't listen to a word he would say"

@@Claudia_Crimson_585 ​​⁠what OP means is that Vox saying “Don’t listen to a word Alastor WOULD say” is weird. Because “stop giving him the time of day.” Means they have already heard Alastor speak. Like they’re already giving him the time of day. So it’s not “don’t listen to a word he would say” it’s “don’t listen to what he’s SAYING”

OH I ACTUALLY LOVE THAT. It connects so well with Alastor's "You're never truly dressed without a smile!" and how he uses a smile as a weapon.

Thank you! I would say that it's a couple things: no tea no shade but even though Hazbin Hotel has an audience that likes musical theatre, a lot of the audience is probably teenagers/young adults that listen to pop music as a majority of their music and so as long as the hook is catchy some people don't really notice. And The instrumental can do a lot to cover up sins and such. Because the instrumental is catchy it helps to hide some of the uncanny elements.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch i think its less an age thing and more of a no theater/musical backround. For me, with no such backround, "whatever it takes" is one of my favorite but for the love of god i cant pinpoint why exactly it just...spoke to me. Anyway it was a good video and it takes guts to critic something popular so props to you!

Lol actually music does follow rules. This is from the textbook written by a professor at Berklee College of Music: “Form follows function” is the real rationale behind what often look like silly rules: - All verses should have the same rhyme scheme! (And that includes syllables & other stuff too lol) - Change the rhyme scheme when you get to the chorus. This is another way to look at “form follows function.” Things that look the same should do the same thing. Things that look different should do different things. 😂

That was revealed perfectly, I will say!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch Absolutely, just.. stellar!👌💯 Perfection

Thank you!

Except for the ENDING. I cry. I cry

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchIt’s okay, we can cry together 😭

@CalxiynCaresTooMuch Yeah, Mimzy's lines really disrupts the flow.

I just want you to know that this made me snort aloud 😂😂😂😂😂 Yeah “peas in a pod” may be a little bit confusing. I didn’t consider that. Idk how common the saying is in other countries!

THATS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME and Hunter. And they were coming for us in our reaction comments LMAO

The song was fine lol

@@Claudia_Crimson_585Are you going to argue with EVERYONE who disagrees with you LOL

Like I mentioned before, my idea wasn’t that Vox shouldn’t be scattered or unhinged but that it would be better if they had some verses of him being confident so we’d have somewhere for his character to go. If you start your character off being insane / etc that means that they already lost before the song even started so there’s no reason to sing. They don’t have to mirror each other the entire time but what I’d want is: - Confident Vox (that mirrors Alastor’s ending) - Alastor’s interjection - Spiralling Vox - Duet - Alastor’s original ending Or something similar to that. Because the idea is you build up familiarity and then you break it Vs doing nothing familiar at all. With the hijack thing, I think there’s probably something in the instrumental that would need to be adjusted (which is why most of the time I tend not to bother adding instrumental in my suggestions since you’d need to rewrite some of the things musically). And this goes for mostly everything else to - it’s not that that’s the ONLY thing you can do but more so an example of how to make both lines rhyme. You could pretty much do anything there as long as “Welcome Home” and “Say Hello” actually rhyme. So with anything it’s “this is why this thing is a little weird, here’s an example”. It’s the tool you need to understand how to fix something but after that it’s pretty much up to you, what you’d do instead. In terms of Alastor's speaking style, I'd argue that he's from New Orleans, they speak French. So the Coup De Grace thing shouldn't be too weird imo. But yeah that's why I gave a bunch of different suggestions, cause at the end of the day they are just examples of what could be. If we actually rewrote the song, we'd have to pick one obviously ^^

😭😭😭😭 I know like we are in a musical bestie

I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone 😂😂 I mean I’m not British but - I did look it up and nothing came up so I thought that was odd.

The vocal performances are fantastic!

That's also interesting for me to hear! I don't know a lot of people who are truly tone deaf - how did you find out?

I had suspicions for a while, honestly. Tone deafness can run in families, and my childhood was surrounded by discordant singing, curtesy of my mother. There's a few possible tests they do to properly assess Amusia, but it mostly consisted of pitch and tone recognition, eventually just leading to a proper diagnosis 🤷‍♂️

I appreciate you! I'm so glad to hear this, thank you so much!!

IT DOES MAKE MORE SENSE 😭😭😭😭😭😭

IT DOES MAKE MORE SENSE 😭😭😭😭😭😭

He did use it as a rhyme, though - but uh, they DON'T end with different sounds? Lol. "Around" and "Town" are recognized as actual rhymes in rhyme dictionaries. "They shouldn't be a rhyme anyways because they end with two different sounds" - No, they are factually a rhyme. I don't mind people giving me criticism but if you're going to say I'm hypocritical maybe you should look up what you're referencing first :)

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch “cavorting around town” is not him using it as a rhyme??? You referenced earlier in the video that a rhyme ends with two different sounds, meaning it is not a rhyme. I’m not an expert, so as an outsider looking in, it seems hypocritical to say two words that sound similar cannot rhyme, and then simultaneously saying something is intended as a rhyme when it’s two words that have similar endings right beside eachother in a sentence that is normal to use beside eachother. This is not something I care enough to argue about, but your tone and your general points and consistency is frustrating and that was a criticism. Take it with grace.

A true rhyme DOESN’T end with two different sounds, but “around” and “town” don’t have different sounds! I hope that helps 😭😭😭😭 as I said you can look it up, but they “officially rhyme” with each other, so nothing I said is incorrect in that regard. They are SPELT differently but they rhyme because of where the word is stressed. The problem with words that end with “S” like Nowadays, is the S is stressed. But with “around” the D is not stressed, the “n” is. That’s how Town and Around rhyme. We don’t say “AROUNDA”

Can you give me an example of something that falls into a newer writing style though? Because I don't see it as new vs old, like, the idea of "make this familiar to the audience and then you have earned the chance to break it" is in pretty much everything no matter what it's from, even pop music. That's why I said they should have given Vox another verse, not because it's impossible to make what he does sound good, but that way they could create clearer contrast. I'm asking for real like I'm not sure what you mean per se 😅😅😅

Yeah I agree with you. I love having two songs per episode but the songs vary so much in quality (especially episode 6) that at this point I’m getting a bit concerned lol. It’s better to have one song that’s done really well as opposed to two that have fundamental problems 😅

We will stand strong together 😭😭😭

Yeah that was my bad LMAO

I feel like they could have done that better by having him sing less erratic though - because we see Vox manipulate Valentino quite easily moments before this song happens. The issue with the song is just that it’s too short and doesn’t give the impression of stakes - if Vox is already off the handle Alastor has already won. Vox should have been coming out strong at first, and only lost his cool after Alastor started to take his audience away.

I’m glad I’m not weird too! I really thought it would just be me!

Alastor has been in hell for a while. It’s very likely he’s picked up more modern phrases despite his retro aesthetic. I mean he literally swears 4 times in the show and that’s (intentionally) out of character for him.

I just wish they had Vox only do that after Alastor interrupted. I feel like he should start off strong until that point!

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch Fair point! Like I see your points, and you're definitely valid! Just putting in my two cents... Having Vox start off strong and then making a mess of himself would also have worked very well! So yea, it's a toss up! I do gotta agree though on Alastor's single "gone" it bothered me since the first time I heard it, and upon relistening, it sticks out even worse...

Thank you for leaving a comment!! So my colour highlights are the rhymes. I start with red and go all the way down the rainbow, so I can see visually where the rhymes are. For example, my first rhymes are red “begin/ tune on in”. Then “gone/dawn/on” are orange. The purple highlights are for alliteration, which is when two words start with the same sound. “He hid” is alliteration, because you have the “H” on he and the “H” on hid. The numbers are indeed syllable count! Syllable count basically is what helps music sound “poetic”. This is an oversimplification but you basically want your lines that are supposed to match each other - lines with the same rhymes at the end to also have the same amount of syllables. You can see this in our example with Poor Unfortunate Souls / Ursula. Syllable count isn’t always the beats but they’re usually connected in some way. For example, if you sing something like “Re-pen-ted”, that’s always going to be 3 notes, because it’s three syllables. How long those notes are held for by the singer depends on the sheet music. But you’re always gonna need to write three notes down for that word. But sometimes, singers will do a “riff” or sing more notes/beats on a single word. If you’ve seen frozen for example, Elsa goes “I’ll rise at the break of dawn” and on “dawn” she goes up-down-up with her voice. That makes dawn one syllable, but three beats/notes. Sorry if that doesn’t make a lot of sense, I wanted to try to figure out how to write this in an easy way. The reason why this becomes important is because music is written in a time signature. For example, a lot of music is written in 4/4 time. Where there are four beats per bar, and the quarter note is worth one beat. So four quarter notes will fill an entire bar. Syllable count becomes important because if you do something like “To a new status quo”, that’s at least 6 notes. Whereas “When I’m done” in Alastor’s verse is 3 notes. That means Alastor’s lyrics in the exact same spot are only in 1 bar of music (3 notes out of 4 beats in a bar). But Vox’s lyrics are 6 notes out of 4 beats in a bar. This is why they sound strange, because they are cramming 6 notes where there’s only “room” for 4. I don’t know what time signature the song is actually written in, but that’s just in theory to try to explain ^^

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch thanks for taking the time to explain. I know beats and syllables doesn't have to be synonymous in a song. There's a word for it, but I can't remember what it is at the moment. But I get what you're saying, what they're doing is a structure that is hard to follow even when you've listened to it a few times. Again thank you for this. Also just out of curiosity, do you know any song that break the "rules" and still works? You don't have to answer that, but it would be interesting if you could. ✌️

Honestly, in terms of songs that break the rules, usually people who do this well are in rap music. One of my favourite songs of all time is called "Left for Dead Lullaby" by Calliope Mori, where she does this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_s21Yx0zK0I.html Ti-me never heals (5_ she extends time into two syllables) Your hell is all that's real (6) The walls__ are fall__ing in on us, and yet (10) Words like "regret" won't wet my lips (8) There are moments I'd change if I could (9) But searching for atonement does not ensure "good" (11) There is just something about how she sings "and YET, words like reGRET won't WET my lips" that gets me every time. But the reason why I think this works is because of her "flow" in the song. Rap has a different structure compared to musical theatre and so it's not very jarring when she sings this to me. And something like "heals" and "real" to me sounds purposeful, vs being a mistake. In the video I talk about how rhymes get clunky when the word ends with a different stress sound, like "nowadays" and "way". But for me "heals" makes "real" stand out so much more afterwards, because it's the harshness contrasted with the desperation of "real". Same with "walls" and "falling" - she focuses a lot on the WALL and FALL instead of stressing the ing, so she makes it work somehow. And the syllable count is uneven, but to me it feels like it's going up a set of stairs. Like "There are moments I'd change if I could" is one step, and "But searching for atonement does not ensure good" is like climbing the second step. So the inconsistent syllable count helps to give it a feeling of growth.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch awesome song! Added to my playlist. 😻

I was so stressed because I practiced a couple times but I’m not good at reading stuff phonetically 😂😭

Thank you so much!!

It's like Melanie Martinez but better.

It's based on Neopolitan from RWBY! That's why I have my little ice cream necklace / earrings / shirt it's Neaopolitan ice cream themed!!

Just because they did it on purpose doesn’t make it good. I explained this in the video (that you didn’t seem to watch) - but if they wanted to make this more effective they should have done parts of the song where Vox was not so scattered and nervous. There should be no reason Vox is unhinged at the very beginning of the song. He should only start to get unhinged AFTER Alastor starts to take his viewers away. If you start at peak insanity as an actor you have no where else to go, and this song doesn’t grow in any meaningful way. Whereas if Vox started out confident and slowly got insecure it would have been better. All your explanations just explain why it’s not very good. A song being this one sided means it’s boring. There are no stakes. There is nothing for Vox to lose if he has already lost from the moment he starts singing. That means there is no reason for the song to exist.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuchOn the Contrary it explains perfectly why the song works as a Whole. Because if they did make it less chaotic, or did less in general, that would actually be worse considering the characters that are involved. Alastor is a Radio personality, which are KNOWN for their fast style of talking. Cause they need to accomplish a lot in very little time. Listen to any radio broadcast from the 1930s to the 1950s and you'll get the same fast-paced and bouncy style of talking. This is a Quirk of the Transatlantic accent. Slowing it down, or changing the pacing in any way from what it is now, would actually be out of character, and the song would suffer for it. Sure it might be a better song of some guy singing, but it wouldn't be a Good music duel between Alastor and Vox. Musical Numbers In shows like these don't exist in a vacuum. They are supposed to be reflections of the Character. What I saw in your video was you discuss this from a Music Theory perspective. And while I agree from a Music theory standpoint this song is a Mess. It doesn't do anything that makes you outright despise it. And truth be told, if we had gotten anything less chaotic and messy, I'd actually be the one making a video about how much of a Missed potential a song about a showdown between TV and Radio could've been. But for what the show is trying to do, and what the show is trying to make, it is very good. That's what I mean by you missing the point. You judge this song as if it is something it's not supposed to even be. Which would be fair if you were judging this from the perspective of Music Theory. But to call it outright “Disappointing” is missing the entire reason why it exists in the narrative, and what it is trying to represent. Also, it isn't a villain song. The only sort of True villain song we get in Hazbin Hotel (A true villain song being one that either Tells us who the Villian is AKA, an I Am Song, or their motives and what they want AKA an I Want song) Is Respectless, (Being an I Am Song) and maybe you could argue that Hell Is Forever is an I Want song since it briefly expresses Adams desire to kill all of the sinners, but that is kind of a stretch since it never really expresses why. Stayed Gone doesn't spend its time explaining who Vox is. It's not a traditional villain song, (It's not something like Poor Unfortunate Souls, or Be Prepared) It doesn't tell us who he is, or what he wants. Really all it tells us it that Vox Is very insecure. The song is actually less about Vox and More about Alastor even though he comes in on a later verse. The reason why this song is about Alastor, is that it properly builds him up into a massive threat, while pushing Vox down. Thus why the ONLY logical way for this song to work with the way it was written, was to BE a chaotic mess on Vox’s end. What you suggest in this video is that the song should've been fixed. When that flat out ignores the reason behind it's very existence. Most of the Lyrical changes you suggest in your video would've absolutely DESTROYED the Bouncy chaos that the song is trying to potray, by screwing up the lyrical flow.. Most egregious are your suggestions at the beginning of the video. For the intro at the beginning of the song, because by eliminating the “Welcome Home” You have actually unknowingly Erased a very important peice of Vox’s Character. That line isn't there without reason. Why would Vox be greeting Alastor’s return? It's because this line exists to inform us that Vox actually gets enjoyment out of hating Alastor. In fact it shows you his insecurities at the VERY beginning of the song. Your Suggestions of “You've Returned” and “That Demons Back” Along with not rolling off the tounge very will, Completely fail to address that. “Welcome home” is a greeting, it's an invitation, it's a Welcome. It Shows that Alastor makes Vox feels like he has a purpose. And thus why Alastor's Line of “He'd be powerless without the Other Vees” Hits with such force. Cause its a call back to Vox feeling as if he has no purpose without Alastor. Every line in this song has a deeper narrative meaning to it. You compare this to Poor Unfortunate Souls, when that comparison isn't fair in the slightest, because again, this is not a villain song. Alastor’s “Tune On in” which you have erroneously said breaks the Rhyming structure. Has a very good reason to exist. Its a death threat, and further adds to the context of this Being a Radio Broadcast on Alastors end. And he delivers this death threat so calmly and with such swagger, it's almost as if it's supposed to parallel something. This line in particular is actually supposed to be a footnote where Alastor breaks away from his current flow of singing to calmly follow upon Vox’s “I'll Destroy Yoouuuuuu” line, while simultaneously add to his character of being a 1930s radio broadcaster, And then he jumps back into the Ending, taking his final victory lap.. I understand music and lyrical flow as well as you do. (Heck I've publically ragged on Poision for Having Weak lyrics. If there is any song you should have called disappointing, it's that one. It has God-tier instrumentals and an excellent Rhythm layout. But my lord are the lyrics repetitive) You are overly pedantic about rhyme schemes in this video which makes you further miss the point of the lyrics existing. Instead, you come across as a Disney song Elitist (I'm not saying you are one, but your constant comparisons to Disney songs that are not in any way fair, make you come across as such) You were not fair to this song in the entirety of this video. Every lyric you say sounds like rushing is SUPPOSED to sound like that. This song doesn't exist in a vacuum, it was to tell a story and accompany a scene. Poor Unfortunate Souls, which you compare this song to, does NOT tell a Story in any way. It is not an ACTIVE number. All Ursula’s song does is introduce us to her as a character, and serves as a plot device for Ariel's Character arc. This song is a Bouncy and Upbeat music duel that is more comparable to Pinkie Pie VS Cheese Sandwich in MLP FIM, or another example from that particular series is Welcome To the Show in Rainbow Rocks. Both of those songs are excellent examples of a Musical duel in the same style as Stayed Gone. Heck you could've even used The Devil Went Down to Georgia as an example here, as it is also a musical duel. But instead you went for song that is entirely different… This entire video is just you being unfair, and judging this song as if it exists in a vacuum, Missing the Point why it even exists, and making comparisons that are completely unfair. Yeah this is the worst analysis of a song I've ever seen and Im making a video on this…

I never said to slow it down. What I recommended was a version that is just as fast but structurally sound before we have a descent into madness. You didn't seem to watch the video 💀 My recommendation was to add more to the song so we could see contrast, so we could get an actual journey, not to change everything the song is about. Also, I was using Poor Unfortunate Souls as an example for the rhyme structure. Rhyme structure exists independently despite the differences in genre.

Also your comment is REALLY hard to read because of the formatting - so it's hard for me to understand what you're trying to say: but the reason why I wanted to change "Welcome home" wasn't because of the meaning but because of the issue with the rhyme. If you want to keep "Welcome Home", the solution is either to eliminate the idea of "Tune on In" and "Let's Begin" in Alastor's verse rhyming, or to make "home" rhyme with something. It wasn't trying to erase the meaning of what was there, it was an example of how the structure was off and how the rhyme could be fixed. When you understand HOW something works, you can make whatever suggestions you want. The suggestion I made was one suggestion, not a mandatory suggestion. If you want to keep "welcome home", you just need to figure out what to replace "say hello" with. The problem is, home is not an easy word to rhyme. I understood the meaning, but there are certain areas where I decided that changing the meaning was worth having something that sounded better to the ear (having things actually rhyme). I'm not judging the song for "something it's supposed to be" - I'm judging it for what it attempted to do and did not deliver on. If you think you understand music structure and lyricism as well as I do that's fine - but your arguments did not convince me that you do. And some of the stuff you're claiming I said is flat-out wrong. You're mispresenting and misinterpreting what I said in the video, so I can't say anything beyond "watch the video". This is literally my job, this is what I went to school for. You're free to disagree but you may want to consider the fact that if you're trying to say you're on the same level as a professional, your comment is very unprofessional in terms of how you wrote it. It just makes you seem a little unhinged.

@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch I understand the musical format well. But I also understand this song's significance in the overall arc. Allow me to shorten my reasonings here without going in depth. While what you say in this video may be technically accurate from a Songwriters perspective, The issue is that it is Wrong from a Writing standpoint. From a writing point of view, this is supposed to be a fight scene played out through music. We see each character's strengths and each character's weaknesses. The point of its existence is to spark conflict between Alastor and Vox, and at the same, represent a fight between the two of them. The reason why there are Writing choices that you might not like from a lyrical standpoint is because they are supposed to be indicative of their characters. Vox approaches things loud and desperately, while Alastlor calmy plans his next movements, talking with the Casual charisma of someone who knows what they are doing. He doesn't Belt out his singing cause he is perfectly content. You may understand music. I'm by no means a professional when it comes to making music, but I know the ins and outs of musical theatre confidently enough. What really irks me about this video, is a lot of things in your description are not accurate to what the Writing of the song represents on a broader scheme. You can stick to the musical side of things sure, but I ask you to at least understand the context of how this song is Meant to exist In the narrative. Most of your suggestions while lyrically accurate, either feel out of character for the current situation or feel unearned. This song is a musical Plot. The first lesson on plot is that You can basically boil it down to Every Setup, Needs to have a Pay Off. This entire song is a series of Setups and pay offs. Every little insecurity that Vox throws out there, Alastor follows up upon. The only one I think you really have a good point on is the Chirping Line. Cause as is, that quite frankly comes out of nowhere, and doesn't have a setup, cause this entire time Alastor has been very causal, so I don't get why Vox Would try to throw shade at him for… Talking too much I guess? I don't know. But you don't understand the writing as to why this song exists. That's my point. You can say it lyrically doesn't make any sense. And I agree, it's a complete mess from that standpoint. But don't go and be unfair to it, by calling it disappointing, when it's not trying to be a Good Lyrical song. It's trying to convey a Battle Through Music. Again I'd urge you to listen to Welcome to The Show From MLP EQG: Rainbow Rocks, for a perfect example of plot conveyed through song. It's not a good song on its own, (It's a Little bit more Lyrically sound in my opinion) but within the context of the Writing, it makes sense to be the way it is… Hope this clears things up. You may have gone to school to understand music. But you can't fairly judge something that is more so supposed to be writing…

I didn't just mean for Hazbin (if I remember correctly this video was a while ago) I meant as a society haha. But I also have some beef with Hell Is Forever.

I'd love to see you make a video about it. I mean I like that song, but still!