The popular YouTube animated show, Helluva Boss, released its 8th episode of season 1 on June 24, 2023. This episode experienced an unexpected delay after season 2 launched. The plan was for episode 8 to be the season 1 finale. Fans are excited to see American singer-songwriter KE$HA, or Kesha Sebert, make a special appearance as the Queen of Gluttony, Bee-lzebub. The episode features the song, ‘Cotton Candy’, written by Kesha, Drew Pearson, and The Living Tombstone’s Sam Haft. Kesha lends her speaking voice for Bee-lzebub and ‘Cotton Candy’ is sung by Rochelle Diamante.
Kesha’s special appearance not only took audiences by surprise, but this episode was a lifelong dream for the show’s creator. Here, we will go through a brief rundown of the show along with Kesha’s character and the connection between the episode and the creator.
What is Helluva boss?
Helluva Boss is an independent adult animated series by American animator Vivienne Medrano, or Vivziepop. The story takes place in the Pride Ring of Hell where a group of Imps and their Hellhound kill humans on behalf of vengeful souls. Throughout the series, we learn more about the main characters and meet other citizens of Hell. These citizens include the seven rulers of Hell, some of which being queens like Bee-lzebub.
Queen Bee-lzebub is the queen of the Gluttony ring. She is very colorful and often throws extravagant Hellhound parties. Bee-lzebub encourages her guests to indulge in honey-infused alcohol while making sure everyone is safe and having fun. She is a crossbreed between a bee and a fox with flowing hair that resembles a lava lamp.
‘Cotton Candy’
In this episode, ‘Cotton Candy’ is sung by Rochelle Diamante while Kesha lends her speaking voice to Bee-lzebub. The reason for this decision is unknown. On the surface, the song is a fun and repetitive tune about partying, eating cotton candy, and feeling a sense of euphoria from partying. As Bee-lzebub performs, she passes out drug-laced cotton candy to her guests.
The lyrics, “I’m what you want, not what you need” add on to the concept of overindulging in a luxury. “Cotton Candy” takes up half of the lyrics. Even with this aspect, the song is catchy and almost addicting. The song and Bee-lzebub’s personality perfectly embody the concept of gluttony in a fun way. The episode also does well in showing the harmful side of gluttony with the show’s main character, Blitzo.
Vivienne’s Ke$ha craze
Vivienne has stated in the past that Kesha is her biggest inspirations as a content creator. To pay homage to her favorite music artist, Vivienne created an animated music video to Kesha’s ‘Die Young’ in October 2014. The video featured a blue werewolf named Gigi hyping up a party with other anthropomorphic creatures. This video was Vivienne’s big break as an animator. When it came time for episode 8 of Helluva Boss to debut, Vivienne took down the original video from her YouTube channel due to copyright reasons.
Helluva Boss fans theorize that Bee-lzebub is inspired by Gigi’s design. Vivienne got to work with the one who inspired it all in a dazzling display of colors and a great song to boot. Episode 8 of Helluva Boss took nearly 2 years to launch. But the wait was worth it to see Vivienne’s dream come to fruition.
Seasons 1 and 2 of Helluva Boss and more of Vivienne Medrano’s work is available on YouTube. You can also receive regular updates from Vivienne’s Twitter along with the official Helluva Boss Twitter page.
Are you a fan of the show? What did you think of KE$HA’s performance? Let us know in the comments!
