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Faith Pike
English Comp I
10/1/20

“What is Love”

The song "What is love," sung by two different artists, yet has such

different pulls on it. Haddaway, who uses a more upbeat rock like

fashion to his song, meanwhile Young uses a strong emotional side to

things. Why would someone do this? Maybe one saw the bigger

message behind the lyrics and wanted to deliver on it.

The Haddaway version of the song “What is love,” was released on

May 8th, 1993 and easily became a hit. His version of the song is such

an upbeat, ravey, rock kind of song. There's lots of dancing, exotic

women in extravagant outfits, and flashing lights and it's all like a party.

Although Haddaway meant this as a heartbreak song, it's hip hop

instead of slow and sad. Haddaway also tends to repeat the same lyrics

over and over, and portrays most of his meaning through the music

video itself. From things such as lightning striking him down, it shows

women as being the person in power and also uses fictional beings such
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as depicting a vampire, consuming the man. This is why I believe the

rhetorical analysis for this song is pathos. It uses a strong sense of

imagination. I personally read this video as the man asking What, or

Where is the love?

In the Jaymes Young rendition of “What is Love,” it is far more

different from the original. While Haddaway repeats the same lyrics for

the majority of the song, Young goes much more into depth with his own

lyrics. Released in 2013, I feel as if Young saw the potential in the

message, “What is Love,” and rightfully delivered on it. In the first line of

the song, he says “I give you my love, but you don't care.” This song I

feel as if was supposed to be a heartbreak song, and that's exactly what

Young produced. His tempo is much slower, and his lyrics have a

deeper meaning. This song is definitely a song that pulls at the

heartstrings. It has such a strong sense of emotion, which is why the

rhetorical analysis is pathos. Young really sings this song like it's his

heartbreak, as if coming from somewhere more vulnerable. He sings, “I

need you forever,” and you instantly know this song is coming from a

place of hurt. I feel as if Young actually brings the point of, “What is

Love,” across.
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Now while there's not many obvious similarities between the two

artists’ videos, the meaning they hold is still the same. I previously said

that both of them were pathos, for the reason that they spark emotion

and imagination. I read both songs, coming from men, that they've been

hurt by some girl and they are writing about it, but just portraying it in

different ways. While Young portrays his message strictly through his

lyrics, Haddaway portrays him through his video. Both songs give you

the sense that the woman in the equation, is of power in the relationship.

Haddaways depicts his by showing women overpowering in a video, and

Young sings about her leaving. The videos hold the same message, just

developed it in different ways. Haddaways, while more upbeat, did not

provide many different lyrics other than “What is love? Baby dont hurt

me, no more,” but clearly showed the message through his extravagant

video. Meanwhile Young had much deeper, meaningful lyrics, yet no

video to show. They also both target the same audience. These songs

are meant to be the song you scream with the windows down when your

boyfriend/girlfriend has just broken up with you. They're targeting the

people of heartbreak and failed relationships. So despite the

differences, both songs are the same, they're just being portrayed in a

different way.

As stated before, I believe that both songs rhetorically use pathos.

Young uses pathos because his song literally hurts your heart as you

listen to his lyrics. The slow tempo and words of hurt mixed together,

definitely sparks some emotions. Haddaway uses pathos by his whole

imaginative video. From vampires, to lightning strikes, this song is

nothing but imagination.

Although both songs are very well known and popular, they are

heavily different and also the same. From the difference between

upbeat, ravey-rock music, to a slow tempo deep lyrics kind of song.

Although, differences aside, both were extremely successful and still

listened to today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPmBnnon0Ek
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Works Cited*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPmBnnon0Ek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRP3Cqgpd6Q