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Kayla Rupp

Professor Hughes

English 1201

03 February 2020

What is Love

¨What is Love?¨ This quote is the main theme in both songs. In the first version,

Haddaway is trying to love a girl who will not love him back, and in the second version, the girls

are finding love in dancing. The first version was recorded in 2014 by artist Nestor Alexander

Haddaway, and KM Music Videos edited the second version in 2017. ¨What is Love¨ by

Haddaway and KM music videos have similar claims but are interpreted differently with their

tone in their music videos. With the claims being interpreted differently, the KM music videos

does a better job of getting the message across through its visual images and having a better

appeal to the audience. The two videos have different intended audiences but are trying to show

the same purpose.

The main claim of KM music videos´ version is you can find love in any activity. This

version is very upbeat and positive. It was produced in multiple different areas around the world-

on top of buildings, in people's front yards, in the woods, etc. The girls in this video are finding

their love by dancing. This video starts off with a girl standing in front of a wall that has spray

paint all over it. Then, about every 8-10 seconds, it switches to different dancers in different

areas.
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The official videos´ main claim is to show what love is. This video is a very dark and

depressing video. It is produced in an old dark castle, in which candles are used to light up the

room. Haddaway is singing to a girl that he loves but she will not love him back. The beginning

of the video started off with Haddaway having a statue fall into his hands. He takes about a

second and then says to the statue, ¨What is love.¨ Next, as the song continues he approaches

new women all throughout the castle. He continuously says, ¨Baby don´t hurt me.¨ The audience

can infer that he has been hurt in the past, and he does not want to get hurt again. A lyric from

the song that stuck out to me the most in this version was, ¨I give you my love but you don´t

care.¨ This lyric shows that Haddaway is trying to love her, but she is not loving him in return.

Both videos share the same lyrics but they have different end goals. The KM Music

versions video was about something they loved to do. This video portrays a way of finding love

through dancing. Girls in the video found love by going to different places and doing their

dances. Just from watching this video it can be inferred that the dancers are entertained and

found joy in their activity. The Haddaway version was much more emotional and showed that

finding love is not always easy. He needed a lot more reassurance because love was not coming

to him. He was the one that needed to find it.

KM music videos' visual standpoint to the audience seemed more entertaining, enjoyable

and you could see the urge of excitement. The girls were always jumping and dancing around.

The backgrounds always had a color to them and they were never in the dark; it was always very

bright. On the other hand the Haddaway version was much darker and gloomier. The colors that

were mainly used were dull colors like black and dark red. The actions were the complete

opposite of jumping around and dancing.

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Both versions mainly focused on the rhetorical appeal of pathos. Pathos is an emotion

that is used in both of the music videos. The emotion that is being used is love. The KM music

version showed pathos through the dancers' happiness. The audience for this video is meant for

everyone no matter what your race, age, gender, religion, etc. The outfits of this video believe

me to think it is for everyone because they seem like daily lifestyle outfits. Haddaway showed

pathos as well because he is trying to find where love is. I would say the audience for this music

video is meant for young adults because of the outfits that the females were wearing. Most of the

girls had a lot of skin showing.

Overall, from the Haddaway version we learned that love always is not easy to overcome,

while in the KM version the girls found their love through dancing. There are so many ways that

love can be found in your life. All in all, the videos of ¨What is Love¨ had similar claims but

were interpreted differently with their tone in the music videos. The claims being interpreted

differently made the KM music version stick out more through its visual images and having a

better appeal to the audience. Finally, the videos are trying to show the same purpose but have

different intended audiences and one is much more broad than the other.
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Work Cited

Haddaway, director. Haddaway What is Love. Youtube, Youtube, 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I​. Accessed on 6 February 2020.

Haddaway, director. What is Love. Youtube, Youtube. 2017,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPmBnnon0Ek​. Accessed on 6 February 2020