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Gabrielle Barrera

Professor Morean

English 1201-527

4 February 2020

What really is it?

“What is Love?” is a classic song about the struggles of love that has recently been

morphed from Haddaway’s original version to Jaymes Young’s newest version. In the original

video that was published in 1993, dancers seductively prance around singer, Haddaway, as he

pleads for a sign of love. On the other end, Jaymes Young’s 2019 remake takes a different

approach as it shows the mourning of a man after the tragic and sudden death of his beloved

wife. Both covers of "What is Love?" by Haddaway and Jaymes Young consider the

complications that come once you love someone. However, Haddaway's cover engages the

romantics with his take on the sexual troubles in love, while Jaymes Young's cover appeals to the

brokenhearted as he considers the gut-wrenching circumstances of death inside of love.

The original lyrics published by Haddaway made this song a hit ever since it was released

in 1993. The famous song peaked in popularity soon after its release date when it placed as the

ninth most listened to song in April of 1993. Despite the happy, upbeat mood of the song,

Haddaway’s lyrics tell the audience that the song is written in mourning of a woman who just

wouldn’t love him back. The song has become a classic and is still widely known among all

generations. New remakes of this song, such as Young’s, give a new take on the song, revealing

the true depth of the lyrics. Young’s version is identical in lyrics, but a near opposite in emotion.
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Because Young used the same lyrics as Haddaway, the true meanings come not in the lyrics, but

in the mood the artist portrays through visual and aural contributions.

Haddaway’s original song, “What is Love?” demonstrates trouble and complications in

finding love when someone just won’t love you back. The camera movement is a key indicator

to this message because all throughout the video, the camera moves very randomly in a chaotic

pattern. This subconsciously tells the reader that the situation is very messy and chaotic. This

connects to the video’s claim that love itself is messy and dramatic. The video appeals to pathos

because it connects to the audience’s troubles with finding love, therefore allowing them to draw

on their own past experiences.

Jaymes Young’s approach to “What is Love?” keeps Haddaway’s original lyrics, but

better accentuates the deep meaning of the song by telling a story of a man and a woman who

were in love, but suffered the consequences of death.. This is proved by the scenes of the man

and woman running on the beach, smiling and laughing together. The happy, joyful scenes are

followed up by devastating scenes of the man’s mourning after his wife through crying, yelling,

and even breaking things in his own home. These things pulled together make Young’s rendition

of “What is Love” so emotional, appealing to pathos. These visuals stir up the viewer’s emotions

so much because they see the perspective of the mourning man, and it therefore allows them to

ask the question, “What if this happened to me?”

The most significant difference between the two songs, however, is shown through the

rhythm of the songs. Haddaway’s original version of “What is Love?” has a very upbeat tempo,

and has even been known as a song that you can dance to at events, such as parties. This is

proved by Haddaway’s video that is full of women dancing and jumping around to the beat of

the song. This confirms the mood of the song to be vibrant and happy, even though the words
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convey a completely different story. Therefore, it is the joyful rhythm of the song that defines the

mood, not the lyrics. This version of the song is aimed at those who can relate to Haddaway and

his troubles to find love.

On the other hand, Young’s version of “What is Love?” has nearly a complete opposite

mood than the mood of Haddaway’s version. While Young uses Haddaway’s original lyrics, he

slows down the tempo to accentuate the deep meaning of the lyrics. Young has not only replaced

Haddaway’s voice with his own, but he has taken out all the electronic sounds and fast beats,

then simply replaced them with an acoustic guitar. These things together contribute to the overall

mood of the song because the slow rhythm and guitar make the song more personal, and

therefore makes the viewer more emotional than they would be in a pop song. This song can be

aimed at reaching those who have experienced loss because the video allows the viewer to know

that they are not alone in their difficult times.

In conclusion, “What is Love?” is a classic song that has been mastered by many artists

throughout time, each portraying their own different mood. This Haddaway original was fast and

exciting, showing it’s representation of chaos in romantic love. On the other end, James Young

developed a classical rendition of this song that shows personal grieving and heartbreak inside of

love. While Haddaway aims his song at everyday romantics, Young aims his rendition at a group

that is grieving and hurt over their losses in life. Though both versions are about the difficulties

in love, they share very different significances simply by the rhythms and connotations of both

the videos and songs.

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Works Cited

Haddaway. “Haddaway-What is Love? [Official]” Coconut Music Germany, 2014,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I

Young, James. “What is Love? - Jaymes Young (Cinematic Video)” bonD, 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvvHKp0JNI