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Benjamin Griffis

ENG 1201

Prof. Calhoun

9 February 2020

What Is Love?

“What Is Love” originally by Haddaway and remixed by Jaymes Young uses very

similar lyrics but has two different tones on the idea of love. In one song there are

multiple girls filmed with an older hip hop beat, and in the newer version, a softer more

modern beat with a single girl is shown. These songs were released 24 years apart

which can play a big role in why they were created or sound the way they do. “What Is

Love” which was released in Haddaway's debut album, was meant for people to

question themselves ‘what is love?’ Jaymes Young's version which was released in

2016 resurfaces that question, but with a new sound.

The first line Haddaway states in the song is “What is love?” followed by “Baby

don’t hurt me.” The listener can infer that Haddaway had been hurt by a female straight

away because of these first two lines. To back up that inference you were making at this

point in the song he simply says “Don't hurt me, no more” proving the point of him being

once heartbroken. These first couple lines are repeated throughout the entire piece of

music and become the “hook” of the song. Haddaway's goal of repeating these phrases

is to get the listener to question themselves and how they define love.

The lyrics that are seen in both Haddaway and Youngs' versions of “What Is

Love” is the “hook” that I talked about previously. Both artists seem to use the same

hook to catch the ear of the listener. “What is love? baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me,
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no more” In Haddaway’s version the love he is questioning appears to be for older

adults and the type of love you experience later in life. In Young’s version, you get a

more teenager or young adult feel when they ask the same question of “What Is Love?”

Regardless of the song both of the artists seem hurt and going through similar

experiences as each other.

“What Is Love” by Jaymes Young came out 24 years after the very first release of

Haddaway’s but the audiences are still very similar to one another. Jaymes Young was

able to remix the song to recreate a more modern type of music style that would appeal

to people in this generation. He uses similar lyrics but adds a catchy hip hop beat in the

background along with a calming beautiful music video. Young begins his song with “I

don’t know why you’re not there” and follows that up with a pretty emotional lyrics of “I

give you my love, but you don’t care.” The feeling of love doesn’t happen for everyone

you meet. When you finally meet someone and you fall in love, but you are able to

notice they don’t care can definitely be gut-wrenching and Young exemplifies that in this

song.

In both Haddaway's and Young’s version of the song they both conveyed the

same question, but the way they did it is what differs. Jaymes Young used a single girl

in the entire video while Haddaway had multiple girls featured in his video. It’s very

possible that Jaymes focused on one girl so that the audience thought about the

singular special someone the viewer has in their mind. These things that Jaymes Young

does is all on purpose to emotionally affect the viewer watching and listening to the

song.
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The music video to “What Is Love” (Haddaway version) begins with a sculpture of

a woman being shattered but then suddenly fixing itself. Haddaway seemed to be

frustrated but then suddenly realized the mistake he made and fixed it. Later in the

video, a scene is shown of a girl that’s portrayed as a vampire taking the soul out of

Haddaway's body. This has some significance to the song in that getting heartbroken

can feel like losing your soul. This scene represents the song very well and depicts the

meaning Haddaway is trying to pass along. Throughout the video, there are many

dancers who keep it interesting and entertaining.

There is not much that differs between these two songs, the music video and the

audience have to be the only things that are somewhat different. The video representing

“What Is Love” by Jaymes Young is more focused rather than the sporadic movement

and constantly changing scenes of Haddaway’s. Although Haddaway’s might be hard to

follow and a lot of different things are going on at one time, the video is more

memorable than Youngs. His song was a hit and made top charts all over the world

rising to #1 in 13 countries as well as #11 in the U.S. This song truly became a “classic”

all around the world.

The two songs use pathos to evoke feelings the listener can relate too. The

sensitive lyrics that might pull a couple of strings in your heart make the viewers have

an emotional attachment to the song. An example of how they do this can be seen in

Young’s version of the song. It contains a soft beat in the back which leaves a calming

presence while listening. In a more visual way, Haddaway uses pathos by the creative

clips that show him running upstairs from a female trying to escape love.
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Many people could claim that these two songs are targeted towards the same

audience, but with the different styles of music and video, they could also differ.

Everyone in their life deals with love and will experience that emotion. Depending on the

generation of the person some may find that the remix appeals more to them than the

original. Overall the message remains the same throughout both versions.

Works Cited

Haddaway, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I.
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Young, Jaymes, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wsb0gQUt6c.