Jade Deis

Cook

English 1201

28 June 2020

“American Oxygen” Rhetorical Analysis

“Breathe out; breathe in, American Oxygen, Every breath I breathe, I’m chasing this

American dream”. The song “American Oxygen” is originally sung by Rihanna and covered by

X- Ambassadors. Although both music videos feature concepts about the American dream, they

have very different purposes for their music video. The Rihanna version showcases images and

videos of good and bad things that are happening in America. Examples of this include rocket

launches, professional sports, injustice, and deportation. In the X- Ambassadors version, he uses

a black and white video to show his journey of chasing his American dream and making it in the

music industry. In the original version of “American Oxygen” by Rihanna, she uses rhetoric to

show the audience that even though there is plenty to celebrate in America, there is still plenty

we need to work on. She states that we can’t continue to shove minorities, victims, and

injustice in this country under the rug. The cover version of “American Oxygen” by X-

Ambassadors uses rhetoric to show the hardships and success of their personal American

dream, which is making it in the music industry. While the cover version is significantly less

political than the original, both are important messages to hear.

The original version of “American Oxygen” was released by Rihanna in 2015. In 2015,

racial inequality, gender inequality, immigration rates, and discrimination were very relevant
in the media and politics. So, when Rihanna released her song “American Oxygen”, it came

off almost as a statement. Rihanna was trying to give a wakeup call to the whole country, and

shed light on the victims of injustice. The X- Ambassadors took that concept, and spun it

around in their own version of “American Oxygen”. Instead of trying to make a political

statement, they used their platform to show their audience that the American dream is still

very much alive. If someone wants to be an astronaut, musician, professional athlete, artist,

accountant, or an engineer, they can. So, in order to further drive that point, X-Ambassadors

music video for “American Oxygen” followed the band around on a day they had a live show,

to show that they made it, and their American dream came true.

In the original version of “American Oxygen”, Rihanna uses pathos and logos to make

a political statement about the terrors of America today. A great example of Rihanna doing

this is at minute 3:16 in her music video. She shows slaves working hard in a field, and then

cuts to women working in a sewing factory, and then cut to the extremely patriotic scene of

the Battle of Iwo Jima. These pictures are all being shown as Rihanna is singing “We sweat

for a nickel and a dime, and turned this into an empire”. This is the perfect example of logos

and pathos. This scene appeals to logos because she is showing primary sources of the good,

the battle of Iwo Jima, and bad, slaves and underpaid workers, in this country. This scene

appeals to pathos because Rihanna is singing in a very emotional way that when listened to

with the music video, can cause a very emotional reaction. This also appeals to pathos

because she shows you two really bad things and directly after shows a really good thing, to

hopefully get her audience to understand that we as America are not as good as we think we

are. Not to mention the lyric Rihanna is singing creates a very emotional appeal to the

audience because it basically explains that America is built on the hard work of slaves,
minors, immigrants, and the poor. This scene of her music video is the perfect example of the

political statement that Rihanna is trying to make.

In the cover version of “American Oxygen”, X- Ambassadors uses logos and pathos

also to show that the American dream is still alive and thriving. A good example of this is at

1:51 through 2:10 when he sings “Breathe in, this feeling, American, American Oxygen,

American Oxygen. Breathe in, this feeling, American, American Oxygen”. At this point in the

music video, X- Ambassadors are showing a small business owner, his family, and his

restaurant. It then cuts to the band taking photos with fans and friends and laughing after a

concert. This particular scene appeals to logos because he is telling the facts that he is

successful in the music industry and the restaurant owner is successful in the food industry.

They had two different versions of the American dream, yet they both accomplished it. So the

music video is showing the evidence, or facts, that he is singing about in the song. This scene

appeals to pathos because it gives the message that anyone can be successful in America. No

matter where you come from, where you are going, or how you got there, it can happen. You

just have to put the work into it. This creates a very emotional video that may be used as a

source of inspiration. This scene of their music video is the exact example of how the

American dream is still alive.

The audiences for the two music videos are very different from each other. Since the

original Rihanna version of the song was more of a political statement, the audience was

everyone no matter your age, gender, location, socioeconomic status, education level,

religion, culture, or race. Everyone needs to hear what she has to say because well, it is

important still to this day. The audience for the X- Ambassadors version is slightly smaller

because they did not make a world changing political statement. Instead they made a
passionate story that told how they made it in the music industry. So therefore, their audience

is anywhere from teenage to middle aged adults that are still trying out figure out what to do,

or are feeling concerned or uncertain about their future. Gender, location, socioeconomic

status, education, culture, or race does not matter when it comes to this songs audience.

In conclusion, the two versions of “American Oxygen” by Rihanna in 2015 and X-

Ambassadors in 2016, tackle issues of injustice, discrimination, and the American dream, but

in two completely different ways. Rihanna uses pathos and logos to drive her point of how

America still has some changes that need to be made. X- Ambassadors use pathos to further

amplify the point that the American dream still exists.

 Works Cited

Ambassadors, X. “X Ambassadors- American Oxygen.” youtube.com, 23 March 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-RIju0fLHs

Rihanna. “Rihanna- American Oxygen.” Youtube.com, 16 April 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8cGLIMtvg