Jacob Fields

Mrs. Reynolds

Eng.2101

2-14-2021

What Is Love

“I can’t go on.” is a very important lyric in both “What Is Love” by Haddaway and

“What Is Love (Tommer Mizrahi Remix)” by Haddaway. The original music video shows

Haddaway walking around a haunted mansion filled with statues. He also dances with a woman

throughout the mansion. In the remix version of the song, a woman is shown driving around a

city in a sports car and racing around with another car. The original video was centered around a

man loving a woman and how it can be complicated, it had a slower beat than the remix did. The

remix has a more upbeat, futuristic version of the song with a woman showing love towards

herself instead of a man.

The original video by Haddaway, he is seen dressed in a black vest and black pants that

give him a creepy feeling. He dances around a haunted mansion with a girl who is dressed as a

vampire. The remix version of the song follows a woman in a very nice sports car who

eventually starts to race around with another sports car. They go from countryside to city

together and eventually stop on the road and leave their cars with the doors open. After she

leaves her car she is shown alone again in many different places, everytime she went to a new

place, she had a new outfit on.

Haddaway’s original song was written and shown as a symbol of the complication of love

between two people. This song had a slower beat than the remix, making it more serious and less
fun. This is shown throughout using lyrics and evidence from the music video. When Haddaway

says “I give you my love, but you don’t care” it shows that Haddway is struggling with being

loved back in the same way that he loved. Another example of how Haddway describes love as

being is when he says, “So what is right, and what is wrong?” This shows that Haddway is so

confused with his relationship with this girl that he needs to ask what is right from wrong. While

the original had love between two people, the remix of the song was written about how a woman

is able to love herself without a man. This is shown within the video when a woman who is

driving around in a sports car starts to get followed by another sports car. She drives around with

him and eventually leaves him behind because she only needs herself. This theme is also proven

when the woman is shown by herself in many different places having fun. The music in the

remix is also much faster than the original, showing that being alone and happy is better than

having complicated love.

The two songs are created with different beats and rhythms as a way to get through to a

different audience. Although the songs were different in that regard, the main rhetorical appeal to

each of the videos is pathos, which is the emotional appeal. Pathos is shown through the original

music video with the lyrics. Things like, “What is love?” or “Oh, baby don’t hurt me” gives an

emotional appeal to the song. Another way pathos is shown through the original song is the

video. The emotional appeal is shown when the man and the woman are shown dancing in a

romantic manner all throughout the music video. The remix to the song also uses pathos in a

similar way. It is shown in the lyrics when he says, “I give you my love, but you don’t care.”

Pathos is also shown through the video when the woman is shown throughout different places

having a good time. While both songs use pathos as their main rhetorical appeal, the emotions
felt are completely different. The original video has a sad, almost depressed take on the song,

while the remix is meant to cheer someone up with it’s upbeat rhythm and exciting music video.

Haddaway’s music videos are different in many different ways. The remix version of the

song is written with an upbeat version of the song and is about a woman who is better off loving

herself than dealing with the complications of love, while the original song is about how

complicated love can be. “I can’t go on.”

Works Cited

Haddaway. “Haddaway - What Is Love [Official].” Youtube, uploaded by

CoconutMusicGermany, 18 June 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I

Hadaway. “Haddaway - What Is Love (Tommer Mizrahi Remix)” Youtube, uploaded by Dj cz,

20 January 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7EpIRvabik