Ashley Lenser

Professor Barnes

ENG 1201

12 February 2021

Analyzing Music Videos

“Cause I can’t help, falling in love with you.” The main line everyone can recognize from

the famous song originally written by Elvis Presley. However, I will be analyzing the music

videos by Twenty One Pilots and UB40. In the music video by Twenty One Pilots, the video is

very heartfelt and calm and to the point. In the video by UB40, the music video is telling a love

story. In the two versions of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by Twenty One Pilots and UB40, they

give off the similar theme that love is a special feeling, but the version by UB40 tells a story of

how the feeling of love and attraction can make you feel a certain way and make you do things

you would not expect yourself to do.

I will begin by explaining the Twenty One Pilots version. To go into depth, the music video

is actually very simple, but sweet. The main singer carries a ukulele around the whole time and

sings the song. Throughout the video though, he gets up and walks around and continues to

meet up with more and more people. Towards the end of the video, he is singing in front of a

whole crowd and they are all swaying back and forth and singing along also. The vibes that the

video gives off is just relaxing and you can feel the love that everyone is giving off.

In the UB40 version, the music video is in an older setting and tells more of a story. The

typical love story and someone falling in love at first sight. In my opinion I think the purpose

behind this music video is to show the love story and how the young man “can’t help falling in

love” with the female.

Like I stated earlier in the thesis, the two music videos give off the same theme of how

love is a special feeling. However, in the UB40 version, this music video portrays that the feeling

of love can make you do things you would not expect yourself to do. With that being said, the
young man in the video tries to chase after a woman and get her attention. He fails, and you can

tell that he is obviously upset by this, because he couldn’t help falling in love, and got heart

broken. You can also tell that the woman is sad also and not the happiest with her life because

the video shows her tearing up even though she has all these men that are doing things for her

because of her looks.

This essay also has a rhetorical appeal, and that appeal is the appeal to pathos. I believe

that since these videos show an amount of love, that it taps into people's emotions and will

make them feel a certain way towards this video. That they feel for the people within the video

and could feel good about themselves and their love life or make the people feel bad for the

young man and woman in the UB40 version because of how upset they become. I would say it

appeals to mainly people who are in relationships just because of the sweet lyrics.

In conclusion, both videos show such a loving and caring vibe throughout the video but

the UB40 version tells more of a story and shows how people can act when they are affected by

love. It almost makes you really feel the love, especially in the Twenty One Pilots version, and

really feel the pain the in UB40 version. Those are the main feelings in a relationship and we got

both of them which was a good element to receive.

 Works Cited

twenty one pilots. “Twenty One Pilots - Can't Help Falling In Love (Elvis Cover).”

Https://Www.youtube.com/Watch?v=6ThQkrXHdh4&List=RD0akJk1MnLII&Index=4,

2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThQkrXHdh4&list=RD0akJk1MnLII&index=4.

UB40. “Can't Help Falling In Love With You.”

Https://Www.youtube.com/Watch?v=j1rTCb0Iv-k , 2021,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1rTCb0Iv-k.