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Torie Garrett

Professor Barnes

English 1201

21 February 2021

What Is Love

The song “What is Love” really has so many emotions behind it. I mean, What is Love?

In the two videos it shows two different sides of what love could be. It shows happiness and

heartbreak, then it also shows the temptations and makes you think about if you really kno​w

what love is. What is love by Jaymes Young and the version by Haddaway give two completely

different meanings but both have to do with love. Jaymes Young's version shows real love and

how he lost it. Haddaway's version shows more disbelief and temptations. It gives off that he is

looking for the real love like shown in Jaymes Young's video.

The original version of the song was written by Nestor Alexander Haddaway. This song

was actually considered a one hit wonder. It was played through thousands of night clubs and

still to this day people can't say “What is Love” without singing it. The meaning behind the song

is like your typical love song is. It was to question love. He also wanted it to be a song that

people could dance and enjoy themselves to. The video by Jaymes Young takes the song by

Haddaway and gives it a completely different style and meaning. In this version it is more of a

sad song and showing the love that was lost. Jaymes Young says this song really reflects the hurt

he has felt throughout his love life. He says that he has hurt people and been hurt by people and

this song does a good idea expressing that. James is a 23 year old singer and songwriter born and

raised in Los Angeles. He says “the music is bigger than myself” and that he is not making it for

him but he wrote his music for people hurting to be able to relate to it.
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My thesis statement talked about the difference between the two videos. In the video by

Jaymes Young it starts off with a car accident and indicates that his wife died. It then goes

through and shows all of their memories and what he lost. This was a very powerful video and

had so many emotions behind it. The original video was more of a pop song and in this version

they slowed the song down and made it into a slower sad song. Simply changing the style added

a whole new meaning to it. Overall I liked this version better and I felt like it appealed to me

more than the older version did. I have never lost anyone close to me so I was not able to fully

relate but I did find this song more appealing as I liked the style of music better. The original

version was by Haddaway. In my thesis statement I talked about how the two songs were

different but both had to do with love. Haddaway's version is very different from James Young's

version. It shows more of the temptations and the confusion that comes with love. The video had

girls dancing around him as he was singing “What Is Love.” To me that meant he didn't know

what real love was and the girls around him were all tempting him as he questioned himself. This

video was more of a pop song and was very different than the James Young version. I felt like

this song appealed more to older people because of it being released in the 90’s.

Both videos gave good claims. The claim in Jaymes Young’s video is not to take things

for granted. It showed how fast everything can change and you should cherish everything while

it lasts. The video by Haddaway had a much different claim. In his video his claim was that he

wanted the love that Jaymes Young . He was looking for real love and was being distracted. Like

I said above both videos had to do with love; they just had different ways of showing it. Overall

both wanted the same thing and were trying to understand the real meaning of love. When

Jaymes Young said “What Is Love” he was questioning it because of how hurt he was. When
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Haddaway said “What Is Love” he said it like a question. He was looking to find love. Pathos

had a huge role in both of these videos. Love is a feeling that causes emotions and pathos is the

emotional side and how it appeals to the audience. Pathos was used to get the audience to pay

attention. Showing the car accident scene created a sad vibe and really got the audience's

attention. Showing all the flashbacks and him crying also appealed to the audience's emotions.

On the other hand Haddaway brought more of a confused or frustrated emotion. A lot of people

listening to his song may have been at a club or going out after a break up and that is how it was

appealing to them.

Hopefully one day everyone can know the true meaning of love like shown in Jaymes

Video. “What is Love” is a very powerful sentence and created so many emotions. The two

songs while having the same title were completely different and very interesting to research.

Overall they are both emotion filled good songs that I think everyone should get a chance to

listen to.
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Works Cited

16, J., & Morris, J. (2014, October 16). The most important thing jaymes Young will ever learn.

Retrieved February 14, 2021, from ​https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/jaymes-young

Mapes, J. (2015, February 12). We asked Haddaway, "what is Love?" Here's what he said.

Retrieved February 14, 2021, from

https://www.flavorwire.com/504266/we-asked-haddaway-what-is-love-heres-what-he-said

bonD.​What Is Love. Youtube, 28​ April 2019, ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvvHKp0JNI

Accessed 14 February 2021

​ outube, 18 June 2018,

CoconutMusicGermany. ​What is Love. Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I​ Accessed 14 February 2021