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Eric Gordon

English 1201

Professor Cook

February 14th 2021

“What is love” by Haddaway and Jaymes Young

“What is love, Baby don’t hurt me, Baby don’t hurt me no more” Love is a difficult thing

to understand and both these videos touch on what it means to love someone. The original video

by Haddaway which was produced in 1993 is an upbeat song that includes fast moving senses

and flashes of light as women dance alongside the singer in a mansion. The video by Jaymes

Young, produced 26 years after the original, portrays a sad and gloomy situation. The man

survives a car crash while his wife dies and he seems to be depressed and stuck living in the

memories of what they used to have together. Both videos show how at times, love can be

difficult. The original video tells us through lyrics and shows us through the short scenes. The

newer version of the song shows us how love breaks someone down through the scenes of a guy

crying while he relives the memories of him and his wife.

The original song and video are upbeat and fast. It includes bright flashes of light quick

movement of the camera. The props, camera angles and lighting would tell us that it is a happier

song. The lyrics however tell another story. At one point Haddaway sings, “I give you my love,

but you don’t care.” The singer desperately wants to love this person he's talking about but they

can’t love him back and it is hurting him. “I want no other, no other lover” sings Haddaway, the

main character obviously feels like this person is the one for him but they don't feel the same

way. The lyrics show how hurtful love can be. The video is upbeat and quick but looking deeper

it can be seen that Haddaway’s heart is being crushed.

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The video shows three girls dancing at the beginning and Haddaway seems to choose

one. The one he chose is a vampire that hurts him multiple times in the video then leaves him.

Later in the video the vampire leaves Haddaway as he watches, yearning for her to come back.

One of the other girls at the beginning is seen chasing him up the stairs but Haddaway runs away

like she isn’t the one he wants. The first video uses pathos in the lyrics and scenes to get the

point across that love can be confusing and hard to find. The audience is young adult as the

flashy video would scare away young and older people but be just right for young adults.

The second video is drastically different from the first. The video is much slower and no

flashy lights or dancing. The song is slow and depressing instead of upbeat and entertaining. The

video starts out with the guy enjoying himself, then a car crash kills the wife but not him. This is

the moment when everything turned from happy and cheerful to sad and depressing for the main

character. The video shows how much you can be affected when someone you love is gone or

hurt. The man relives moments of their past, their wedding day and a day at the beach. The video

also shows how sad, frustrated and angry he is about her passing. The last scene of them together

shows a time when they were at a festival and the guy was upset. This shows the regret he has of

not enjoying his time with her. The video shows how bad it can be to lose someone you love but

it looks at the bigger picture that no matter how bad it hurts the good times together will be

worth it. Ethos because it follows a first hand account of someone losing their wife. The video

uses pathos like the first video and it allows you to feel bad for the character. The intended

audience is anyone going through that situation as well as people that are depressed or

heartbroken.

While both videos showed us the bad sides of love they did it in different ways and

styles. The original version was upbeat and fast but showed how you can get hurt when you open
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up to someone. The second version showed how losing someone you love can destroy who you

are as a person. The second one gave hope however as it showed many scenes of him happy and

I bet he wouldn’t trade those times for anything. Love is such a complex topic but these videos

helped show what love is and what it is capable of doing.

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Works Cited

Haddaway “What Is Love” Official Music Video 1993, Youtube, 19 Feb. 2016,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe5q_TdKbsk

Jaymes Young “What Is Love” Cinematic Video, Youtube, 28 Apr. 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvvHKp0JNI

Songfacts. “What Is Love by Haddaway - Songfacts.” Song Meanings at Songfacts,

www.songfacts.com/facts/haddaway/what-is-love.