Kaela May

Mr.Hellmers

English 1201

13 February 2022

What Is Love?

“What is love?”, the famous words of a famous song. But do you interpret it as trying to

pick which girl you should date, but are scared, or do you think of it as you losing a significant

other by more than a break up? While Haddaway didn’t know which girl to pick from a lot around

him, Jaymes Young lost his wife in a car accident he was also in, leaving him lost and confused.

No matter the similarities between the two "What Is Love" songs, they are both using the lyrics,

props in their music video, and speed of music in different ways.

To start out, Haddaways original “What is love” is one of the most iconic songs in the

90’s. But, what people may not know is that the song wasn’t really directed towards anyone. It

was just a story about trying to love a girl who won’t love him back, which was written by his

producers, not him himself. But, It wasn’t even supposed to go as big as what it did. Haddaway

is from Europe, where the song was produced at, but it made its way to the United States and

premiered on Saturday Night Live sketch and the song took off from there.

Then, onto the Jaymes Young version which was made in 2013. As he isn't a well known

artist, and most people haven’t heard his version of the song, it is a very powerful one. Jaymes

Young is known for his other original songs, but his take on “What is love” also has to be known

under his name.

When watching Haddaway's music video, you aren’t taken to a sad place as you would

think to those lyrics. For the most part, It is him with girls around him, almost like he is at a party.

From showing the big house he is in, to girls all around him, what is the most part about the

music video that they made. As the music video is confusing to the lyrics, so is the pace of the
song. Overall, the original song is paced pretty fast, almost like an upbeat song. Maybe trying to

hide the emotions of not wanting to get hurt by happiness? But, overall the message was clear

about not wanting to get hurt and not knowing who to pick.

Now, getting into a deeper, more connected version of the song by Jaymes Young.

When watching the music video, you get a sense of sadness and anger all bottled up in one.

From the very beginning you see a couple get into a crash, but only one makes it out alive.

Then, from the rest of the video, it shows the effects of losing someone to not even a breakup,

but a death. From crying, showing up to places where they made their best memories, to even

smashing things in their house because he doesn’t know how to cope with the loss. With all of

that bundled up into one video, the artist still uses remotely the same lyrics, just slowed down

the song and used different portrayings within how you should interpret the lyrics.

Furthermore, both songs used their rhetorical appeals. Haddaway's version showed

pathos with the lyrics he used, and how he showed him not knowing what to do with the girls in

the music video. As with Jaymes Young's version, his entire music video was about pathos,

from showing the crash, to showing how one would act after losing someone in such a traumatic

way. Young also used logos by showing the crash, not getting straight into being emotionally

damaged, so we knew why he was hurting the way he was. As pathos wasn’t shown, you could

feel the pathos in the two songs from your own emotional hurtings you’ve been through in your

life. Both songs target people who are vulnerable, and needing a song to relate to in different

but effective ways.

“What is love?”, a famous lyric from a famous song. Haddaway and James Young had

different takes on the song, but both had their own ways of getting their messages across. Both

reach about the same vulnerable audience needing a song to have an emotional connection to.

No matter the similarities between the two "What Is Love" songs, they are both using the lyrics,

props in their music video, and speed of music in different ways.

 Works Cited

“What is love - Jaymes Young”, Youtube, 2022, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvvHKp0JNI.

“Haddaway - What Is Love”, Youtube, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I.