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Kylie M. Rupp

Professor Strehle

English 1201

16 February 2020

“What is love”

Some may wonder if they have ever found love or thought of something that has come

close to it. The song “What is love” depicts that, from the first video edited by KM music Videos

in 2017, it shows a more modern upbeat version of this song. Moving to the second video by

Haddaway focuses on a more gloomy aspect of this video. Being filmed in 2014 could give us

reasons as to why this is a darker version. Multiple versions of the song, ¨What is love¨ portrays

the same lyrics but have different rhetorical appeals throughout the videos.

At the beginning of the video by Haddaway, the main singer starts off in a dark room

with a fallen statue of a woman saying, “What is Love.” This concerns the main character trying

to figure out what he is going to do. He asks this question many times in the video and still

seems to never find it. Continuing through the song the lyrics, “Baby don’t hurt me” is said

multiple times, one could infer that the artist has had many tragic things happen to him. He

continuously brings up the thought of being hurt because he knows how it feels and he does not

want to relive that feeling.

Next, in both videos, they obviously share the same lyrics but what they do not share is

the end goal of the video. The video by Haddaway was produced 3 years before the edited

version of the song by KM music. Haddaway’s version of the songs shows how the emotions of

things can get to people. That there are many things needed for him to feel reassured before he

knows what love is. In the video edited by KM music, there is no real story. The characters
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outside lives are not shown and are left with a mystery. One has to try to understand where the

characters are coming from. The only thing shown in this video is different people dancing in

many different places. They create this happiness on their own.

“What is love” edited by KM music starts off with a girl in front of a building that has

been vandalized with spray paint all over it. The video then progresses with other dancers. This

video does not go into depth about any of the characters in the video. One can infer that based on

the style of dancing that the dancers are enjoying their time. There is no issue that can be

depicted in this video.

Moving on, both of the music videos allow viewers to watch the videos in their own way.

Many people do not take away the same knowledge that someone else does. In the first video by

Haddaway, I would take away a thought, that I should always think about what I am doing

because there is always a question of how one is doing something. The edited version of the song

by KM music I would take away that there is more to life than just finding love so have fun with

it.

Lastly, the video by Haddaway appealed to pathos, his video showed the problems with a

man wondering where love was. This video connected to many people trying to find that feeling

deep down. The audience for this video would have to be young adults coming from an African

American background. This video is mainly focused on an African American so believing that

there is not any focus towards that group of people would be wrong. The song edited by KM

music relates to pathos as well because it showed the happiness of the people in the video. This

video can relate to so many people trying to find the feeling of happiness. The audience coming

from this video would be anyone since the video is shot in many places along with having both

genders of people.
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Next time one comes to the thought of finding love come back to these videos. Would

you show a more happy love like the version of the song edited by KM music or a more deeper

version like the song by Haddaway? Whichever direction, make sure you fully understand what

love really is through the different appeals. In the end, one could end up with something that has

two of the same traits but could end with two different meanings just like my two versions of the

song ¨What is Love¨ did.

Work Cited
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Haddaway, director. What Is Love. YouTube, YouTube, 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=XPmBnnon0Ek&list=RDXPmBnnon0Ek&start_radio=1. Accessed on 5 February

2020

Haddaway, director. Haddaway What Is Love . YouTube, YouTube, 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I. Accessed on 5 February 2020