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Maxwell Edwards

Prof. Freeland

English 1201

3 October 2020

“What is love”: A Jaymes Young and Haddaway Comparison

The song “What is Love”, known for being in the film “A Night at the Roxbury”, was

originally performed by Haddaway. First released in 1992, the song was the number eleven top

song in the U.S. in October of 1993. Since then the song has been heard in many films and tv

shows like “My So Called Life” and the movie “Black Panther”. “What is Love” has also even

been in a Saturday Night Live skit performed by many celebrities including Will Ferrall, Chris

Kattan, and Sylvester Stallone. At one point or another, most Americans and Europeans have

listened too and enjoyed this head bopping song.

Being a fairly famous song, many artists have made covers and remixes of this catchy

tune. Throughout the decades, artists have made slight variations to this song inorder to create a

different feel or to play the song in their own unique style. This is usually done by using different

instruments or playing at a different tempo. However most artists kept the same message, which

is love causes pain. One artist named Jaymes Young kept the same basic message of this song

but interpreted the meaning differently through a music video. In his video he kept the same

lyrics, but through images and video Young showed how love can cause suffering in a different

context than the original presentation by Haddaway’s video. Both Jaymes Young’s remix and

Haddaway’s original version of the song, “What is Love”, shows how love can cause pain.

Haddaway shows the pain of changing so that you can be with someone you love, while Young

shows the pain of losing someone or something you love.

Haddaway’s music video is the story about a man in a blue suit (the main character) and a

woman in a black dress and cape. The man chases the woman with love struck eyes throughout a

mansion. As he does this he changes from wearing a blue suit to a black vest. However it isn’t a

simple clothes change. The man goes through almost supernatural and agonizing events in order

to change. Once he makes the change he is finally able to be with the woman he loves.

In Haddaway’s original version, he shows how falling in love can cause someone pain

through transformation. You see the main character being bit by the woman and electrified by

lighting, both of which change how he looks and acts. He goes through all of these heartbreaking

experiences in order to be with the girl he loves. This shows that people will go through hell and

back to be with loved ones. To help enforce this idea of change and hurt, Haddaway’s character

visually changes from a blue suit to a black vest. As the character goes through this

transformation, his face is full of shock and anguish. This facial expression shows the audience

that Haddaway’s character must go through suffering to be with the girl he loves. It is because of

his love for the girl that he is willing to go through this pain.

Young’s video shows the story of a man (the main character) losing his wife in a car

crash. The rest of the video is about the man going to places he’s been with his wife and the

memories he has there. He finds that he can’t enjoy these memories because of the grief he feels

from losing his wife. As he travels, he is almost seeking to find the same joy he once had.

However no matter how far he goes, he can not find the happiness he once had with his wife.

In Young’s remix, he shows how losing someone you love causes pain. In his video when

the man loses his wife, he immediately stops smiling. This lack of expression shows how much

the man relied on his love for his wife to be happy. Once this love was taken away from him all

he felt was grief and heartache. In certain sections of the song you see the man clinch in agony
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and fall to the ground at the memory of his wife. This reinforced the idea that losing love causes

pain. As the man travels and recalls memories of his wife, he remembers them without a smile. It

is because of the misery he has from losing love. Even the most joyous memories can’t make the

man feel better. All of this shows the audience that losing someone you love causes immense

heartache and grief.

In both versions each artist uses pathos to get their message across to the audience.

Young uses pathos by showing images of good memories and a man grieving inorder to make

the audience try to feel or relate to the pain the man is going through. Using pathos in this way

Young’s story makes the viewer value the time he/she has with those they love. The pathos used

in this video also shows the impact losing a loved one has on a person. Haddway uses pathos in

more of a humorous way by exaggerating the suffering his character goes through. He does this

through the use of lighting striking the man and the over hyperbolized expressions the man

makes throughout the story. Using pathos in this way, Haddaway makes his audience realize that

his message of love comes with agony is true, however in the end the agony is worth it.

Each video shows the audience that love causes pain. Haddaway does this by showing the

pain of changing to be with someone you love; Young does this by showing the pain of losing

someone you love. It is this difference that causes each video to have different audiences. In

Haddaway's version the audience is more young adults or anyone that is in love. I think his video

is a message to those in love, that love comes with discomfort and you have to endure inorder to

be with the one you love. Young’s version is more guided for people who have lost someone.

His video gives people who are in mourning something to connect with. His video shows them

that they aren’t the only one who knows the sorrow they are going through. Each video shows

how pain and love are connected, however love is always worth the pain.
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Works Cited:

Haddaway. Haddaway - What Is Love [Official]. Youtube, Jun 18, 2014,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXWRTEbj1I. Accessed 27 Sep. 2020.

Young, Jaymes. What is Love - Jaymes Young (Cinematic Video). Youtube, Apr 27, 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIvvHKp0JNI. Accessed 27 Sep. 2020.