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Branden Snyder

Joyce Barnes

ENG 1201

2/20/2022

Revised Edition

What Hurts The Most

Rascal Flatt’s music video for their song “What hurts the most” tells a soft and emotional

story compared to State of mine’s cover of the same song that tells a similar yet different story

while adding a more aggressive tone to the song. In the first version of the song the audience is

first shown a series of flashbacks about a young woman who lost her significant other due to an

accident the audience has yet to learn about, while in the other version we learn the history

behind the separation of a couple and the events that lead up to the separation and the events that

took place after the separation. In the original 2010 version the song was written with a very

mellow tone to it. The instrumentals were very light and acoustic like which helped add to the

theme of the video but still maintained an early 2000s “country sound” to the song that catered to

the audience at the time of release. At the time the audience was more than likely intended for

anyone who listens country music at the time and the song could have been intended to be played

on the mainstream radio since it was song that most people could relate to in some form or

another. In the 2018 version the song was given a more modernized sound to it with a more

aggressive and angry sound to it that was able to attract a different audience to the song than the

original did. The audience this time around was mostly intended for individuals who enjoy

heavier sounding songs, those who enjoy listening to rock music and was probably targeted for a

younger demographic as well.

The original video beings with taking the viewer into a small bedroom where a girl is

shown standing in the front of the mirror with her father and mother in there as well. After a few

seconds she is shown lashing out at her father for something the audience has no knowledge of

yet. At this point the song has started to play making the previous scene carry more weight to it

then before. When the lyrics “There are days every now and again I pretend I’m OK But that’s

not what gets me” is referring to the young women having to try to live her life after what has

happened to her partner. We are shown is struggling to adapt without him around, having issues

in school since everybody is shown to be aware of what has happened which it makes it that

much more difficult to deal with it.

In the 2018 version of the song by State of Mine the music starts right away, and we are

taken to another young women whom in this case is also going through flashbacks of certain

events with her (former) partner but audience does not know the full story yet. The band was

able to keep the same elements from the original that makes the viewer want to keep watching to

be able to find out what happened. The lyrics to the song make it possible for each individual

person to interpret them differently like each band had a bit of a different story to the song and

maybe that was the whole point of the song from beginning was that it does not cater to any

certain situation. The lyrics “ what hurts the most was being so close, having so much to say and

to watch you walk away” shows in both versions of the song that the love between two at the

time combined with the video and lyrics at that moment are using a form of ethos since it’s

catering towards your feelings as a listener/viewer and each listener is going to have a different

reaction to it based upon their own personal experiences.

State of mine’s version of the song came out 8 years after the original release but it was

targeted towards a different audience. State of mine changed the entire genre of the song and the
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sound of the song is a tad different but it keeps the same strong feeling and emotions the original

but this time was added a much more aggressive sound in his voice. Although there was a sound

change involved with the more modern version of the song it never changed the original meaning

behind the song. As mentioned before this song does not have a specific way to interpret it. The

way it could be interpreted could rely entirely what is going on in the viewer’s life. Your current

state of mind could make you interpret an emotionally connected song in a specific matter or

possibly to how ever you personally can connect with the song.

Both versions of the song play out in a similar manner going through everything that

happened between the two couples but both videos end in two different ways. In the original

version it is shown the young male driving the old truck ended up getting into a car accident for

unknown reasons to the viewer but as the song ends it shows the young girl over a grave saying “

I saw you, I saw you” this is a call back to an earlier clip in the song where the young man asks

the girl “ what do you see?” as in what does she see in the future. In the 2018 version there are

no small clips like that without the music but we can see as the final powerful chorus begins both

cars are running towards each other, the clip shows time stops and both characters walk out of

the cars towards each other, the clip shows the young women yelling “I’m sorry” before the cars

collide and shortly after showing the man did not make it and the women survived. This gives

viewers the details that the young man passed away from the crash as you can see towards the

end of the video. Both versions are similar yet different in a sense, although both music videos

are similar stories the biggest difference in the two is the sound. Rascal Flatts gave a soft sad

country music feeling to the song which is enough to make the viewer emotionally connected

with the song. The 2018 version by state of mine kept all the same instruments but went on the

modern rock music sound with it. The heavy guitars mixed with his deep voice gave the song a
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sense of anger and plea almost. He gives a strong and heartfelt sound to an already emotional

song as he yells and raises it voice more towards the end to give a more raw feel to song that is

especially noticeable in the end when he yells “what hurts the most was being so close”.

Both versions of the song are using pathos to emotionally connect the audience with the

song by adding two similar but different stories. The bands were attempting to connect the

respected audiences emotionally with the videos. Both bands were able to use the lyrics for their

individual music videos in to two different sounding music videos and to two different genres of

listeners. Rascal Flatts uses clips to keep the audience engaged in the story gives a sense of

sadness as the song ends while State of mine used a more aggressive approach in the singing was

able to really channel some raw emotions into the song giving a unique feel that was able to

separate it from the original version.

Work Cited

“Rascal Flatts - What Hurts the Most (Official Video).” YouTube, 10 Dec. 2010,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qH4qyi1-Ys. Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.

“STATE of MINE - What Hurts the Most (Rascal Flatts ROCK Cover).”

Www.youtube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC_f1DuhPAA. Accessed 20 Feb. 2022.