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What Is Love (1992) - Haddaway (Haddaway) - All about the song ...

Incendiary and sad at the same time..... The story of "What Is Love"!

The story of Haddaway's hit What Is Love (1992).

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me! Don't hurt me! No more..." - This song tore up every dancefloor in the dystopian 90s! Curiously enough, "What Is Love" is one of those few songs that don't become obsolete over the years, but only gain a new generation of listeners! But... in fact, under the winding melody lies a much deeper lyric about broken love.

Haddaway performs "What Is Love."
Haddaway performs "What Is Love."

Creating a hit

The hit song was written by producer Tony Hendrick and Miss Junior Torello. When the song was ready, its creators faced a question: who would give it a proper sound? In the end, it was Haddaway. Just once Hendrik happened to hear a recording of Nestor in the basement of Coconut Studios, and fell in love with his voice....

Nestor Haddaway
Nestor Haddaway

By then, the Trinidadian native was working as a dancer and choreographer, composing and recording his own tracks at his leisure.

In his interview, Nestor Haddaway recounted:

"...As soon as I heard this piece, I knew it was going to be a resounding success! And me too, of course! And so it happened: "What Is Love" is remembered and loved to this day... It became quite a popular hit, and I am grateful to fate that this song came to me! I'm very happy, and even as time goes on I still want to perform it...".

Aside from that - Haddaway noted that recording the track was very easy and quick:

"...We just took advantage of the fresh ideas of the time, and tried to do something that no one else had done before. The recording was surprisingly fast, easy... The melody took me about fifty minutes, no more! For the structure of the song, in general, we spent a day and a half...".

The meaning of the song...

The composition is performed on behalf of a hopelessly in love, rejected guy... Haddaway's lyrical hero begs his beloved to return to him. But... all in vain.

A still from the clip...
A still from the clip...

The performer himself in his interview shared the following thoughts on the matter:

"I believe that each person decides for himself what love is... It is a very unique, individual feeling. And it is directly related to trust, sincerity, devotion... Anyway, that's my opinion!"

Release and Achievements

"What Is Love" was released in Europe as a single in the spring of 1993. It was not released in the United States until the end of the summer... The rousing song about a broken heart became a top seller in 13 countries at once!

The cover of the single!
The cover of the single!

Just a year after its release, the single went "gold", selling over 2.5 million copies!

Music video

Later, an original music video was shot for "What Is Love". It was directed by Volker Hannwacker. The action takes place in an ancient castle... Together with Haddaway, the clip features half-naked vampire dancers!

A cover version of the singer Kiesza!

In 2014, singer Kaiza performed her version of "What Is Love". It turned out to be a very beautiful and melodic ballad.....

In an interview, the girl explained:

"I have always loved this song! It gives me the warmest and most pleasant feelings... "What Is Love" makes me move, dance! But one day I realised how deep and depressing the lyrics of this seemingly rousing song are... And I thought, "How could I not have noticed?". This song has a very sweet, yet sad story... I just decided to let it be told!"

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