Alyssa Elkins

Professor Kretzer

English Composition II

3 April 2020

Analyzing Two Music Videos of the Same Song

The song “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis includes the lyrics “I don’t care what they

say, I’m in love with you,” which is a premise of both of the music videos. They both focus on

love and the pain behind relationships but portray it in different ways. The two versions were

released in the same year and on the same day, so no time passed between them. While the two

music videos are focused around relationships, they are not the same. Their purposes are

different because the first version shows how cheating can affect a person, while the second

looks at an unknown problem causing a breakup and how that affects both of the people in the

relationship.

The first version of the music video tells a story of multiple couples in a relationship

where cheating is affecting them. It uses pathos to show the viewers clips of the partners finding

out, crying, and what happens afterwards. A girl gets into a tub and looks as if she is going to

drown herself. Actions like this help to provide reasoning for the claim that cheating might not

affect the person who’s doing it, but it makes a huge difference on who it is happening to. The

audience Leona is leaning towards are people who are or have been dating, especially those who

have experienced cheating. It has more of a female aesthetic than male because of the bright and

illuminating colors presented throughout the video. They all also take place within a middle-to-

lower class building, so one could say that it is for a lower socioeconomic status as well.
 The second version of the music video tells the story of the artist herself fighting with

someone we can assume is her boyfriend. It shows them fighting, and him eventually packing up

his stuff and leaving. This uses pathos as it shows the emotions between her and the man, as well

as them fighting and her reaction to him leaving. This could particularly affect a viewer more

emotionally if they themselves have been through something similar. Toxic relationships are

hard to get out of sometimes because of the love for that person, which is the message being

conveyed. “They try to pull me away, but they don’t know the truth” are lyrics that provide

reasoning for this. They explain that outsiders see what is going on and try to get them to leave

the relationship, but they don’t know the truth, which is how much they do love that person. This

video also does not only focus on Leona’s emotions, but also the boyfriends. Viewers see how

visibly torn up he is, and how he looks numb when he gets on the bus to leave. The audience to

this one seems to be targeted towards anyone who is any type of relationship in general, or

anyone who has ever been. The music video does not relate to cheating, at least not in a way that

the viewer can see and understand. Big buildings and lights also show that this is in a big city,

which could be targeting a higher socioeconomic status.

Pathos is the main and only rhetorical appeal used in both of these videos. They are both

focused on love, so it would make sense to use pathos as love is an emotion. The clips and

examples shown from both tug at a viewer’s heartstrings in a way that they will feel bad or even

possibly connected to the things they are viewing. A particularly strong example is showing the

after effects of the damage. The one’s who have been cheated on look devastated, as if they will

never be happy again. Leona herself looks very upset and unhappy. The use of pathos for this

song significantly helped it’s point get across the most.

 These two versions show the effects of relationships gone wrong. However, the claims

are different because while the first version focuses on cheating, the second focuses on a breakup

for a reason that the viewer does not know. It is hard to say which one is more effective because

of the different claims, but I do think the first version was more powerful in showing how strains

on relationships can truly affect someone. I think the two versions do appeal to mostly the same

audiences, but I do think that the first version appears more to people who have experienced

cheating. The purposes are not entirely the same, and Leona Lewis made two versions to show

that not just cheating can make a relationship toxic and painful, but any problems in it can.
 Works Cited

Lewis, Leona. Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love (US Version). YouTube, 03 October 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzo-EL_62fQ. 03 April 2020.

Lewis, Leona. Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love. YouTube, 03 October 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_weSk0BonM. 03 April 2020.