Where is the Love? A Rhetorical Analysis

According to Sellnow, there are differences between what is basically communicated and what is communicated rhetorically. Musical rhetoric “refers to persuasive arguments conveyed through music that reinforce or challenge a taken-for-granted belief or behavior” (Sellnow, 171). When I was in middle school, a popular song on the radio was Where is the Love performed by the Black-Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake. This song was released in 2003 after the attack on the World Trade Center towers and has persuasive language that refers to the terrorist attacks and other current events at the time, such as the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Some examples of themes in the lyrics include: 

Terrorism: “Overseas, yeah, they trying to stop terrorism.” 

Racism: “But if you only got love for your own race/ Then you're gonna leave space for others to discriminate/” 

Overseas wars: “Nations droppin' bombs/ Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones.” 

Capitalism: “Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends.” 

The war in Iraq: “A war is goin' on, but the reason's undercover/ The truth is kept secret, and swept under the rug.” 

The song is “socially grounded” because it contains themes specific to Americans and current events in 2003 that Americans were familiar with. It strikes a chord with Americans and young people who are feeling anxious about the future and current events. 

The song title itself suggests a rhetorical question in light of all these events and their impacts of hate and violence with the question, “where is the love?” The lyrics of the chorus of the song demonstrate Illusion of Life because the lyrics represent emotions. The lyrics themselves use emotional appeals by talking about people dying and children crying: 

"People killin', people dyin' 

Children hurtin', hear them cryin' 

Can you practice what you preach? A

nd would you turn the other cheek? 

Father, father, father, help us 

Send some guidance from above 

'Cause people got me, got me questioning 

Where is the love? 

The song covers a lot of different themes in a short four minutes and over and over again offers love as the solution. Is this effective?

Black Eyed Peas (2003). Where is the love? [Song]. On Elephunk [Album]. AM Records, Interscope             Records and will.i.am Music Group.