




Internationally known The Black Eyed Peas, consisting of Fergie, Will.i.am, Taboo, and apl.de.ap have won multiple Grammy’s writing and preforming hip-hop music. Their career starter “Where Is The Love?” broke records and became popular worldwide for the powerful message behind the song. Such a diverse group of artists could not have been more perfect to produce this song allowing for everyone globally with different cultures to relate to it. The group wrote about problems in the world over 10 years ago throughout the lyrics that still exist and are more than relevant in today’s society. By looking at symbols in this music video and what each one means, we can see the meaning behind the title “Where Is The Love?” more deeply and effectively, showing how love can lead to peace and decrease violence and discrimination in the world.

The narrative behind the music video is very powerful in corresponding to the lyrics. It holds the story and allows the viewer to not only hear the meaning but also see the passion throughout the song. The cities, neighborhoods, and people shown in the music video represent many points of view around the world. This is very important because it shows the aspects of every culture’s opinions and views, which they also show through the lyrics. A close up of each artist announcing their outlook on the world through the use of a radio station and posters to broadcast the message is significant because it narrows in on their facial expressions while singing their part of the song. Will.i.am’s countenance during his close ups really show his emotions towards the words he is singing allowing the viewer to distinguish the passion behind the song. The passion he shows into turning the meaning of the color red from many different things into only the positive meaning, which is love. In the background of scenes across the video the colors black, white and red are repeatedly shown through wall art, a clown, pedestrian clothing, and more. These colors contrast each other and are shown throughout the music video to keep the direction focused towards the main focal point—the question mark. 

For the first eight seconds of the music video a prominent, eye-catching black, white, and red question mark is the center of attention on the screen. The question mark is kept on the screen for so long to draw the viewer’s focus and enhance the meaning in which it represents for the rest of the video. The main intention for using a red question mark to exemplify the unknown is because it stands out on a black and white surface due to the contrasting colors. Using the question mark as the leading symbol is significant because it allows for the title “Where Is The Love?” to be more intensified. The red question mark is posted by many people everywhere around the country, using their bodies, dollar bills, street signs, and walls as canvases drawing in on the focus that everyone lives under “one world”. This “one world” aspect contributes to uniting every person with no scrutiny of race or ethnicity to achieve the goal of peace. 

Current organizations still pursue their ideologies with violence instead of peaceful measures.  Scenes in the music video are presented that still exist in today’s society; for instance, a black man running away from a white police officer and then proceeding to be detained by him corresponds to all the protests and shootings connected to the Black Lives Matter movement. “Wrong information always shown by the media/ Negative images is the main criteria” (2:54) explains how the news makes a matter like this worse because the media receives views by magnifying the negatives of a situation. The reference towards terrorists—“Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism/ But we still got terrorists here livin’” (0:30) corresponds to the problem the world is facing against ISIS. The mentioning of the Bloods vs. Crips and the KKK represents the problems and internal wars we have with discrimination in this country. Discrimination is addressed through a very powerful lyric in the song; “But if you only have love for your own race/ Then you only leave space to discriminate/ And to discriminate only generates hate” (0:40). This concludes the whole idea of the song that one person who shows love, instead of violence and discrimination, leads to an outcome of peace. In opposition to how we need to “practice what we preach”, the video refers to reasons why we cannot do so. 

Showing a good example for our future generation is a great way to start towards a real change. The use of children across the screen also has an immense part of the music video. The close ups of young adults and children of different races lip-syncing the lyrics to the song, along with the lyric “Children hurtin’ hear them cryin’” (1:05) refers and incorporates children across the world. A brief scene of children playing violent video games shows how youth are growing up with negative influences that have became a part of their everyday day lives. Kids, who are easily influenced, signify the hope that they will be the generation to change the world, but they are being robbed of this change due to the negative influences the older generations are passing down. “Chemical gases filling the lungs of little ones” (1:40) points towards pollution and how innocent children are being hindered by careless, money minded companies. The egocentric view these companies have only portrays greed instead of promoting the peace the world needs from such a big influence.

Looking back at a song produced over 13 years ago and how it can still have such an impact towards today is shocking. This music video highlights a lot of the world’s freedom and peace symbols that can be found throughout the country to give hope towards what we can be one day. Finishing the music video with everyone in the streets all looking up to the same sky deepens the meaning of one world and everyone coexisting on the same planet. Using a bold color such as red to contrast with the black and white backgrounds enhances the main symbol of a question mark. This question mark emphasizes the question behind where is the love, which allows the viewer to look for all the acts of love and peace throughout the video. Someday hopefully we can glimpse back at this song and look how far the world has come from such hate and violence to finding peace and love.


