How to Make a Hit Song | Nestor Alexander Haddaway | TEDxMarvila

Nestor Alexander Haddaway opens with a joke before getting real — then tells the actual story behind his 1993 hit: dumped by his girlfriend, laughed at by his bandmates, rejected by every label in Germany, until a radio jingle turned it into a #9 chart hit within weeks. From there he moves into 30 years of hard-won relationship wisdom: respect before communication, and why the couples who make it aren't the ones who never fight. Stick around for the story of freezing in Clive Davis's office and how "What Is Love" ended up on SNL — and the line he closes on, about the one thing more powerful than any war. Nestor Alexander Haddaway is a German-Trinidadian singer whose 1993 anthem "What Is Love" became a global phenomenon, later immortalized by Saturday Night Live's cowbell sketch and still beloved by new generations today. He followed it with his debut album that same year and "The Drive" in 1995 (featuring "Catch a Fire" and "Fly Away"), then returned to his dance roots with "I Wanna Be For You" (2020) and "Lift Your Head Up" (2024). More than three decades and 40+ years in the music business later, he's still touring roughly 90 shows a year, with a new single, "The Sun," landing in 2026. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx