Rolling in the Deep is the first single from English R&B singer-songwriter Adele's second album 21. Like 19, the 21 title refers to Adele's age at the time the songs were written.
Adele wrote this song in three hours the day after she broke up with her boyfriend. Arriving upset at the studio the day after they split, she wanted to write a lovelorn ballad. Producer Paul Epworth persuaded her to write a more feisty song.
While she was touring North America in support of 19, Adele was introduced by her bus driver to a Wanda Jackson greatest hits album. As she traveled round the Southern states, she found herself drawn to American Country music, including Alison Krauss, Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum. Once she began prepping her sophomore release back in England, Adele began incorporating those new influences into songs, like this one where her voice incorporates in part Jackson's dirty-blues growl.
Adele could have called this song "We Could Have Had It All," but that would have been fairly typical and sound like something Whitney Houston would sing. Instead, she used another line in the chorus that is curious to American listeners, adding some intrigue to the song. So what does the phrase "Rolling In The Deep" mean? She described it as an "adaptation of a kind of slang, slur phrase in the UK called 'roll deep,' which means to have someone, always have someone that has your back, and you're never on your own, if you're ever in trouble you've always got someone who's going to come and help you fight it or whatever like that.
21 debuted at #1 on the UK album chart and was the best selling album of 2011 in the US with sales of 4.8 million. Adele also scored the best-selling single of the year with this song.
| 4 new comments added since your last visit to this upload ( marked in pink background ). You must be logged in for this feature to work
