This Adele Song Came From a “Heated Hurricane,” Leaving the Singer With Newfound Professional Fear

Many songs are inspired by difficult times, life-altering changes, and breakups. But very few have taken those feelings of devastation and anger and turned them into a song so raw, you’ll never be able to sing it the same again. But that is precisely what happened to singer-songwriter Adele.

“Rolling In The Deep” by Adele

Each of Adele’s album titles is representative of the age she was when she wrote them. Her second studio album, 21, is a stunning portrayal of the heartbreak and life changes one goes through in their early 20s. Throughout the 12-song album, Adele performs songs of romantic and platonic relationships, loneliness and guilt, and rumors.

Of those 12 songs, the album’s extremely raw, vulnerable, and emotional debut single is “Rolling In The Deep”. A fight between Adele and her then‑boyfriend directly inspired the song.

“‘Rolling in the Deep’ was written in the heat of me breaking up with this bloke,” Adele told Rock’s Backpages. “We’d had a fuming argument the night before, I’d been blubbing, then I went into the studio and screamed. The lyrics came out in a heated hurricane. I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself. It was more, ‘Get outta my house, you c***!’ The whole song was done in half a day. In fact, we wrote ‘He Won’t Go’ in that same session.”

Arriving upset at the studio the day after they split, Adele wanted to write a lovelorn ballad. However, producer Paul Epworth encouraged her to channel her anger and write a more feisty song. The song’s powerful structure builds in musical intensity to match the lyrics.

Although the song and album were a giant success, with “Rolling In The Deep” winning Song of the Year at the 54th Grammy Awards, Adele feared she might never be able to write music outside of heartbreak.

“When I’m happy and in love, I don’t write songs,” Adele said. “Only when I’m miserable, when I become an agoraphobic loner with too much time on my hands, can I write. I hope it’s not what I need to make every album, otherwise I’ll never settle down. That’s the one thing I fear more than never singing again.”