What does Rolling in the Deep mean?

Adele: Rolling in the Deep Meaning

Album cover for Rolling in the Deep album cover

Song Released: 2010


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Rolling in the Deep Lyrics

There's a fire starting in my heart,
Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out of the dark

Finally, I can see you crystal clear.
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare.
See how I leave, with every piece of you
Don't...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 25th 2011 !⃝

    *There's a fire starting in my heart
    Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark
    Finally I can see you crystal clear
    Go 'head and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare*
    To me, this means that she was in a "dark" place, filled with sadness. But, now that time is passing, she is becoming more and more angry and replacing the darkness (sadness) is a fire (anger). With the sadness gone she can see him for who he really is (crystal clear). By "sell me out" I think she means that she feels like he basically betrayed her trust by hurting her and now she is ready to be honest about who he really is (lay your shit/ship bare).

    *See how I leave with every piece of you
    Don't underestimate the things that I will do*
    She is leaving but, not letting him get the best of her and in her mind she knows that in the future he will regret this and realize that when she left he lost more then he thought he would.

    *The scars of your love remind me of us
    They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
    The scars of your love they leave me breathless
    I can't help feeling*
    She is still carrying the memories (scars) of their love with her and they leave her feeling a sense of defeat because she knows that they could have been great.

    *We could have had it all
    (You're gonna wish you, never met me)
    Rolling in the deep
    (tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)
    You had my heart inside of your hands
    And you played it
    To the beat*
    This means, to me, that, she knows that they could have had it all and that when he realizes it, as well, he is going to wish he never met her and end up, ultimately, drowning in his own tears of sorrow and pain(rolling in the deep). He had her heart, knew it (you had my heart inside of your hands), and didn't care. "Played it to the beat" is a beautiful way of saying that he played her. Like, he was holding her heart in his hands, felt the beat but, just treated it like background music in his little game.

    *Baby I have no story to be told,
    But I've heard one of you and I'm gonna make your head burn.
    Think of me in the depths of your despair.
    Making a home down there, as mine sure won't be shared.*
    She has nothing to hide or be ashamed of because she did nothing wrong (no story to be told). He, however has a lot to be ashamed of ( heard one of you) and she is going to make sure he remembers that HE was the one that caused the heartbreak and did the wrong in the relationship (make your head burn). Once he realizes this and starts feeling the pain, she wants him to hurt more by remembering her (think of me in the depths of your despair). She also doesn't want him to feel better (make a home down there ("down there" being the depths of his despair)) and when he comes back to her, she wont take him back (as mine wont be shared).

    *Throw yourself through every open door (Whoa)
    Count your blessings to find what look for (Whoa-uh)
    Turn my sorrow into treasured gold (Whoa)
    And pay me back in kind- You reap just what you sow.*
    Now that they are over, he is most likely going to turn into a "man whore" and sleep with any girl who will sleep with him (throw yourself through every open door) but, that is not what will make him happy. What she gave him is what would have, in the end, made him happy and he should count his blessings if he ever finds it again. (count your blessings to find what look for). The pain that he will ultimately feel over losing her will be her pay back in the end and will make up for all the sorrow and anger she is currently feeling. (turn my sorrow into treasured gold and pay me back in kind-you reap just what you sow).

    Such a beautiful song, filled with anger and sadness. A true masterpiece!

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 26th 2014 !⃝

    'There's a fire starting in my heart, reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark.' - Fire represents anger, fever pitch represents the hottest point of the fire, making her even more angry, and it brings her out of this sad place, known as the dark, where she was left confused as to what this man had done to her.

    'Finally I can see you crystal clear, go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare.' - she can see this man's true colours and flaws. She becomes sick and tired of him manipulating her and cheating on her with other people, so asks him to try and play his typical sociopathic game with the vain hope of winning as she will have her revenge in the end.

    'See how I leave with every piece of you, don't underestimate the things that I'll do.' - She's saying 'I am leaving you forever and I will also drain every single satisfaction you took out of playing with my mind and lying to me. And don't you dare think that my revenge is all a lie.'

    'The scars of your love remind me of us, they keep me thinking that we almost had it all.' - She says 'You were perfectly capable of giving us this perfect relationship. However you just chose not to, for whatever sinister reasons you had.'

    'The scars of your love they leave me breathless, I can't help feeling.' - Everytime she looks back on their togetherness, she gets emotional.

    'Rolling in the deep' - I think she means everything that was going to be good about the relationship just went down the drain, into the depths of all the bad stuff he did.

    'You had my heart inside of your hands, but you played it to the beat.' - She left her heart open for this man, who she thought she could trust, but he took it in his own hands and indulged in his own sociopathic games with it, IE manipulating her.

    'Baby I have no story to be told, but I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn.' - She says that she isn't the main person who is in the wrong, it's actually him who did the dirt and she will expose all his deception and flaws for all that.

    'Think of me in the depths of your despair, and make a home down there as mine sure won't be shared.' - She's saying - 'When you're alone, and you've given up every hope of getting back with me, remember me leaving and then you'll realise that you're the one in the wrong, not me. And now that you don't have me anymore, all that misery and pain that I once felt is all yours and there is no chance you will get back together with me.'

    'Throw your soul through every open door' - She says 'Try dating all the other girls out there.'

    'Count your blessings to find what you look for' - When he sees the amount of girlfriends he's had, he'll find that her sacrifice won't match them.

    'Turn my sorrow into treasured gold' - She says 'Everytime you feel the misery and despair that I once felt, I will treasure the moment.'

    'Pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow.' - She says 'You'll get what's coming to you anyway, so prepare yourself because you will never be bailed out.'

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 3rd 2011 !⃝

    I think rolling in the deep is an expression of deep love. She may have thought he was the one but instead he was playing with her love, her heart. She thought they had a chance at a deeper love a true love that would last. Hence you could have be rolling in the deep. The glasses may be symbolic of a shallow love,their love could never get beyond a glass of water when compared the depth of an ocean of love.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Dec 7th 2020 !⃝

    I think you had my heart in your hands and you played it to the beat means the person made you fool yourself. The person knows and understand you but you never really saw them for what they are. So they pretended to be the person they know you want until for whatever reason the game is done. So really that's rough because you are only hanging on to your dream they selling you.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 3rd 2020 !⃝

    I think this song is about regret your completion and I was regret with my best friend Dawson he’s amazing and he wrote the song he know me in deca, and I did a club with him in high school and meet me in the high school band room and wrote it and he’s such amazing songwriter, and I love him he’s so handsome and to be in marketing with me and he’s my best friend his roommates are nice and I met them and they know me about 23 or 15 but we became friends and trying to make friends and then me and Ben are spending our spring break together at Hilton head, it’s fun to moment to you.

  6. anonymous
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    Aug 13th 2019 !⃝

    I really like the song is very personal to be in the relationship with this particular song I wrote but joe wrote it for me he’s my assistant but me and nick just hang out and have fun to be seen in the song been like but me and nick went to the beach and wrote it together as a duet together. But we’re great friends and also we went swimming together and also we have fun together.

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 1st 2019 !⃝

    I think to the beautiful daunting is to make the famous people to learning about and also we’ve got special events.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    Mar 20th 2019 !⃝

    It's about God/Jesus

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  9. anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2018 !⃝

    I think it's about a guy cheating on a girl. The part AND YOU PLAYED IT TO THE BEAT first could mean that the guy cheated on her with someone knew all the time. IT could refer to her heart and PLAYED could refer to cheat/cheating/cheated.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. super
    click a star to vote
    Aug 7th 2018 !⃝

    Song meaning:
    She's dealing with depression because her husband/hubby betrayed her and they were perfect, and she was abused by her husband or self harmed due to it but she didn't care because she loved him, he didn't love him back.
    Title meaning:
    She is depressed and trying to deal with it by herself.

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 15th 2017 !⃝

    You are great Adele . Your song is so deep. I really like you and love you . Yours little fan surendra gangaram bahadure... Phone number . 9146842477...

  12. anonymous
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    Oct 7th 2016 !⃝

    there's a fire starting in my heart reaching a fever pitch it's bringing out the dark. finally i can see you crystal clean go ahead...

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 8th 2016 !⃝

    When someone dumps you, instead of wallowing in depression, just put your feelings into a blues song. That will probably bring some relief. I guess this was what Adele was up to - expressing her feelings about someone. Also, if it becomes a hit and you make a lot of money, that too can be nice and I expect she had that on her mind also.

    Write a poem and make it just as tragic as you feel, then put it to some music. One trick that really works great is to put it to an upbeat, jolly rhythm. So your audience doesn't get depressed; rather, they feel elevated, happy, but also they feel the deep sad vibes, in a way they can deal with very easily - dancing and grooving to the song.

    It looks like Adele broke up with somebody and felt really bad about it. That much is clear, but some of the words are a little mysterious. I wouldn't worry about 'em much. "Played it to the beat" for instance. Maybe it means this guy followed a kind of script like "love 'em and leave 'em" and he followed that script to the letter, timed it right on schedule, left her right at the very point the in-vogue procedure says to. Or, maybe it's some Soho slang or something. Or, maybe Adele put some other words there and changed them to sanitize the lyrics. Maybe she needed something to rhyme with "deep" and couldn't think of anything good. In other words maybe it doesn't mean anything.

    Instead of agonizing over Adele's words, I recommend you write your own songs and worry about the words in those.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 8th 2016 !⃝

    Perhaps I heard something that was supposed to be subliminal. The third or fourth version of the line says "You played it with a BEATING". This means to me that she's angry that he beat her up. Doesn't that make it more understandable?

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 27th 2016 !⃝

    The phrase "rolling in the deep" itself means having a complete and trusted partner, someone who always has your back, etc - It is the "we could have had it all" they could have had if he hadn't been a bastard she got rid of. (per Rolling Stone interview with Adele)

    The description in ! above for this line is seriously wrong, and should be fixed.

  16. anonymous
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    Dec 15th 2015 !⃝

    It's about depression.

  17. anonymous
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    Nov 11th 2015 !⃝

    Shes really mad at him but will not ever forgive him for playing with her heart...jahsgsfa

  18. anonymous
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    May 27th 2015 !⃝

    Thanks everyone you really helped I was very confused at first. Well now that I know what it means I think it means that a guy is playing with her emotions. But what does the title "rolling in the deep" mean?

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