![]() ![]() But with young listeners latching on to it as a breakup anthem, and older audiences who weren't necessarily regular music buyers going out of their way to snap up copies of the retro-vibe-drenched 21 after it dropped in January of 2011, "Deep" soared into the No. 68 on the Hot 100 when it was released in December 2010, "Rolling in the Deep" was a stark contrast to what the day's top pop hitmakers were churning out (this was Lady Gaga circa "Born This Way" and Rihanna around the time of "We Found Love," for comparison). “In the space of 48 hours Adele's career trajectory skyrocketed, and she became an unstoppable force."ĭebuting at No. "We launched 21, with 'Rolling In The Deep' and 'Someone Like You' in quick succession," remembers Ben Beardsworth, managing director of XL Recordings. Loud as they may wail, though, their voices never overpower Adele – then again, how could they when she's pulling on that deeply wounded note of regret in the chorus like it's taffy?Īnd when it arrived, it hit audiences like a cannonball. Percussionist Leo Taylor slowly but methodically taps the cymbals before a crackling drum roll comes in around the one-minute mark, followed by a bevy of backup vocal sirens chanting about her loss, Greek chorus-style. Like the '60s soul classics it’s styled after, "Rolling In the Deep" is a musical master course in relentlessly building to a thunderous catharsis. “And I remember saying, ‘No, I think we're good.’ I maybe took one word from one take and put it to another take, and that's what's on the record. ![]() “It was one of those moments where she literally finished writing and sang it twice and was like, ‘Should I do another one?’” recalls engineer Mark Rankin of the recording. ![]() A line like "we could have had it all" reads confident on paper, but on wax, there's no sneer if anything, her voice is drenched in pain and regret. That storm was preceded by a lightning bolt of a lead single called "Rolling In the Deep." Composed by Adele with Paul Epworth (not long after his work on Florence + the Machine's debut) in a single afternoon, the strummy soul stomper is a tell-off anthem to a former lover that's empowering while fragile at the same time. soul singer just four years earlier, Adele's 21 became the game-changing, trend-defying smash hit LP no one saw coming. But much like an unexpected smash sophomore album from another U.K. In the early 2010s, British soul-pop wasn't exactly proven catnip for the charts. Billboard is celebrating the 2010s with essays on the 100 songs that we feel most define the decade that was - the songs that both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period - with help telling their stories from some of the artists, behind-the-scenes collaborators and industry insiders involved. ![]()
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