Slang dictionary
rolling in the deep
What does rolling in the deep mean?
Rolling in the deep is both a lyric and song by Adele. It suggests emotional closeness and dependence, especially in a romantic relationship.
Where does rolling in the deep come from?
Rolling in the deep is a lyric that originally appeared in the 2010 hit Adele song of the same name. The song itself describes the singer’s vengeful feelings toward an ex-boyfriend. In an interview, she says that the lyrics are telling him to “get the fuck out of [her] house instead of [her] begging him to come back.” The song has been hugely popular and by 2017, its official music video had over one billion views on YouTube.
So what does rolling in the deep mean? Adele herself has stated that she adapted the lyric from the expression roll deep. Roll deep (which is used as a verb) has existed since at least the 1990s and has a meaning that could be approximated to having a close personal relationship with one or more people. These people are your ride or die, so to speak. Adele defines this expression as meaning that someone always has your back and you’re never on your own. She says that that’s how she felt in the relationship that the song’s about before that relationship ultimately failed.
The line rolling in the deep appears several times throughout the song. The first time it appears is during the climax of the song, which starts in a pretty low-key way. She sings “I can’t help feeling / We could have had it all (You’re gonna wish you never had met me) / Rolling in the deep.” After that point, she repeats rolling in the deep throughout the song for an intense emotional effect as she sings about her grief over the end of the relationship.
Examples of rolling in the deep
Who uses rolling in the deep?
Because of the song’s immense popularity, it’s spawned many parodies and covers. The parodies typically involve clever wordplay on the title and lyrics. They follow the rhythm of the song but replace the lyrics themselves.
Outside of doing anything with the actual song, people usually use the phrase itself to reference the hit song or to speculate on the meaning of the line, since it’s not common knowledge.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of rolling in the deep like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of rolling in the deep that will help our users expand their word mastery.