Rolling In The Deep

Context: Rolling in the deep(XL Recordings)

"Rolling in the Deep" is a song recorded by English R&B singer-songwriter Adele for her second studio album, 21. It is the lead single and opening track on the album. The song was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. The singer herself describes it as a "dark blues-y gospel disco tune". Adele described the song to Spin magazine as a kiss-off to an unfaithful dude.

Analysis

This music video seems to be set in the same location, an incomplete cluttered house, but in different rooms. This could connote her emotions, that she feels messed up and deficient.
The music video opens up with Adele sitting alone in a room singing to herself. The song is about an unfaithful man and how he hurt her. The room she is in could possibly be a suicide room, as there are ropes on the ground, and what seems to be a projector screen that she would use to record her final messages. This might have been the choice of the producer to show what people actually go through after a broken relationship. However, Adele sits alone and sings boldly. This could connote she is strong and facing her fears. She also sings in acapella in this part of the music video which could connote that she is a strong and an independent woman.
The second scene is a room full of half filled glasses. There is then a bang under them that makes them shake. The use of glasses could connote how fragile and vulnerable females are. The glasses being half full could connote that out of the relationship, it was only Adele who put effort into it, thus the half glass. There is a male character playing the drums in a corner. He is there to represent Adele’s past lover as he plays the drums, and in the lyrics, it says “You had my heart inside of your hand, And you played it to the beat”. The bang of the drums could be what was making the glasses of water shake, as he was the one messing around with their relationship.

There are white plates being thrown at a screen. Them being ceramic could connote how fragile females are. The fact that they are white and broken could also connote that they’ve thrown a perfect relationship away. The white building layout also connotes a perfect relationship, which is eventually set on fire at the end, which connotes destruction. The room full of white powder could also connote these same ideas, as at first, it was clear, but eventually, it became very blurry, and nothing could be seen properly.

The lighting used throughout the video was very dim even though all the images could be seen clearly. This creates a sense of enigma for the audience. Adele wears a black dress which could connote her elegance and class.
Applying Goodwin’s theory, the lyrics illustrate the meaning of the song. The use of the props also help bring about meaning. Adele herself acts as the main character. This makes the audience engage with her even more, and feel her emotions.
There is one male and one female actor, which brings about equality. Rolling in the deep targets love/emotional song fans. There are no special effects which bring about more realism to the video.
First few shots are zooming in, to make the audience engage with the singer. There are close up shots to show her emotions,and there’s the occasional use of pan and tilt shots to display the location.
The scenes of this video do not change on the beats, which connotes that it is more about the meaning of the lyrics than the beats. There is also crescendo music playing which helps deepen the emotions of the audience and makes them feel more empathetic.