82 Rolling in the Deep

ADELE 2011

“The beat of the song was my heartbeat . . . it just built and built,” Adele said of the surging soul rumble that backed her on what became her signature hit. Stung by a bad breakup and struggling to find the right artistic footing for her second album, the singer met with producer Paul Epworth, who encouraged her to tap into her rawest emotions. Epworth used a marching-band kick drum to add muscle to the groove. But the song’s power is all Adele, whose demo vocal makes the finished track. As Epworth told Rolling Stone, “She had fire in her belly.”