Adele: Set Fire to the Rain Meaning
Song Released: 2011
Set Fire to the Rain Lyrics
I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell, you rose to claim it,
It was dark and I was over,
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me,
My hands, they were strong, but my knees were far too weak,
To stand in your...
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The song “Set Fire to the Rain” is about a female character leaving her first partner with a fallen heart (I let it fall, my heart/ It was dark and I was over). After this relationship she picks it up again with a second partner (And as it fell you rose to claim it/Until you kissed my lips and you saved me). Now she has fallen in love with her “rebound-man” but then she finds out that he's not who she thought he was ('Cause there's a side to you/ that I never knew, never knew/ All the things you'd say/ They were never true, never true). The line: “And the games you play/ You would always win, always” is saying that he's playing this love game with her and he's winning because he's holding her heart in his hands (I let it fall, my heart/ And as it fell you rose to claim it). Setting fire to the rain is a metaphor that can have a variety of meaning. But I believe that Adele is trying to communicate that by “setting fire to the rain” she added “insult to injury” by approaching the situation of her partners dishonesty head on. The fire of the truth burnt the rain that symbolizes her love into a crisp of cold hard facts: Her partner was playing games with her. “Watched it pour as I touched your face/ Well it burned while I cried/ 'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name” means that while the fire burnt up her dreams she cried for them and heard them calling out her partners name as if mourn with her loss because she thought the love was real.
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I think this song is about when she fell in love with someone but then she found out that he was cheating on her. "that heart you caught must be waiting for you" (the other lady's love) even though they broke up she still loves him
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It seems to me that she was on the rebound from a previous very strong relationship, when she met this other person and without thinking of her self and taking the time to heal she tripped over the same stone with a person that was taking advantage of her weak state of mind, doubling her pain.
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Being in a relationship with someone with Narcassistic Personality Disorder like I was is exactly what u go thru. The lyrics is what I'm going thru now. He was nice and I fell for it but it was all fake. I tend to at times forget the bad times and miss him but I have to 'kill' that relationship 'set fire to it' and move on. I will not be abused like that again. That was the last time!!!
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Exactly what I'm going thru right now. Everytime I hear it I wanna scream!!! I went back to my ex after we broke up yet another time for his cheating ways. I was done,thought it was over. He came again and apologized and romanced me and professed his love. (Kissed me and claimed my heart). Now once again he's back to his cheating ways. All the promises he made and all the things he said were just lies to use me once again. I always wanted to believe the lies. Always thought he was something he wasn't. So finally this time I have to do what I could never do before. I have to move on. There's no going back. I'm setting fire to rain (the impossible). I have to make it possible for me to move on from all this pain. Although I love him so much I have to make a decision to destroy all the memories I had with him cuz they were all fake anyways. In my mind I've burned all the memories. Destroyed it all. Even him. For me he don't exist anymore. I even burned him in the fire I set to the illusion I had of us. I cried as I watched his face disappearing from my memories. I was touching his face and saying goodbye to him as it was disappearing. I could hear myself screaming out his name as goodbye forever. And although I'm saying all of this sometimes I still wish for him to call me and say again that he made a mistake that he loves me and wants to be with me. But I continue with the fire and threw what we had into that flame. Because I'm gonna be strong this time and this is the last time I will get used by him. The last time! So Let It Burn! Let It Burn! I'm in so much pain.
Thank u Adele!!! U wrote this song about me. It's really helping me to heal. -
This is an obvious story about a failed relationship.
This woman meets a man at a very vulnerable Time in her life. This man brings her love, hence; Kisses her and brings her back to life, shows her how to love again, feel passion.
She loves Spending time with him, hence; loves to lay with him but he Shows her another side of him that she cannot bear, the other side being the lie of who he portays himself to be; he seems to be Manipulative and especially since she trusts him and gave him her heart. She realizes, the love is not right and turns out to be a manipulation of game playing lies.
The relationship turns sour.
It is interesting How the lyrics represent Fire and Rain (water).
Fire and water are opposites just as this pair is And Fire can also be interpreted as "the end all" To the rain (the tears). Although in her heart. She knows its over and they are not right for eachother, she finds herself longing for him But wants so much to Let Go, hence "watch it burn".....
This song is an emotionally powerful, sad song. -
This is an obvious story about a failed relationship.
This woman meets a man at a very vulnerable
Time in her life. He brings her love, hence
Kisses her and brings her back to life and how to love
Again, feel passion.
She loves
Spending time with him, laying with him but he
Shows her another side of him that is a lie of
Who he portays himself to be; he seems to be
Manipulative and especially since she trusts him
Abd gave him her heart. She realizes, the
love is not right and
Turns out to be a game playing lie.
This relationship turns sour and it interesting
How the lyrics use Fire and Rain (water)
Fire and water are opposites just as this pair is
And Fire can also be interpreted as "the end all"
To the rain (the tears). Although in her heart
She knows its over and they are not right for
eachother, she finds herself longing for him
But wants so much to Let Go, hence "watch it burn"
Its a very emotional powerful and sad song. -
I think this was her very first real love. She was vulnerable and had no idea how a man could just use you and then dump you. I will never forget my first broken heart. It will be something that I keep with me for the rest of my life. Knowing it's over and feeling like something inside of you just died. I know exactly how she felt. She put into words what millions of us have been through.
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I think she is crying over some old pictures of her ex and at the end she sets fire to them.
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After listening to her two albums in a row, all the "he done me wrong" songs, watching her talk about being jilted in love and only being able to write songs when she's low, knowing these two albums are about two separate men bonded by one command denominator, I would LOVE Adele to write and produce an album singing about what she has learned in these relationships- about herself. What was her accountability - what part did she play in the demise? Relationships are not about dependency- they are supposed to be about partnership. "You kissed my lips and you saved me" - From...... ??? Grief? Facing the fallout? Being accountable? What exactly really resonates by that statement to me is the need to be saved ... a dependancy on someone to take care of her when it is she who needs to take care of herself.
She is such a phenomenal singer/songwriter - but as I watch her in videos, listen to her interviews discussing her ex boyfriends, etc - I feel sadness. To me, here is a beautiful talent who has taken the blame game to a whole new level and made millions on it-
But it takes two. We all know it takes two to make or break a relationship. And if she were my daughter I would encourage her to look within and learn the life lessons of each failed one- be accountable for how she failed her partner as well- and most of all I would want her to start taking care of Adele physically and emotionally - her savior lives within herself- until she sees that I'm afraid we are going to hear many more "he done me wrong" songs by Adele... Many more platinum albums of her blaming and singing of being jilted by boyfriend after boyfriend. Sure the songs are beautiful- but how sad for Adele!!
At the end of the day the world knowing how she has been wronged is her retribution and we applaud her and pay her for it. And clearly, while she may be very wealthy monetarily, there is still a void in her.
In my opinion she has a dependency disorder and has taken it on a global level. Take care of you, Adele. Eat healthy, stop smoking, lose weight .. Take care of yourself, Sweetie. You're killing your own heart making it work 5 times harder... Why on earth would you be so upset at someone else - actually two people now, and on such a global scale for breaking your heart, when you choose not to take care of it yourself? Validation and happiness comes from self love- it comes from within - no man will " complete you " . The missing piece lies within .
She has so much talent - please - inspire young minds to be acountable to themselves and to their mistakes - please stop inspiring them to ignore that piece and blame. -
I really think the meaning of the song is about saving the relationship. When you set fire to the pouring rain, it will definitely be stopped. Like in a relationship, when there's a problem, you try to solve it because you want so keep the relationship.
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That setting fire to the rain is a metaphor for stopping all the tears. When she says she falls and he catches her heart, its like falling in love. That person captures your heart. When she says she was strong but her knees were much too weak, I think thats like her brain is smart but her heart took over. When she was with him she was in utter and complete love. But her love was so strong she saw only what her heart wanted. He caused her pain, too much to take and she had to accept that even though she wanted him forever and would, she had to stop the "rain". Her tears. I am going through these emotions now as after 14 yrs of marriage, I have to discard my heart and its feelings because he has caused me too Mich pain. I have to set fire to my tears. Even though my heart wants him always.
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She was broken, lost, alone with no direction when this person came into her life. She wasn't expecting to feel alive. He was her drug; she became helplessly addicted to him. Everything seemed perfect. The love was amazing and she was putty; fell to the floor. When it was good it was phenominal.
But then she became aware of another side of him; a darker side. He crossed lines with her- lines that were scars - lines that went deep. And it toxic to her.
This song is about chosing self over love. Sometimes love isn't enough. Its that saying, "when it's good, it's so good, but when it's bad, it's unbearable".
Love isn't enough. And she had to choose - her love for him or herself. And as much as she loved who she thought he was, she realized that that love was riddled with lies; with manipulation.
What they had was perfect in so many ways. But she had to throw them, the couple, into the flames and let it burn to save herself and as painful of a choice as it was, as much as she misses what she thought they had; she realizes it wasn't who he really was - maybe he could have changed...but he didn't. And so she had to make the choice.
And it was a painful one. And yet, she still misses who she wanted him to be, who he was at times, what they had when it was good. Still, because of the toxicity, she chose to "let it burn". She chose to end it. And in doing so, something died. Her faith in them, in their love - it died.
The rain was their love/relationship, what she thought they had. The fire represents letting it go. -
Set fire to the rain, burning all the pictures, the memories, while crying, trying to get over it, and it hurts even more to let go, but must be done... she burn her hands when touching his face, getting one of his pictures while it was burning, that was it, she wasnt gonna have anything left from that relationship.
So pretty much is getting over someone that lied to you, broke your heart and just trying to get over it. -
What is missing in all the commentary here is that Adele's record should be seen as a whole. This song is a chapter in a book Adele has written--other chapters are named "Someone Like You" and "Rolling in the Deep."
If you listen to the songs, ie read Adele's book, you recognize a few very prominent themes. #1: this woman can sing, and she got some serious game. #2: she is mourning a relationship. This whole album sounds like a less jarring Alanis Morrisette debut. Anybody follow?
Rolling in the Deep is equally metaphorical. Adele is extremely gifted. This is a song about personal conflicting emotions in the midst of a terrible break-up. She is trying to articulate not only her grief and confusion, but also the nature of the person who left her hurt and disillusioned.
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