"rumour has it" was described by the a.v. club as "a soul-strutter" while allmusic as being a "blues-inflected" song while adele described as a "bluesy pop stomping song". noel murray of "the a.v. club" found a "persuasive backbeat", comparing the song to adele's earlier material during her first studio album "19" (2008) due to their similar instrumentation consisting of piano and guitars. ian wade of bbc online wrote that the song "channels the avenging rock'n'roll soul of wanda jackson." tom townshend of msn music found a "similar primal stomp" to "rolling in the deep" (2010) which made a "pacey, hypnotic, funk, interrupted by sublime symphonic blues." according to the sheet music published by universal music publishing group at the website musicnotes.com, "rumour has it" is written in the key of d minor. it is set in a time signature of common time with an up-tempo beat of 126 beats per minute. adele's vocal ranges from the note of d to the note of b4.