"rumour has it" was written by adele and ryan tedder and produced by tedder. talking about the collaboration with tedder on "rumour has it", adele revealed: "you can really tell when you hear a ryan tedder song, which i liked, but i wanted to come out with something that would surprise everyone when it was us two put together, so we came out with this sort of bluesy-pop stomping song really." adele explained that the song was not inspired by the media, but was aimed at her own friends, who frequently spread rumours about her break-up with her boyfriend: "people might think it's about blogs and magazines and papers, but it's not. it's about my own friends believing stuff that they hear about me, which is pretty mortifying really." adele said that "rumour has it" and "rolling in the deep" were lyrically opposite of "someone like you". she said that she wrote "someone like you" after she was tired of "being such a bitch" with "rolling in the deep" or "rumour has it."