BULLET : Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu

Volume 01, No. 5 (Oktober – November) 2022

ISSN 2829-2049 (media online)
Hal 922-926

AN ANALYSIS OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN THE

SONG LYRIC BY ADELE’S
Dewa Ayu Made Diah Kumala Dewi1, I Gde Agoes Caskara Surya Putra2
1English Study Program, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University, Denpasar,
Indonesia
Email: [email protected] , 2*[email protected]
(* : coressponding author)

Abstract - This research is entitle An Analysis of Figurative language in the Song Lyrics By Adele’s. Figurative
language is a language that is usually used to analyze in depth, espicially in song lyrics. According to Anderson
(2005:4) figurative language is used imaginatively. The perpose of this research is to find out the parts of
figurative language and to know more about the types of figurative language used in Adel’s song lyrics. This
study used descriptive qualitative method. According to Sugiono (2016:9) qualitative method is research
methods used to examine natural object. Collecting the data by listening to You Tube, Spotify, or other
applications. Data can write song lyrics that contain meaning in figurative language. For several types of
figurative language, the writer gets six types of figurative language there are metaphor, simile, paradox,
personification, symbol, and hyperbole. And can analyzed the types of figurative language because of the song
lyrics which contain the several parts of meaning in figurative language. Readers can also find out the
significance of Adele’s song lyrics and can find out more about the parts in figurative language.
Keywords: figurative language, song lyrics, Adele

1. INTRODUCTION
According to Finocchiaro (1964: 8) language is an arbitrary vocal symbol system, allowing
all people in a particular culture, or other people who have studied the cultural system to
communicate or interact. But according to Keraf (2005) provides two meanings of language. The
first definition states language as a means of communication between members of the community
in the form of sound symbols produced by human speech. Second, according to Walija (1989)
language is state that language definition is used for delifering an ideas, message and argument to
others.
Figurative language use of the richness of language, the use of certain varieties to obtain
certain effects, the overall characteristics of the language of a group literary writers and the
distinctive way of expressing thoughts and feelings both orally in writing. Songs can be categorized
into many types. According to Jamalus(1988:5) reveals that songs can be described as art works in
singing to musical instruments accompaniment. In addition, Hornby USA (1995) can be defined
song as a short rhyme or set of verses in music and aimed to be song. Singing is often referred to as
a song which means the artistic composition of tones or sounds in sequence, combination, and
temporal relationship (usually accompanied by musical instruments) to produce musical
compositions that have unity and continuity. And a variety of rhythmic tones or sounds are also
called songs.
As time goes by and the advancement of world music development makes people more
creative in producing songs. At this time, the song underwent a change in terms of lyrics and music.
Lyrics that once had the theme of love, friendship, and life can now turn into freedom, promiscuity,
and even contain elements of explicit content. Therefore, parental advisory is very much needed at
this time in the era of very rapid development of song production. Not only changes in the lyrics,
but also changes in the music used to accompany the song. Because of this change, there is a cross
genre or mixing of one genre with another which is finally combined into a song. Cross genres that
we usually hear are pop-rock, pop-electro, country-pop, or pop-folk.
Adele's songs are very often heard on You Tube, Spotify, Instagram and many other social
media. In this article, discuss about figurative language of Adele's song lyrics. Using the three songs
by Adele, namely Easy On Me, Someone Like You, and Make You Feel My Love. In the lyrics of
this song, it takes research, namely figurative language in Adele's song lyrics. The purpose of this

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BULLET : Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu
Volume 01, No. 5 (Oktober – November) 2022
ISSN 2829-2049 (media online)
Hal 922-926

study is to take figurative language, namely so that we know how important the meaning of the song
lyrics is and get a moral message in the third lyric.
The lyrics of the song easy on me tell about Adele's struggle to maintain her marriage with
Simon Konecki which was not saved until they divorced in 2019. The two lyrics of the song
Someone Like You tell about Adele who was left married by her ex-lover. And the last one, Make
You Feel My Love, tells about a person's sacrifice for the person he loves. In this collection of Adele
songs, most of them contain the story of her life which is made as song lyrics sung by Adele herself.
As for some data has a reference is first study was taken from a journal Setiawan (2018) with the
title An Analysis of Figurative Language in Taylor Swift’s Song Lyrics. Second taken from journal
Krisnawati (2021) Types of Figurative Language in Adele’s Songs. And the last taken from a journal
Palguna The Analysis of Figurative Language on Passenger Song Lyric in Runaway Album. Those
studies focus on Figurative Language and the main purpose of those studies are to obtain personal
and universal information on songwriters, singers and their works. The writer interested to analyzing
figurative language in song lyrics of Adele because the lyrics contain a lot of figurative language
such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, etc.

2. METHOD
Qualitative method is used in this study. According to Moleong (2005:6) qualitative method
is a research that intends to understand the phenomenon of what is experienced by the research
subject such as behavior, perception, motivation, action by means of description in the form of words
and language in a special context using various natural method.The data was collected by listening
to music from Adele in You Tube or Spotify and take a note for the lyrics. From the result of the
data using descriptive analysis method, the writer makes a table and lists the types of figurative
language and explains what is contained in the table.
There are many others figurative language that are, hyperbole is a figurative language used
to express something with the impression of being exaggerated, even almost unreasonable; metaphor
is a type of figurative language that is the same as the message to be conveyed in the form of an
expression; personification is a type of figurative language in which human qualities are given to
objects; onomatopoeia is a type of rhetorical device where a word that is written or spoken is an
imitation of a sound effect, and many other types of figurative language. There some of explanation,
find of the meanings of the part in figurative language and can make it easier to analyzed the data.
And the song to be analyzed is Easy On Me, Someone Like You and Make You Feel My Love.

3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this study, the features of figurative language that being analyze are metaphor, simile, paradox,
personification, symbol, and hyperbole. Here are the figurative language of Adele's song lyrics
entitled Easy On Me, Someone Like You and Make You Feel My Love.

1. Easy On Me
Table 1. Types of figurative language found in Easy On Me.

Types of figurative language Occurrence Percentage

Metaphor 4 58%
paradox 1 14%
Symbol 2 28%
Total 100%

From the table, there are 3 types of figurative language namely metaphor, paradox, and
symbol. Metaphor gets 4 data or 58%, paradox gets 1 data or 14%, hyperbole get 2 data or 28%. The
totally is 7 data or 100%.

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BULLET : Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu
Volume 01, No. 5 (Oktober – November) 2022
ISSN 2829-2049 (media online)
Hal 922-926

- Symbol
Data 1 : There ain’t no gold in this river
(Line 1, stanza 1)
The lyrics above symbol section, because the lyrics of “no gold in this river”
which mean “tidak ada yang berharga di tempat ini” which means there is no gold in this
river according to Adele. Symbol can be defined more than itself (Perrine, 1969). The
meaning of the word “gold” does not mean that there is gold in the river, but according to
Adele wich means that there is nothing river that is no gold in the river.
- Metaphor
Data 2 : That I’ve been washin my hands in forever
(line 1, stanza 3)
The lyrics above metaphor section. metaphor is the use of words that are not in
their meaning. The sentence “washin my hands in forever” which mean “mencuci tangan
selamanya”. But the meaning in the lyrics is “telah melepas keterlibatanku untuk
selamanya”. bisa dilihat dari kata forever dapat diartikan membersihkan tangan dengan air
atau melepaskan kotoran dari tangan. Dan dapat dimasukkan dalam bagian metaphor.
- Paradox
Data 3 : I had no time to choose what I chose to do
(line 2, stanza 3)
The lyrics of this song are include in the paradox section of the figurative language.
according to Manaf (2008) paradox is the meaning of the word figure of speech which is
always contradictionary. In the lyrics I had no time to choose what I chose to do belongs to
the paradoxical part. Can taken from the word “choose” and “chose” there are same
meaning but difference options. The meaning of the lyrics “I had no time to choose what I
chose to do” can be interpreted as “aku tak punya kesempatan untuk memilih apa yang
harus kupilih”. The word “choose” uses Verb 1 and “chose” uses Verb 2.

2. Someone Like You

This song someone like you gets 2 type of figurative language, there are hyperbole and simile.
The following table in the lyrics Some One Like You:
Table 2 Types of figurative language found in Someone Like You.
Types of figurative language Occurrence Percentage
Metaphor 1 50%
Simile 1 50%
Total 100%

From the table, there are two types of figurative language namely metaphor and simile.
Metaphor gets 1 data or 50% in song lyrics Adele Someone Like You. And simile gets 1 data or
50% in song lyrics Adele the title Someone Like You. The totally gets 2 data or 100%.

- Metaphor
Data 1 : In a summer haze
(line 1, stanza 7)
This lyrics above metaphor section, because they contain exaggerate
meaning. The word “summer haze” which means “kabut musim panas” can be interpreted
as an exaggeration. And also there is a comparison in the word “sumer haze”. Usually

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BULLET : Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu
Volume 01, No. 5 (Oktober – November) 2022
ISSN 2829-2049 (media online)
Hal 922-926

summer haze is rarely knon by people, most people know that haze only exists during
winter. But this summer haze really exists in the difference of summer and winter. There
for the lyrics of “sumer haze” are found in the metaphor section of figurative language.
- Simile
Data 2 : Someone Like You
(line 4, stanza 2)
The lyrics above simile section. The word “Like” is included in the simile
section because in this lyric describes the same person, which is song by Adele. And the
word like is included in simile in figurative language. and the lyrics of “someone like you”
can be interpreted as “seseorang sepertimu”, from the lyrics the word ”like” which fits into
the figurative language part namely simile section.

3. Make You Feel My Love

The song entitle Make You Feel My Love by Adele got five types of figurative language,
there are simile, pesonification, hyperbole, symbol, and paradox. Following a table of
percentages of types of figurative language :

Table 3 Types of figurative language found in When We Were Young.

Types of figurative language Occurrence Percentage
Simile 2 25%
Personifications 2 25%
Hyperbole 2 25%
Symbol 1 12,5%
Paradox 1 12,5%
Total 100%

From the table, there are five types of figurative language namely simile, personification,
hyperbole, symbol anda the last is paradoxs. Simile gets 2 data or 25%. Second data is
personofication get 2 data or 25%. Thrid is Hyperbole section gets 2 data or 25%. Four is
Symbol section gets 1 data or 12,5%, and the last is paradox gets 1 data or 12,5%. And the
totally gets 8 data or 100% in song lyrics Make You Feel My Love.
- Personification
Data 1 : When the rain is blowing in your face
(line 1, stanza 1)
Personification is a style of language, which creates parables of inanimate objects
by resembling human resemblance. In this lyrics above personification section in figurative
language. Because the word "blowing" in the lyrics of the song when the rain is blowing in
your face means the parable of the rain hitting his face.
- Symbol
Data 2 : I’d go hungry; i’d go black and blue
(line 3, stanza 1)
In the lyrics of the song Make You feel My Love, it is contain few symbol of
symbol section. Because this lyrics represent about singer condition. The condition includes
not hope a man, someone who wants to reach the woman.The word “i’d go” is not translated
in the lyrics. Which can be interpreted is “saya akan menjadi.” To make clear the meaning
of the lyrics of the song “I’d go hungry; I’d go black and blue, so in the lyrics its mean only
“aku menjadi lapar; hitam dan biru” in this word the reader are not capable to understand

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BULLET : Jurnal Multidisiplin Ilmu
Volume 01, No. 5 (Oktober – November) 2022
ISSN 2829-2049 (media online)
Hal 922-926

and recognize the meaning, hence this lyrics categorize as symbols since the sentence
contains the word that symbolize about singer's feeling and condition
"I'do go black and blue" means is being bruised and beaten up that refer to physical
condition since this song is telling the story of survive from despair. So it can be classified
that the lyrics is included in the symbols of figurative language.
- Simile
Data 3 : You ain’t seen nothing like me yet
(line 5, stanza 4)
In this simile section, get lyrics in the song the title Make You Feel My Love. In
this lyrics have a word containing simile section that is “Like”. You ain’t seen nothing
like me yet thats mean “Kau belum melihat sesuatu yang ada pada diriku” which is
include in the simile section, not all sentences are included in the simile section but only
the word “like” is connected in the lyrics sentence. And according to Nurgiyanto (2017 :
219) is using comparisons of words or explicity.

4. CONCLUSION
This study was analyzed 3 song by Adele with the title Easy On Me, Someone Like You and
Make You Feel My Love. With the explain before, the writer gets 5 data that contain figurative
language in the lyrics by Adele’s song entitle Easy On Me, Someone Like You and Make You Feel
My Love there are metaphor, simile, paradox, personification, symbol, and hyperbole. In the title
Easy On Me, the writer get 3 types of figurative language and the second song Someone Like You
gets 2 types of figurative language and the last is Make You Feel My Love gets 5 types of figurative
language for list in the table before. The most used language in this song is hyperbole and metaphor.
Many song lyrics are exaggerated from the actual meaning in the lyrics of the song, and also many
words are not included in the true meaning. So from the lyrics there are many word that are
exaggerated or name is hyperbole. Therefore, it is important to analyze the figurative language in
Adele’s song lyrics to know the meaning of lyrics and the meaning of the songs. The advantage of
this article is to explain each data obtained clearly and explained in detail so that it is easier for
readers to understand the types of figurative language obtained. And as for the shortcomings of this
article, namely the lack of writing that is less than perfect compared to other articles and not many
songs that are applied in this article.

REFERENCES
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Setiawan, Wilya (2018). An Analysis of Figurative Language in Taylor Swift’s Song Lyrics. 2018. Ikip
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Krisnawati, Ni Nyoman Ayu (2021). Types of Figurative Language in Miley Cyrus's Songs. 2021. Elysian
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