“How Deep Is Your Love” by Calvin Harris & Disciples is about an intense, almost addictive romantic connection where physical and emotional closeness blur together.

Core meaning of the lyrics

  • The repeated line “How deep is your love? Is it like the ocean?” compares love to something vast, powerful, and overwhelming, asking whether the other person’s feelings are truly intense or just surface-level.
  • Phrases like “I want you to breathe me in, let me be your air” point to a desire to be essential to the other person, as if the relationship is something they “live on.”
  • “No inhibition, no fear / no sin” suggests a space where both people let go of judgment and restraint, surrendering to passion and vulnerability.
  • The constant question “Can it go deeper?” shows insecurity and curiosity at the same time—the narrator wants reassurance that this isn’t just a casual fling.

Themes in the song

  • Intensity & obsession: The song circles around one question without giving a clear answer, which mirrors obsessing over whether someone feels as strongly as you do.
  • Physical vs emotional love: The lyrics focus on touch, closeness, and being “pulled closer again,” but they also ask “Tell me who I am,” hinting at wanting emotional understanding too.
  • Surrender: Ocean and nirvana imagery (“Is it like nirvana?”) mix spiritual and physical ideas, suggesting love as something you give yourself over to completely.

How listeners often interpret it

  • Many fans see it as a club-style love song about desire that grows stronger the more two people get lost in each other on a night out or in a relationship.
  • Others read it as about emotional dependence—wanting to know if the other person is willing to go as “deep” emotionally as they go physically.
  • The repetition and hypnotic production reinforce that feeling of being stuck on one burning question about someone’s true feelings.

If you’d like, I can break down specific lines (without quoting too much) and unpack them one by one.