The 'Drivers License' Song Drama, Explained
If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok at all in the past few weeks, or happened to notice the #1 spot on iTunes and Billboard’s Hot 100, you’ve probably heard of or listened to “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo. The star of the 2019 hit Disney+ television show “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” (HSMTMTS), Rodrigo and co-star Joshua Bassett began dating during filming. If you’ve listened to Olivia’s song, you know a bit about how their relationship went downhill, pretty dramatically at that.
From left to right: Olivia Rodrigo (age 17), Joshua Bassett (age 20), Sabrina Carpenter (age 21)
Released on January 8, 2021 after teasing a snippet on her Instagram, Rodrigo’s song quickly skyrocketed on the music charts. The song earned the #1 Global and US Song Debut on Spotify, racking up about 14.9 million global streams on release day. Not only that, in the following few days the song was streamed on Spotify over 32.7 million global Spotify streams. To add to this remarkable stat, “drivers license” is Rodrigo’s debut single at only 17 years of age!
The beginning of the heartbreaking song depicts Olivia recalling getting her driver’s license, and longing to celebrate with her now ex, who once was excited for her. In a video explaining the song, Olivia said she used to practice driving with Joshua, her “co-star,” before she got her license. In the next few lines, she sings about driving past her ex’s house, reminiscing over the times they used to spend together.
Cause you were so excited for me
To finally drive up to your house
But today I drove through the suburbs
Crying because you weren’t around.
→ Full lyrics here
Joshua Bassett, whom this song is rumored to be about, taught Olivia how to drive when they were dating. It is rumored that Joshua and Olivia planned to publicly announce their romantic relationship when she turned 18. However Joshua was reportedly seen with other HSMTMTS co-star Sabrina Carpenter a few months after Olivia and Joshua’s “split,” and it appeared Joshua left Olivia for her older co-star.
And you’re probably with that blonde girl
Who always made me doubt
She’s so much older than me
She’s everything I’m insecure about
Here, Olivia comes to terms with the fact that her boyfriend had moved on with the one person who she didn’t trust, solidifying her insecurities that she had during the relationship. Olivia sings about “that blonde girl who always made [her] doubt,” seemingly pointing a finger at Sabrina, who is coincidentally blonde and older than her. Joshua apparently didn’t take these lyrics to heart, as he actually posted on his Instagram story congratulating Rodrigo on her hit single.
However, just a week after its release, Joshua announced an upcoming release of his own song, “Lie Lie Lie.” Fans quickly jumped to the conclusion that his single would be a rebuttal to “drivers license,” but Bassett’s Instagram story post explaining the inspiration behind his song supposedly ended those rumors. The next day, his song dropped and fired up the drama once again. Despite Bassett’s denial that the song specifically was about Olivia, it seemed to point an angry finger at her, referencing her words in the song, appearing to accuse Rodrigo of twisting the truth.
I know what you say about me
I hope that it makes you happy
You can't seem to get me off your mind (Get me off your mind)
I know you're lying through your teeth
You told them the lies that you told me
→ Full lyrics here
In the song, Joshua sings about a supposed friend lying behind someone’s back. However, given all the rumors about his relationship with Olivia, it appears that the song could be about her. In the music video accompanying the single, it shows a very agitated Bassett repeatedly pointing fingers at the camera, shaking his head. Bassett accuses this person of spreading lies about him, without sharing the whole story and blaming him without addressing their own actions. He calls this person out for blaming him and being the victim.
As fans began to connect the dots between both singles, many people were convinced that the rumors must be true. Adding fuel to the fire, Sabrina Carpenter released her own single called “Skin,” exciting even more rumors. Initially, many people jumped to the conclusion that Olivia wrote her song about Bassett and his song about her. However, Bassett wasn’t quick to deny the accusations, unlike Sabrina Carpenter after her release.
You can try
To get under my, under my, under my skin
While he's on mine
Yeah, all on my, all on my, all on my skin
→ Full lyrics here
Later in the song, Sabrina sings, “Don’t drive yourself insane.” Coincidence? I think not.
Despite both Joshua and Sabrina denying rumors surrounding the suspicious lyrics of their singles, fans continue to speculate about the suggestive lyrics. Sabrina’s song tells a much more personal story than Joshua’s. At first listen, it appears simply to be about herself and Joshua in a very close relationship. Her lyrics seem to suggest that in writing “drivers license,” Rodrigo was trying to drop a minor diss at Sabrina for supposedly taking her man.
Very scandalous.
Beyond all this drama, there is the question of how Olivia Rodrigo managed to captivate so many millions of people? As a teenager like the majority of listeners of “drivers license”-- it’s very easy to relate to her lyrics. Getting one’s driver’s license is a monumental moment in a teenager’s life, and reminiscing over a boy are two highly common situations that teenagers can relate to.
Even so, a 17-year-old putting out a debut single, racking up close to 300 million streams so far, breaking records along the way, and consequently igniting one of the most hotly debated teenage love triangles of the decade, is an absolutely enormous accomplishment. A quick comparison of overall attention, streams, and chart positions for both Rodrigo and Carpenter’s singles clearly shows which one has dominated the internet.
→ Stream count from Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter on Spotify, as of 2/5/2021
As much as people want to pit Olivia and Sabrina against each other, it’s almost too easy to leave Joshua out of what the media has positioned as a contest between female artists -- a catfight that creates rivalries between their fanbases. Personal drama like this is rarely promoted between male artists. But that’s a topic for another article.
