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There’s a new benchmark to tell how truly old you are right now: whether or not you’re aware of who Olivia Rodrigo is, have listened to her new song ‘driver’s license’ and followed the teen love-triangle drama that surrounds it. If you’ve got no idea what we’re talking about, sorry to say, you’re not ‘with it’ anymore. Or, you might actually have a life – either, or.
Allow me to fill you in. Last week, 17-year-old actor Olivia Rodrigo – who is known for her roles on the Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (it’s given name, seriously) – released her debut single, ‘driver’s license’. A romantic ballad that will absolutely make you cry no matter how old you are (or, at least, sway around your living room with a glass of wine… you know the type), the song instantly hit number one in the UK and US across all streaming platforms. In fact, Spotify’s Global Hits lead Becky Bass told Billboard it made history, breaking records with over 17million streams in one day.
The Taylor Swift-style song follows Olivia’s first major heartbreak – and is approved by Taylor herself who wrote on Instagram how proud she was of her ‘baby’ – which fans believe is about fellow High School Musical star, Joshua Bassett who played her romantic lead.
Driver’s license by Olivia Rodrigo music video:
What happened between Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett?
The two were rumoured to be dating during filming but never went public. In August last year, she posted a TikTok eluding to their break-up where she was sat listening to a song she wrote for High School Musical song called ‘All I Want’ with the caption ‘And that’s on failed relationships.’ The two stopped appearing on each other’s social media feeds around the same time.
In fact, one of the major reasons ‘driver’s license’ went viral is because of fan theories about it (not to take away from how good it is, which is VERY), with one TikTok explaining the break-up gaining over 15million views and 4million likes.
The TikTok theorises that Olivia is talking about Joshua dating fellow actor Sabrina Carpenter – the two were spotted eating out together shortly after the break-up rumours surfaced - when she says ‘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.’
Sabrina is 21, which let’s face it, when you're 17 seems like ‘so much’ older (yes this is one of the reasons we cry to the song). Sabrina's ex-boyfriend Griffin Gluck has also shared the song on Instagram, calling it 'a bop'. Joshua has too, by the way, but Olivia never reposted his praise to her story unlike every other High School Musical castmate....
Fans also point out that Joshua taught Olivia how to drive, something she confirmed on Snapchat last year, and that when Olivia sings ‘guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me’ she is likely referring to Joshua Bassett’s ‘Anyone Else’ – a love song he wrote on location during the first season of filming High School Musical.
And that’s all it took, the world is hooked. But wait, the drama doesn’t end there: Joshua Bassett released his own new song just yesterday and guess what it’s called… ‘Lie Lie Lie.’ Looking at the lyrics for Joshua Bassett’s ‘Lie Lie Lie’, it would be easy to conclude he’s accusing Olivia of well…lying about how their relationship went downhill. In fact, he confirmed on Instagram he wrote the song a while ago about an old friend of his that was talking behind his back. Lucky for him, to be honest, because we were about to throw hands.
What fans are waiting for now though is the release of his song with Sabrina Carpenter, which if you type ‘Sabrina Carpenter and Joshua Bassett song’ into Google shows a Genius link for a song called ‘We Both Know’ which is set to be released this year. Joshua Bassett’s tracklist for his new album has also been released on the website, which shows songs called ‘I’m Still In Love With You’, ‘One & Only’ and ‘Best Friends (Lovers on the Side)’.
The attention from Olivia’s ‘driver’s license’ will of course bring much promotion to his new music, as tons continue to Google the situation. ‘What happened between Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett’, ‘Who is Olivia Rodrigo dating now’ and ‘Olivia Rodrigo ex-boyfriends’ are all major search terms on Google right now.
Well, since there’s nothing else to do and we’ve already embarrassed ourselves by caring way too much about this Gen-Z drama, might as well dive down the rabbit hole.
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