Olivia Rodrigo Won’t Say Who 'Drivers License' Is About: Inside Her Love Triangle With Sabrina Carpenter & Joshua Bassett
When High School Musical: The Musical — The Series star Olivia Rodrigo released her debut single "Drivers License" earlier this month, she didn’t expect to break Spotify’s record for most streams in a day for a non-holiday song — or that Taylor Swift would become a fan.
However, "Drivers License" has left fans wondering who the ballad is about and caused some people to think there was some drama between her costar Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter.
"I completely understand why people are curious about the specifics of the song but, to me, who and what the song is about is not important. People are resonating with the song because it’s so honest, raw, and emotional," the 17-year-old told Vogue.
"I was talking to my therapist just before this interview and she said, 'I listen to this song. I’m an adult woman and I’m your therapist, but I relate to everything you’re going through.' It’s been insane to see people’s genuine reactions, no matter what situation they’re in."
Rodrigo wrote the song "about six months ago. I was aimlessly driving around my neighborhood listening to sad music and bringing up these emotions I hadn’t felt in a while."
"I’d just got my license, so I was relishing my freedom. When I got home, I sat down at the piano—and I love songs that feel like a diary entry and are confessional—so I took some lyrics from my diary and went from there. I wrote the first two verses and the chorus, then my producer and I wrote the bridge together, which is my favorite part of the song. It was a painless process."
"And you're probably with that blonde girl, Who always made me doubt," Rodrigo sings in the track. Fans couldn’t help but notice that she had changed the lyric from "brunette" to "blonde" in the original teaser track, which led to speculation that Carpenter was involved with Bassett.
Carpenter, 21, is "so much older" than Rodrigo, as she sings in the hit.
"Drivers License" came six months after Bassett’s “Anyone Else," which is about falling in love with a friend who was dating someone else.
“How am I supposed to think about anything else? / How am I to go on keeping this to myself? / I am done pretending I want anyone else / Anyone else, anyone else,” Bassett sings.
"Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me," Rodrigo sings on her track.
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TikTok users noted that Rodrigo donned a denim jacket in the music video, which is similar to the one Bassett wore in the Disney series, and they compared a scene of her playing a toy piano on the floor to a scene from the show, in which Rodrigo played the keyboard.
Fans even dug up a video where Rodrigo recalled her first time driving with Bassett because she didn't have a driver's permit at the time.
While the love triangle has never been confirmed, fans suspect that Rodrigo and Bassett were dating in 2020 before he seemed to move on with Carpenter in June when they were spotted at a protest together.
Bassett then released "Lie, Lie, Lie" — a week after "Drivers License" came out.
"I wrote 'Lie, Lie, Lie' after I found out a friend had been lying about me behind my back for a long time," the 20-year-old wrote on his Instagram Story. "It always sucks to hear that someone you thought you could trust would throw you under the bus when it benefits them."
Then, on January 22, Carpenter released "Skin."
"Maybe we could’ve been friends, If I met you in another life," Carpenter sings.
"Don’t drive yourself insane," she sings, which may be a dig at "Drivers License."
