On Friday, January 8th, the “High School Musical The Musical: The Series” lead, Olivia Rodrigo, announced the debut of her recent single, “Driver’s License”. The song was an emotional rollercoaster, about longing for a boy who’s since moved onto a new relationship.
Within hours of releasing “Driver’s License”, the single was #3 on the iTunes charts — just below Taylor Swift’s Evermore singles: “it’s time to go” & “right where you left me”. Since Rodrigo is a huge Swiftie, she was so excited and posted a TikTok about it.
Soon after, TikTok was flooded with people dancing, singing, and even reenacting “Driver’s License” from various perspectives. The hashtag “Driver’s License” has been viewed 877.2 million times, just on TikTok alone, and the song has only been out for six days.
It wasn’t long before fans began piecing the storyline of the song together, though. Many have theorized that “Driver’s License” is about HSMTMTS co-star, Joshua Bassett. Although their relationship was never confirmed, it was rumored that they had a private relationship together, and that Bassett had broken up with Rodrigo for “Girl Meets World” star, Sabrina Carpenter.
During the first verse of Rodrigo’s song, she sings the following: “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.”
However, those weren’t the original lyrics. In July of 2020, Rodrigo posted a snippet of “Driver’s License”, but instead of ‘blonde girl’, the lyrics were originally ‘brunette girl’.
The internet is filled with a bunch of detectives. People quickly found out that Rodrigo is 17, and Carpenter is 20. Carpenter was also seen at a BLM protest, alongside Bassett. Although there was no face reveal, fans also speculated that Carpenter was the girl in Bassett’s music video, for “Anyone Else”.
During one part of the music video, Bassett holds a girl’s hand and rests his head against it. The girl’s nails are white, acrylic, and pointy. Within minutes, fans compared it to this photo of Carpenter’s nails, around the same time that “Anyone Else” was realized. The song was allegedly also written about Bassett’s feelings for Rodrigo.
Another easter egg was that Rodrigo wore a similar jacket in her “Driver’s License” music video, as Bassett wore during an episode of HSMTMTS.
People on TikTok have rewritten the “Driver’s License” lyrics to fit the perspective of Bassett, Carpenter, a Bassett + Rodrigo duo, and others have gotten even more creative — going so far as to write from the perspective of God, the car, and the driver’s license itself.
@alllson5 ugh the cut off at the end
♬ original sound – allydillydallyanyway pt2 for those who asked! @lukedypookie #fyp #driverslicense #oliviarodrigo #joshuatbassett #theatrekid #hsmtmts
If you’re searching for more proof, Rodrigo admitted in an Instagram story that Bassett was the one who first taught her how to drive. She was 16 at the time, and she had never driven a car before. So, after work, Bassett taught her the ropes in an In N Out parking lot.
“Driver’s License” is currently #1 on the iTunes global charts, and according to @chartdata on Twitter, Rodrigo has officially broken two new records:
A huge congratulations to Rodrigo for her record-breaking success. It’s so well deserved. Be sure to check out Rodrigo’s music video for “Driver’s License” below! The video has already amassed over 22 million views.
