Olivia Rodrigo has been tearing up the music charts since dropping her debut single “Driver’s License” – the song topped Billboard’s Hot 100, The Official UK Singles survey, Australia’s ARIA Singles Chart, and more! Not only that, she even got a shoutout from none other than Taylor Swift herself saying how “proud” she is of Olivia.
Some of the emotional track’s lyrics have also become the subject of many fan theories, including speculations that the song could be about rumored ex-BF Joshua Bassett and his maybe-new-girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter, whom he’s been spotted hanging out with a lot lately.
Here are the lyrics in question:
“Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me / ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street.”
and
“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.”
To give you a little backstory, Olivia and Joshua star as onscreen love interests Nini and Ricky in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series – and their onscreen chemistry totally had fans speculating whether it’s spilled over IRL. The two never confirmed they were dating though.
But, last August, fans wondered if the two may have called it quits when Olivia posted a TikTok featuring snippet of a song that she wrote for the series. It was captioned: “and that’s on failed relationships.”
In November, Sabrina and Joshua started posting videos together on TikTok – including a spoof “audition tape” for Sharkboy and Lava Girl.
Fast-forward to present day, fans are theorizing Olivia and Joshua may have gone through a big breakup – and that he’s now dating Sabrina.
But is it really?
In a recent interview with Billboard, Olivia shared her reaction to the rumors and fan theories about the song.
“I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” she said. “It’s resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”
“To see it do really well — to have this really painful moment in my life, and turn it into something beautiful that can maybe help people through a tough time that they’re having, like I was having a tough time — it’s just so empowering,” Olivia added. “I feel grateful that I got to do that.”
ICYMI, Olivia previously opened up about the inspiration behind “Driver’s License.”
“I wrote ‘divers license’ about six months ago after crying to Gracie Abrams‘ songs in my car for an hour. lol,” she shared in a letter to fans, per Just Jared Jr. “It really captured the intricacies of how I was feeling at the time. I think its one of the first songs ever written to truly do that.”
“Thats one of my favorite things about songwriting, how it can enable you to take really big, confusing feelings and turn them into something simple, clear & beautiful (hopefully lol). It makes everything feel less scary,” Olivia added.
If Olivia is taking cues from songwriting inspo, TSwift, don’t count on her ever publicly name who the songs are about. However, all these alleged behind-the-scenes drama could make for an interesting season 2 of HSMTMTS.
