Imagine you are in a white Mercedes. Street lamps illuminate the winding road, contrasting against the dark sky above your head. Your hands barely grip the steering wheel, your eyes locked in a daze towards the path ahead. Thoughts of the past flicker through your mind and suddenly you find yourself wondering how much better life would be if things were different. If you and the person you cared about — the person you loved — had never walked away but given your relationship one more chance.
Then maybe your heart wouldn’t ache when you drove past their house. When you hit the brakes at a stop sign; perhaps you would be able to swallow the lump in your throat at the sight of them on Instagram, smiling with their new partner. Maybe you could blink back the tears that threatened to roll down your cheeks. Maybe things would be better.
Written by 17-year-old Disney star Olivia Rodrigo, the song “driver’s license” tells a similar story. It moves like a film, enabling everyone who listens to play a role. There’s the relatable narrator suffering through a heartbreak, the ex who promised them forever, and an older blonde girl who brought out insecurities the narrator didn’t know she had.
In the song, you hear the narrator’s perspective. However, TikTok blew up with all of the other sides to the story. Some shared as “that blonde girl” who expressed guilt even though she had never directly harmed the protagonist. Others fell in line with the ex, or an older version of the protagonist to assure them everything would work out in the end. Funnier versions shared what it would’ve been like to be the car itself, the driver’s license, or the guy driving behind her confused out of his mind.
All of these elements together, and the streams from Apple Music and Spotify, helped Rodrigo debut her first single at No. 1 on both the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 Chart and the Billboard Global 200 on Jan. 19. Since its release on Jan. 8, it became the first hit of 2021 by breaking multiple streaming records, including the record for most Spotify streams in a week.
The most compelling reason behind the song’s success deals with what all young adults adore: drama. Rumors swirled from the beginning about who Rodrigo sings about. The most popular theory deals with singer-songwriter Joshua Bassett, who is also Rodigro’s co-star in the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” as the ex and former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter as the blonde girl.
However, neither Rodrigo, Bassett nor Carpenter ever confirmed how much of the conspiracy was true. When Carpenter released her song “Skin” that held lyrics like “maybe blonde was the only rhyme,” she also went on Instagram to express her frustrations regarding the matter.
“I wasn’t bothered by a few lines in a (magnificent) song and wrote a diss track about it,” Carpenter wrote. “I was at a tipping point in my life for countless reasons so I was inspired to do what I usually do to cope, write something that I wish I could have told myself in the past.”
Carpenter went on to explain “Skin” wasn’t calling out one specific person yet involved a multitude of situations from the past year. She received hate from the “drivers license” rumors and admitted a lot of them were trying to personally get to her.
“I’m still learning to not give other people so much power over my feelings,” said Carpenter. “I know a lot of you struggle with the same thing.”
In regard to Rodrigo’s pop ballad, it should not matter who it may or may not be about. Singers write hundreds upon thousands of songs every year from personal experience, including Rodrigo’s inspirations Taylor Swift, Halsey and Lorde. Rodrigo wasn’t the first to sing about an ex and she certainly won’t be the last.
Music provides opportunities to express our emotions, to help us process and grow as individuals. If we waste our time dissecting lyrics out of every song on the radio, we’re missing a chance to simply enjoy the music. “drivers license” is a great tune and Olivia Rodrigo no doubt will continue to release more hits throughout her career. However, instead of psycho-analyzing her life, we should just support her as we would any other musician we admire. The same goes for Sabrina Carpenter and Joshua Bassett.
