If you have a radio, a phone, or any sort of streaming service, chances are you’ve been hearing Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” over and over.
The 17-year-old is best known for her leading role in the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” While she wrote multiple songs for the show, none of them have received quite as much praise as her debut single.
“Drivers License” began with Rodrigo sharing a small snippet on her Instagram. Instantly, the lyrics hit hard for fans, especially lines like “I know we weren’t perfect, but I’ve never felt this way for no one.” Her followers already took a liking to the song and begged for a full version. However, no one expected the release to have such pot-stirring lyric changes.
Months before the single came out, rumors regarding Olivia Rodrigo and her co-star Joshua Bassett were already spreading. Many believed that the two dated during the filming of the Disney+ series they both starred in. Soon enough, fans noticed things must not have ended well once they saw a lack of interaction between Bassett and the rest of his co-stars, as well as an increase of interaction between him and former Disney star Sabrina Carpenter. If you know what Carpenter looks like, then you know why the lyrics changing from Rodrigo’s “you’re probably with that brunette girl” to “you’re probably with that blonde girl” sparked many conversations about the relationship.
Not only did the song blow up for feeding the relationship rumors, but it also gained attention for perfectly depicting what it’s like to go through a heartbreak at 17 years old. Her verses include lyrics like “all my friends are tired of hearing how much I miss you” and “can’t drive past the places we used to go to,” which many of her teen listeners can relate to. Her music video also received a lot of praise for the clear amount of emotion and passion Rodrigo put into this song. In fact, the breakdown in the bridge of the song even inspired a TikTok trend where creators start out singing the soft part at the camera and then fall onto a bed in a different outfit when the song gets more intense. All of these have added up to the insane amount of streams Rodrigo has been receiving for this single.
While the song still holds the No. 1 spot on both the iTunes Song Chart and on Spotify’s Global Top 50, it also broke multiple records. Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single became the fastest song to surpass 100 million streams in Spotify history and earned the biggest weekly streaming debut for any song in U.S. Spotify chart history. So, clearly, if you are still listening to “Drivers License” every day, you’re not alone; the rest of the world is too. Go ahead, get in your car, and cry to this song about the breakup you may or may not have even experienced. Side note: If you’re wondering how Sabrina Carpenter responded to the subtle mention of herself in this song, feel free to take a look at the lyrics to her new single “Skin” and her caption on this Instagram post.
My name is Tori Trevino, and this is my second year being a part of the 42Fifty staff. This is my senior year of high school, and I am involved in school activities like Speech Team, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, and Democracy School. My love for music and film made my role as Arts and Entertainment editor last year so much fun, and I am beyond excited to be Editor-in-Chief for 42Fifty this year!
