Olivia Rodrigo, known for her role in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alongside her admired single from the show, “All I Want”, is currently making moves with her debut single. “Drivers License,” written by both Rodrigo and Dan Nigro, was released on January 8th, and is already at the top of the charts, and receiving praise from musicians like Taylor Swift, Conan Gray, and many more.
Rodrigo’s song pulls at the heart strings in such a delicate way that I’m claiming as my heartbreak anthem of 2021. In this track, Rodrigo describes a heartbreak that she has been open about, her one with co-star Jousha Bassett, in great detail. Rodrigo has been open on her Instagram live streams that this song was inspired by this relationship, and she drops clues throughout her lyrics and music video.
Watch the official music video for “Drivers License” here:
The emotions in her music are pure and authentic. When Rodrigo sings, “Guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me / ‘Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street,” I quite literally get chills down my spine.
Another factor of the song that strikes my soul is knowing that Rodrigo is young, and how she is drawing from personal experience of what is young heartbreak. Listening to her sing reminds me of being a younger teen again, feeling my first heartbreak, and going for a long drive for the very first time. She pulls from nostalgia she has yet to experience with her themes of growth, change, and ground-breaking heartache.
There has been amples amount of positive feedback for this song, which is currently number one on the Spotify charts with over 67 million streams and counting. Spotify confirmed that “Drivers License” made history by breaking the record for the most streams in a day for a non-holiday song.
In an interview with Billboard, Spotify said, “We’ve never seen anything like this, where you do have a newer artist that just comes out of the gate in such a dominant way, and just continues to grow.”
Basically, everyone with a social media feed is raving about just how good her new track is.
Rodrigo is also a proud and vocal Swiftie, and other Swifties can tell from her lyrics that she draws inspiration from Taylor Swift’s music. So when Swift commented on Rodrigo’s Instagram post about charting next to Taylor’s songs, Rodrigo posted her excitement in tears and celebration. As a fan of both of these two, it’s exciting to see their interaction, as well as enjoying some good girl-supporting-girl love!
Rodrigo is separating herself from her Disney characters and is her own person, and she uses her platforms to show her personality and passion. Her storytelling lyrics, openness of her life, and authentic youth makes her art unique and personal.
