Olivia Rodrigo dropped her debut single “drivers license” last Friday night. This debut single has been much anticipated by her fans. She had written the heartbreak anthem of 2020, “All I Want.” Rodrigo had written it for the Disney+ show, “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”, but “drivers license” is her first song on her own.
After listening to this song for the first time, I could not do anything but keep this song on repeat. The song, “drivers license” gives off Taylor Swift’s songwriting style mixed with similar vocals to Lorde. As a big fan of both artists, I fell in love with this song.
The song begins with the sound of a car being turned on. It leads into a soft heartbreak ballad. Throughout the song, the beat begins to pick up into a pop feel. The vocals Rodrigo carries shows the different elements of emotion. There are parts of the song with strong, powerful, emotional statements, while in other parts you hear the narrative showing through her voice. The emotion shown throughout the different parts of the song is evident while listening.
The lyrics are another story, with the Taylor Swift style of narrative storytelling, you start to feel the pain of this sad song. Fans have been speculating this song is about co-star Joshua Bassett on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. With lyrics like, “And you’re probably with that blonde girl” and “She’s so much older than me” gives subtle descriptions of Bassett’s girlfriend, Sabrina Carpenter. “I guess you didn’t mean what you wrote in that song about me” is another lyric of the song relating to Bassett writing songs about Rodrigo.
Overall, “drivers license” is an extremely powerful heartbreak song. I can see myself and others around the world listening to this song, and singing the lyrics while drinking coffee in a parking lot. With this only being her first single, I am super excited to see where the future takes Rodrigo. I can see her up on the Grammy stage with other pop icons. Olivia Rodrigo has been teasing her EP being released soon, so you should keep this next big artist on your radar.
