I guess Sabrina meant what she wrote in that song about Olivia.
( @oliviarodrigo / Instagram )
I know what you’re thinking: didn’t the internet already have a field day with drivers license a few weeks ago? Disney star Olivia Rodrigo’s latest single has had its fair share of dramatic POV TikToks and Twitter threads since its release in early January, but it has quickly become the gift that keeps on giving.
For those of you who live under a rock (and/or have bigger things to worry about than Gen Z celebrity beef), here’s a quick synopsis: Olivia Rodrigo starred in Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series alongside Joshua Bassett (ofc, he’s a J name 🙄). Their characters date in the show, and Rodrigo and Bassett’s undeniable chemistry both on and off camera led fans to believe the two were dating IRL, as well. Then, as many young couples do, they broke up. Enter: Sabrina Carpenter, whose name you may recognize from Disney’s Girl Meets World.
Bassett, after splitting with Rodrigo, had been ~spending a lot of time~ with Carpenter starting around June 2020, as displayed on social media. Fans were quick to jump on the “drivers license is about Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter” bandwagon because the lyrical content of the song matched the supposed situation a little too well.
Exhibit A: “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,” Rodrigo sings. Hold onto your hats, Rowdy readers, because here’s where it gets juicy. Sabrina Carpenter is blonde and *wait for it* four years older than Olivia Rodrigo. Coincidence? I’ll leave that up for you to decide.
Between filming “couples” TikToks with Bassett and dealing with the can of worms that is pried open when in a volatile and incredibly public love triangle, Carpenter found the time to write and release a song of her own, Skin. The song, released on Friday, just feels like a clapback at the shade Rodrigo threw by releasing drivers license.
Sharp lyrics like "Maybe 'blonde' was the only rhyme" and "You can try / To get under my, under my, under my skin / While hе's on mine” leave little room for confusion.
Oh, and how could I forget? Joshua Bassett also released a song this month called Lie, Lie, Lie, claiming it was about a “friend.” Quite cryptic, isn’t it?
What is most frustrating about all of this is that none of the involved parties have confirmed or denied any of the speculations, adding even more fuel to the fire. The closest we’ve come is Rodrigo saying that whatever (and whoever) drivers license is about is “not important.”
This whole debacle reads as one big publicity stunt to me; everything just seems a little too coincidental. The timing’s just a little too perfect. Plus, Joshua Bassett shared both Rodrigo and Carpenter’s songs on his Insta story, adding insult to injury. The last thing I’ll say is that drivers license and Skin were both released by different subsidiary record labels owned by Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world (which also owns part of Spotify). So, the major success of the songs is not so much of a surprise to me.
But I’m just going to keep my mouth shut and watch it all unfold. Major props to the record label execs and Disney for sitting back and raking in major dough while Stan Twitter eats the headlines up, though! (Although, Sabrina, you may wanna have a talk with your publicist because it’s not looking good for you, sweetie.)
All drama aside, I highly recommend drivers license to anyone in the mood to get in their car, find the nearest open road, roll their windows down, OBEY THE SPEED LIMIT, and belt like there’s no tomorrow.
( Rowdy Magazine )
Madison Rosenfield is an Online Writer at Rowdy Magazine. When she's not going down internet rabbit holes at 2 AM, she can usually be found curating the perfect Spotify playlist, celebrating her Jewish heritage, crafting, watching coming-of-age films, or taking action in support of causes she cares about. You can find her at @madisonrosenfield on Instagram or @madisonleahh on Twitter to get a deeper look at her passions and perspectives.