When Olivia Rodrigo released her debut single “Drivers License,” it became an overnight viral sensation. The song broke charting and streaming records alike, but it also became embroiled by speculative drama. Fans were convinced “that blonde girl” mentioned in the lyrics must have been Sabrina Carpenter, who her ex-fling Joshua Bassett started dating. Rodrigo has attempted to thwart the rumor in the past, but she’s now shutting it down once-and-for-all.
Rodrigo spoke about the “Drivers License” drama in a cover shoot interview with Variety. When asked about Carpenter and the love triangle speculation, Rodrigo was blatant about her frustrations. “I put it out not knowing that it would get that reaction, so it was really strange [when] it did. I just remember [everyone being] so weird and speculative about stuff they had no idea about,” she said. Rodrigo added, “I don’t really subscribe to hating other women because of boys. I think that’s so stupid, and I really resent that narrative that was being tossed around.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Rodrigo explained how she was filming her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in Utah when she learned of her “Drivers License” success. “Oh, my gosh, that was the craziest time of my life,” noted. “I was sitting in a grocery store parking lot, and I called my A&R guy. It had just gone No. 1 on Apple Music, which is hard for a pop act to do. We were looking at each other on FaceTime, speechless, and just stared at each other for a minute. ‘What do we do?’ ‘I don’t know.’ That was the moment that I knew that it was going to be something bigger than I expected.”
Read the full Variety feature here.