Today (January 8) is the five-year anniversary of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” which went on to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and launch Rodrigo’s career as one of music’s biggest stars. The tune ultimately led to a lot of fantastic opportunities for Rodrigo, including performing with David Byrne at Governors Ball last year. Now Byrne is helping Rodrigo celebrate half a decade of her breakout hit by performing the song himself, in a new cover shared today.
Byrne, naturally, puts an alternative spin on the track, making it less of a powerhouse piano ballad but maintaining its emotional resonance.
Byrne previously told People of their GovBall surprise:
“I went to her show when she was in New York. I’m a fan, like her music and her performance was really good. And we said hello afterwards.And then out of nowhere, I got a message or an email or whatever, it was saying, ‘Would you like to join Olivia [at] Governor’s Ball?’ And I happened to be here, so it wasn’t that hard. I’m preparing to go on tour again, but I’m not quite there yet. And it was very flattering. A lot of what she wanted to do was inspired by unusual movement that I did in Stop Making Sense. Anyway, that was a lot of fun.”
Listen to Byrne’s cover of “Drivers License” above.