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Former Disney star Olivia Rodrigo reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after her debut single “Driver’s License” turned into a heart-wrenching anthem on TikTok and caught the eye of Taylor Swift.
Rodrigo, 17, inspired countless videos on the app with his very first release as users sang, parodyed and even created their own “Driver’s License” spin-offs. The song racked up 76.1 million streams and sold 38,000 downloads in the week after its January 8 release, according to Billboard.
Spotify said that three days after its release, “Driver’s License” hit the most streams in a day for a non-vacation song. He broke his own record the next day.
In a TikTok announcing the song’s release, Rodrigo told his fans that she was inspired to write the song after graduating six months ago. She said she was thrilled to “drive alone through the suburbs crying”.
The song tells the story of a young girl who finally gets her driver’s license and walks around crying, remembering a lost love. Rodrigo’s lyrics explore her insecurities and how she is still haunted by the old love.
“And I know we weren’t perfect, but I never felt that way for anyone,” Rodrigo sings. “I just can’t imagine how you could be so good now that I’m gone.”
TikTok users have been mesmerized by the so-called “driver’s license” story, creating dozens of videos about what they think is the inspiration for the song. According to the TikTok theory, Rodrigo wrote the song on his former “High School Musical: The Musical – Joshua Bassett, co-star of the series.”
Users have made videos speculating that Rodrigo fell in love with Bassett, who was 18 when she was 15, but couldn’t be together due to her age. Bassett taught her how to drive and told her he would wait until she was older, before finally moving on with a new girl, the videos theorized.
Social media detectors even surfaced an old video where Rodrigo said Bassett drove her after finding out about a song they co-wrote, “Just For a Moment,” was going to be included in the Disney series.
Neither Bassett nor Rodrigo have publicly commented on fan theories regarding the song.
But fans of the song united around the near universal pain of teenage heartbreak by sharing videos of them singing, dancing and explaining the song to others in their lives.
“I mean the whole song just makes you feel like you’ve been through the worst heartbreak of your life,” one user said in her video, which includes explicit lyrics.
And the “driver’s license” even caught the attention of pop superstar Taylor Swift, who also rose to fame as a teenager with her own heartbreaking anthems. Rodrigo posted a screenshot of his song on the iTunes chart under Swift, captioning the Instagram photo with “Next to taylor on the American tunes table I’m in a puddle of tears.”
“I say it’s my baby and I’m really proud,” Swift commented.
Rodrigo told Billboard in an interview that it was the “strangest week of my life” after the song turned into an Internet phenomenon.
“Seeing it going really well – having this really painful time in my life and turning it into something beautiful that maybe can help people get through a tough time they’re going through like I’m having a tough time.” – it’s so empowering, ”Rodrigo said. And I’m grateful that I was able to do it. “
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