Olivia Rodrigo’s viral song “drivers license” took the Internet by storm after netizens started speculating that it was alluding to a love triangle involving Joshua Bassett and singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter. The song itself revolves around these former Disney stars especially because co-stars Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett were reportedly dating during the creation of High School Musical: The Musical before Bassett moved on to meeting Carpenter in Girl Meets World.
Diving into the songs that were released in order: “drivers license”, “Lie Lie Lie”, and “Skin”, the first song and it’s lyrics had the entire world questioning what the 17-year-old singer had experienced, especially what happened behind the scenes of the track. After the release of Lie Lie Lie by Bassett and Skin by Carpenter, it seemed like only fuel was added to the fire rather than calming it down. Rodrigo and Bassett were rumored to be dating the previous year because the “drivers license” singer talked about how Bassett took her driving for the first time in a trip she said she’d “always remember.” Although the relationship has never been confirmed, fans of both artists assumed that the two had broken up during the summer after Rodrigo referenced a “failed relationship” on the app TikTok. Months after this event, Bassett had a photo with former co-star Sabrina Carpenter as the duo attended a Halloween party as Sharkboy and Lavagirl, two characters from a titular cult classic film.
Diving deep into the lyrics “drivers license”, Rodrigo’s lyrics backs up fans’ claims, especially with suspect verses like the following: “And you’re probably with that blond girl/ who made me doubt. // She’s so much older than me/ she’s everything I'm insecure about.”
Though “blond” is a very general hair color, fans concluded that it was about Sabrina Carpenter after they uncovered the original version of the song which actually referred to a “brunette” instead of a “blond.” In “Skins,” Carpenter responds with the lyrics, “Maybe we could’ve been friends/ if I met you in another life // Maybe then we could pretend/ there’s no gravity in the words we write. // Maybe you didn’t mean it / maybe blond was the only rhyme.”
Due to the referencing of the lyrics in a direct manner, a lot of fans speculated that Carpenter’s song “Skin” was a diss track. In response, Carpenter insists that the song “Skin” isn’t directed at a single person nor that it is a diss track. She explains that it is a song that asks people who are invested in the drama to have limits as she and her family have been receiving death threats ever since the release of Rodrigo’s “drivers license.”
Although there are still a lot of theories, speculations, and drama that is out there pertaining to this particular love triangle, Carpenter’s fans are pushing for the notion that “Skin” is about the hate that she has received from dating Bassett. This is a case of drama that fans may never know the full story of; however, no matter how this ends, it is best that fans still stay respectful towards their celebrities’ private lives and stay accountable for their actions done online.
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