Olivia Rodrigo, best known for her main role on the Disney+ original series, “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” released her debut single “drivers license” on Jan. 8. The song was immediately a smashing success, becoming the number one played song globally on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube and almost anywhere else you can stream the song. It broke the Amazon Music record by being the most requested song by Alexa in one day, as well as the biggest weekly streaming debut for any song in U.S. Spotify history. The song continued to break records as the 17-year-old songwriter shared her gratitude over social media and gained attention from many major artists, including Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers and Niall Horan. 

The song begins with stripped piano and melancholy vocals from Rodrigo, and it slowly builds up to the ballad-like chorus, where she truly shows off her impressive range as a singer. The bridge features layered harmonies and explicit lyrics, a far cry from the original song “All I Want” that Rodrigo wrote for her Disney series. The song shows her maturity as an artist overall and has been widely compared, both in content and style, to powerful female musicians such as Swift and Lorde. 

The hit, “drivers license”, has also gone viral on the popular social media app Tiktok, where users have drawn connections from the lyrics to Rodrigo’s alleged romance with “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” co-star Joshua Bassett. Rodrigo and Bassett’s respective characters in the series are romantic interests, and fans began commenting on the expressed chemistry between the actors. However, Bassett, 20, has recently been spotted with fellow Disney actor Sabrina Carpenter, 21. Listeners were quick to relate this to Rodrigo’s new lyrics in which she emotionally sings, “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.” Although speculations continue to grow, neither Rodrigo nor Bassett have addressed them. 

What is clear is that Rodrigo’s song is full of heartbreaking lines that are delivered with an equally gut-wrenching voice. Wherever her career goes from now, it has started off with a bang, and there’s no doubt that Rodrigo will only continue to succeed and impress.