Drivers license, the debut single from 17-year-old Olivia Rodrigo, was released a few weeks ago and rocked the world. It quickly became the most-streamed song on Spotify in a week, with 65,873,080 streams. Rodrigo blew up on Tik Tok and several Drivers License trends have taken over the app. Fans quickly picked up on the connections to Rodrigo’s ex-boyfriend Joshua Bassett, her co-star on the show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and his new girlfriend Saberina Carpenter, another Disney star, that are outlined in the song.  

In the song, Rodrigo outlines her experience driving alone for the first time. Her lyrics are full of heartbreak and pain from her break up with Bassett. She directly calls out Carpenter, who is blonde and four years older than Rodrigo, when she sings “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.” Drivers License is well thought out, and relatable to many. Rodrigo’s voice is amazing, her lyrics are great, and the melody is good. The song is so sad, but in the best way possible. Singing along to it at 3AM is an experience all to itself. 

A few days later  Sabrina Carpenter released Skin, which many are speculating was a response to Drivers License. In the song Carpenter sings “Maybe blonde was the only rhyme” which is kind of funny because blonde is not a rhyme in Rodrigo’s song, even though Rodrigo mentions a “blonde girl”. Skin is pretty mean: Carpenter is almost rubbing Rodrigo’s face in it. “You can try/ To get under my, under my, under my skin/ While he’s on mine” is a part of the main chorus. Carpenter calls out the fact that Rodrigo brought a lot of attention to her with the release of Drivers License, and claims she’s been under the spotlight all her life. 

Joshua Bassett released two songs related to the controversy: Lie Lie Lie and Only a Matter of Time.  The two songs have similar storylines. Both songs are about a person that lied to Bassett and treated him poorly. Lie Lie Lie is a little bit basic, it sounds like a generic pop song. Only a Matter of Time is a little bit better, it is slower and sadder, but it does not have the power of Drivers License had. Lie Lie Lie and Only a Matter of Time seem like they could be about Rodrigo, but  could also easily not be about her. Only a Matter of Time is more likely about Rodrigo because he says he is angry that she put his pain on her. Despite there being a lot of lyrical connections to the drama with Rodrigo and Carpenter, Bassett said that he wrote the song in the summer of 2020. The lyrics actually match up more with a tweet he released after sexual assault allegations came out against him. 

The question on everyone’s mind is: is this a publicity stunt? Probably. The turnaround time in between song releases seems too fast, but at the same time there was likely enough time for a song to be written and released. Carpenter filmed her music video and released it in about a week. Rodrigo, Carpenter, and Bassett all have connections to Disney, which could easily want to use the already present drama to make more money. It is a genius plan because the public was so invested and wanted to see where the story would go. 

Rodrigo’s song was the most heartfelt and real song in the bunch. Personally, I do not at all think that her song is a PR stunt. The song was genuine and heartbreaking. Skin was just kind of rude, and it makes sense that Carpenter would try to capitalize on Rodrigo’s success. Since Drivers License blew up so much, it makes a lot of sense that Carpenter and Bassett tried to make money off of the situation. I want to think that it wasn’t a PR stunt, but my brain is telling me that it easily could be. Whether or not, each person involved got good publicity, lots of views, and a lot of money. And we got one great song and three bad ones out of it.